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Why does Ray sensor in Blender Game Engine cause actuator to activate superfluously?
In Blender Game Engine, version 2.79, an object has a test Keyboard sensor, with an And controller, that activates an Edit Object actuator to add an object. This works fine. However, when I added a Ray sensor, the same actuator now adds three copies of the new object instead of one. This should a forteriori add one or zero objects, because it is the same logic plus requiring the Ray sensor. So why is it adding three objects at a time?
Ray sensor deactivated, one blue object added:

Ray sensor activated, three blue objects added:

1.
Your Ray sensor should be set to Tap to prevent any extra pulses.
2.
Your Ray sensor's option Invert is turned on, I don't think this option needs to be on, unless there's some other logic that I'm not getting and the option is internationally turned on.


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How can I create a shortcut to Shadeless?
I would like to create a shortcut to Shadeless.
Is it possible? or is scripting required for something like that?

I have made an addon for you because I already created it to enable similar custom shortcuts (Show Only Render and Show Edges).

Copy the addon file
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jendabek/blender_misc/master/custom_shortcuts_enable.py
to Blender\2.X\scripts\addons
Enable it in User Preferences CtrlAltU > Addons, it is called Custom Shortcuts Enable.
Create a new shortcut in the User Preferences > Input > Screen section and insert the screen.trigger_shadeless as the operator name:

Set some key combination.

That shortcut should trigger shadeless on / off on the selected material.

Jan, I really appreciate it!

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How to make a charachter and/or car move on button press
i would like to know how to get a object to move when you press a key, such as getting a car to move when the up arrow is pressed. I am relatively new to blender, but i hope to get into the animation/ game engine side of things soon.

Here you go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atsvXJcg7XI Remember that Blender Game Engine is not much use this days. I recommend you to study how to import your mesh to Unity or Unreal Engine instead.

change your editor type to logic editor,and here is your logic bricks

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


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multiple texture sets when exported to substance
Im having a problem when exporting to substance, after I fixed a few parst of my model the fixed parts are exported as different texture sets.
Any way to fix these?

I think Substance Painter separates the mesh into texture sets based on what material the faces use. Make sure that your exported mesh only has as many material slots as you want to have texture sets.

I recalculated normals, erased materials and created new ones and still got the same error.
Only thing that worked was exporting the model, reimporting and re uv unwrapping. But I used the same base mesh for 7 characters so i dont want to repeat the same process 6 times more.

Have you tried merging the objects by desired texture set / made sure that there are no empty meshes? Do you have multiple UV sets?

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


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uv image editor not sho

As you can see in the picture everytime I try to unwrap, blender says to put a modifier that is not there first. no object In any other collection is selected nor do they have said modifier.
I also deleted my UV's and created new ones.

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

It's fixed! I don't know why, I didn't do anything.

Try unchecking the Use Subsurf Modifier in the Unwrap popup.


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my meshes leave an after image
when im in viewport solid mode my meshes get covered with weird artifacts and leave after images. this only happens in solid mode, and switching to any of the other modes clears them.
here's the mesh before moving

first image is the mesh before moving, notice the artifacts are just some weird green decals(?). Third is after switching to wireframe and having the afterimage cleared.
this happens after I import with the diffeomorphic plugin but it never happened before and I've been using the same plugin since 2.8 this is the first time I import since 2.93.
Any Ideas?

I've never used it, but there appear to be several versions depending on which version of Blender you are using. The one for Blender 2.93 (1.6.0) seems to be here.

I'm already using the newest version of the plugin.

You'll have to ask elsewhere in that case as this forum only deals with addons built into Blender, not third-party ones.


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can't see my meshes after updating my drivers
After I updated my graphics driver blender Isn't showing me my meshes, but for some reason It shows my selection. I tried using substance painter and daz studio and both work fine only blender is giving me trouble.


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How to make something similar to rigid body joint in Cycles?

So I made a ragdoll horse in the Game engine using an armature and some hitboxes. I connected these hitboxes with Rigid Body Joints. Now I want to use this rig for animation. However, I animate with Cycles. I know that the Rigid Body Joint does not work in Cycles, and the Rigid Body Constraint set on Hinge in the physics tab doesn't do the same thing- it just stays rigid and doesn't swivel. Is there any way to get the same effect that I get with Rigid Body Joint, but in Cycles?

I don’t understand... cycles does support rigid body constraints and they should work fine - although you may need to recreate them while in Cycles mode rather than trying to use those that were created in the game engine as they aren’t compatible.

I already tried that, however, when I add a Rigid Body Constraint to two hitboxes, they fall through each other and don't collide.

What should I do? I've tried everything I can think of, but they just won't collide.

Rigid Body Constraints disable collisions with their neighbours by default - you have to switch a checkbox in the physics properties to enable it. Failing that, can you post your Blend file to https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ and edit your question to paste the link.

Oh! Duh. I should have seen that. Thank you!

No worries - glad it’s working now. I’ve added an answer for completeness.

The game engine rigid body joints do not work outside the game engine. For similar behaviour in Cycles you should use Rigid Body Constraints - these can be created by selecting two or more rigid bodies and clicking Connect in the Physics Toolbox panel (T). When a rigid body constraint is first added it defaults to ‘Disable Collision’ - to enable collision between linked objects you should untick the checkbox in the Rigid Body Constraint physics properties.

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


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Mechanical Rigging w/ physics
I'm rigging a jet drone (jets on the end of mechanical legs that are attached to a cube) and I would like for it to actually have physics.
Below is the model and rigging:

I'd like for it to be that the jets actually lift up the cube, and for the legs to bend/rotate their parts accordingly.
Not exactly sure how I can do this, I've tried everything so far.
Here's my .blend file:


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How to delete unwanted objects from video?
I am a teacher. I have a small video in which three persons are acting. Now, I want to make a new video to show my students, in which only one among the three characters is present in it, I don’t mind if the back ground is different. Can blender do it for me?
Please answer my question,
Thank you
~ Albert


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Compositor: movie file input doesn't work properly with Time Remapping
I've got a animation project where the final render of each frame uses a movie clip frame from an external .avi file as input in the Compositor, so I can merge the movie file and the Blender-rendered object.
Initially, my project was 24fps, but I decided to change it to 60fps using the time remapping functionality and I converted the external video file from 24fps to 60fps. However, Blender still uses the 'wrong' frames from the video file as input for each frame, it seems that it uses the frame from the timeline, and not the 'remapped' frame number.
How can I fix this problem?

It's really hard to guess at what might be going on. Screenshots of your VSE setup and Time Remapper settings would be super helpful.

I'm not using the VSE. I'm using the node editor and an 'add' node to merge the two together. As for my Time Remapper, here is a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/fO1VXjH.png

No, my VSE is completely empty. I still unchecked 'Sequencer', it made no difference unfortunately.

Time remaper only affects 3D rendered output. All input movies are treated as having discreet frames counted against the scene timeline. To modify Image/Movie input node you have to hack the frame count of the node. See this answer https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/15562/can-i-change-the-speed-of-an-image-sequence


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Parts of rigs and items wont show in the final render
I have tried all the visibility Icon in the object menu as well as the camera in the outlier.  Neither are the case and I dont know what is going on.

Check they may be on a layer that is excluded from rendering in the Render Layers panel. Easy way to check is move them to the same layer as the visible object.

I know this isnt the case.  All the characters, minus the one on the far left (our left not theirs) are on 1 layer.  And rendering it I only get the arms and legs of the character on the far right.  And I checked the Scene tab, no layers are excluded, and all are selected for rendering

I did what you said and yea it didnt help, thanks for  trying  though

Might want to upload it here http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/help/ for a closer look then...

Can I just link it through Google Drive?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B32rqUsrm9xWMXBpcVE4MHpXd0U

@TheLastWarrior no we do not like to use google drive, because inevitably the link will go down, then we are left with a question with yet another dead link. Please use blend-exchange.

Select your objects on the second layer and press W and choose to Clear Restricted Render. Should all be fine now.

Glad to help. Maybe accept the answer to close the topic ?


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How to calculate rendered bone length during animation
I'm looking into the feasibility of creating a script able to export a blender animation to a JSON to be used by 2D Spine animation software.
This would be based on Blender-JSON-Exporter.
The question is: is it possible to calculate the length and angle of a bone relative to a viewport?
In other works I would like to project the blender 3D animation to a 2D plane aligned to a given camera. The relative angle and length of each bone would then be used to generate a Spine JSON animation file which would replicate the blender animation in a Spine environment.
One use-case in is to use blender to generate spine animations that require a 3-dimensional perspective, e.g. a walk-cycle from a front-perspective.
This seems to me a moonshot to be honest but I though I would ask just in case.
If feasible I'd love to crate a plugin as I think there may be few other people that would enjoy this ability in Spine.
Thanks in advance.

It is all answered on this site, you just have to search step by step and problem by problem. Bone endpoints 3d coordinates you get from tail or head PoseBone class attributes: https://docs.blender.org/api/blender_python_api_current/bpy.types.PoseBone.html#bpy.types.PoseBone and you translate those 3d coords into 2d viewport space like this: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/882/how-to-find-image-coordinates-of-the-rendered-vertex

Brilliant thank you. The second bit in particular is what I was less confident in finding. I'll dig into that.


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Is there a smarter way to offset these keyframes
Is there a smart way to offset these keyframes rather than having to do it manually?


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bpy.data.libraries.write not working?
I want to save selected objects into a separate .blend file in 2.8.
https://docs.blender.org/api/blender2.8/bpy.types.BlendDataLibraries.html
suggests:
import bpy

filepath = "//new_library.blend"
data_blocks = set(bpy.context.selected_objects)
bpy.data.libraries.write(filepath, data_blocks)

I created a blank scene, added two spheres to it and saved everything.
Afterwards I selected them both and let the script run through: A ".blend" file gets created, however it doesn't contain anything.
I re downloaded 2.79 and got the same result. So I am unsure where the problem lies and don't want to file a bug report immediately without having some outside input. Could somebody please clarify things for me, please?

Check the data
Chances are   the objects are saved to the library blend, . but are not linked to any scene, or collection, hence the file appears empty when opened.
Check the library files bpy.data.objects collection to confirm.
Consider adding the scene datablock to the library.

I went ahead and foolishly did file a bug report and Brecht sorted it out in 5 minutes... https://developer.blender.org/T60792
Indeed, I needed to add the scene datablock AND the collections aswell.
So in the end it seems I did not get the documentation right... I will update my initial answer once I got it to work! Thank you for responding!

When adding "bpy.context.scene" to the datablock, everything within the scene gets saved to the new file, not only the selection. (So it basically overrides "bpy.context.selected_objects") I tried to make some kind of context override with "ctx = bpy.context.scene.copy()", but this makes a new scene. I want the objects to stay on "bpy.data.scenes['Scene']", not move to "bpy.data.scenes['Scene.001']", however. I think I am missing something here... :(

Yeah, just like the meshes (or data part) come with the objects written to lib, so will  objects linked to scene written to lib.  To write to lib with scene and only selected objects could  unlink unselected scene.objects, write scene, re-link.   or .. run a bg script on file if no scene make one link objects to it, .. or ..  hmmm   Perhaps write up a new question explaining that you want to use libraries.write to  save scene with  only selected objects.

You can try:
Create new scene named « Scene » (the original takes an new name:
« Scene.001 », but you can rename it later)
Link your selected_object to « Scene » and then:
data_blocks=bpy.context.scene
Etc…
Delete « Scene »
Rename « Scene.001 » as « Scene »

thank you for the answer! unfortunately I do not get to code much for blender at the moment, so I can not really confirm anything. as far as I remember though, the way to go was to indeed make a new scene and then save the whole scene as a new file. I still think its a messy workaround, though, and would still try to avoid it. But thanks anyways for the effort!


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App Handlers - change order of multiple addons?
Its clear that "bpy.app.handlers.render_pre" gets called before "bpy.app.handlers.render_post".
But what happens if I have two or more addons which all add to the "bpy.app.handlers.render_pre"? How do I know in which order they are getting called and is there a way to change that order by myself?


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Code works in Console, not as registered Operator
I made a scene with a cube and a sphere.
The sphere has a "displace" modifier on it, which I want to apply while having the cube (or nothing at all) selected.
Executing the following lines one by one in the console works well (don't forget to select the cube before the last line):
ctx = bpy.context.copy()
ctx["active_object"] = bpy.data.objects["Sphere"]
bpy.ops.object.modifier_apply(ctx, modifier="Displace", apply_as='DATA')

But when trying to call those exact same three lines from an operator, it fails without any error message:
import bpy

class SimpleOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "object.simple_operator"
    bl_label = "Simple Object Operator"

    def execute(self, context):
        ctx = bpy.context.copy()
        ctx["active_object"] = bpy.data.objects["Sphere"]
        bpy.ops.object.modifier_apply(ctx, modifier="Displace", apply_as='DATA')
        return {'FINISHED'}

register, unregister = bpy.utils.register_classes_factory((SimpleOperator,))

So where is the catch? Download the scene with everything set up here


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Magic texture with emission
This is a very nooby question but is there a way to have a (magic) texture with an emission (in EEVEE)?

if you have the image of that rainbow like texture, yes you can put it in your node setup as a emission

"is there a way to have a (magic) texture with an emission?" No, textures can't have "emission"s since emission is a shader property. "Can a texture (magic) be used in an emissive shader?" It sure can.

Possible duplicate of How to make mesh lights work in Blender Eevee?

I think you want to go to the node editor and plug the texture into the color of the emission shader of your material.
You can control the strength of the emission shader in the node editor.
If you want the emission shader to light other objects, in Eevee the emission shader doesn't light other objects unless you add an irradiance volume (shift + A -> Light probe -> irradiance volume) and wrap the scene you want with it and then bake the indirect lighting in the render tab.


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Blender 2.8 make objects unaffected by light
I created this scene by placing lights on each corner of the octahedron. Obviously the rest of my objects in the scene now reflect the lights.

Is there a way to exclude objects in Blender 2.8 from reflecting light? (with EEVEE or Cycles) In this example I'd like the arm to not be affected by the lights.
Alternatively maybe someone could show me how I can color each one of the vertices of the octahedron with e.g. a material emittin the light. I didn't get a helpful answer here. How to color vertices of cube

Which render engine are you using0

I'd like to do the final render in Cycles but EEVEE or Cycles are both fine.

Don't think you can do what is asked here, as an object needs to receive light in order to be non black. But about your previous question, this is not totally clear... will comment on it.

I think you could just make two layers instead of rendering all the things at once.
First, you could group your objects into collections. For example, with three collections as I have made. This is optional, although I think it is good to have things organized. In Collection 1 I have the cube with a green emission material, in Collection 2 I have a plane, and in the root Collection I have the camera, a point light (white), and the two previous collections.
Second, you need to create another layer; you can do it using the "Add view layer" on the top right (next to the layer name).
Then you can uncheck one of the collections so isn't rendered in the current layer (with the box at the left of the collection name), then change to the other layer and uncheck the other collection.
It should look like:

Then in the compositing, you can add both together, like in:

This is the result, all at once:

With two layers:

Note: Maybe you will need to activate the transparent option in the Film panel of the Render properties. Also, note that I have added a point light in the common collection so both objects are affected by its light.

Instead of mix, I did exactly the same as above except I used "alpha over" node. The alpha over node is made for this purpose. For some reason mix was causing the foreground to have what looked like 50% alpha, inexplicably.

I would maybe try to limit the Custom Distance of this specific light (so it wont really reflect on the arm) + add a clone of that light near the ground to make it reflect there.
When I cant solve issues i usually try to fake them.


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Need help animating a collection instance with parented empty
I am unable to animate Child Collection Instance with parent empty.
Here’s a short clip of what I mean: https://i.sstatic.net/tImQT.jpg
Could anyone please help me to understand what’s the issue and how to fix it?
Also here's the blend file, in case anyone needs to inspect it :

You're messing up with the parentage. Actually object B and C are parented to object A. But object C is an instance of object B, so C is twice subject to the influence of A.
So you need to either deparent B, make it invisible and only use C objects, or don't use C and duplicate B.

Are you questioning the OP's parentage,?

the objects parentage  ;)  how would you say it? (english is not my native language)

All good,  Was a poor attempt on my part at black humour.

yes, I suspected but I was not sure  ;)

Thank you moonboots! I was treating the instance as copy! thanks for the clear explanation.
There's nothing wrong with your English, I often find non-native speakers communicate more clearly than the native speakers! not sure why!


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Texturing Bricks and Applying Them
I have a blender project that I need to complete and here's what I want to achieve. I need to copy a group of bricks so that they are opposite each other and I want to texture them blue. I would like to know the simplest method to copy all the bricks and paste them to the other side and texture them.

It is hard to understand what you are looking for here. Could you add more detail (e.g., screenshots) to your question?

Do want to texture ALL bricks blue or just the copies? do you need to manipulate the copies in any way?

You can try adding a mirror modifier. If that's not working, you have a couple options:

Make sure you're mirroring on the right axis.

Make sure your object is centered. push shift+s> select "cursor to center." Then, in the tools panel (object mode) go to "set origin">"Origin to 3d cursor."

If you don't want to use a mirror modifier, you can select the object and push shift+d to duplicate it, then move it where you want.
As far as texturing goes, that really depends on what exactly you want done. I'd recommend doing a google search for BlenderGuru's texturing videos, I'm sure you will find them insightful.


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Splines Animated by Sound - Animation Nodes
I've just made the change from Blender 2.79 to 2.81a. I've also updated my Animation Nodes to 2.1.4. Both are installed and working as expected except for the Sound Baking function in AN. Some Googling revealed that the Sound Baking functionality has been deprecated. Since I'm only at a beginner level with AN, I'm at a loss for how to redesign the set up for this change.
My project files give me animated splines for audio visualizations that look like this (rendered in Cycles):
Each frequency range is represented by one of the lines. To achieve this, here is the original node setup:

The workflow was to first bake the sound, then run the render to a folder. I'd then load them into a VSE track in a new file with the original sound file and other elements.
In 2.1.4, there are two nodes that are no longer available: the Evaluate Sound (Step 2) and the Bake Sound (Step 3) nodes. I've tried replacing the Evaluate Sound node with either of the available Sound nodes, but they don't connect (yellow nodule is on the output side only). I've also tried connecting the new node Sound From Sequence directly into the Sound nodule of the Invoke Subprogram node, but that doesn't do anything either.
Any help / guidance would be very much appreciated, though I'd love to know the why as much as the how so I can improve my understanding of AN.

The working solution was to use BOTH the Sound From Sequence and Sound Spectrum nodes in place of the Evaluate Sound node. Since AN no longer requires baking to animate a mesh to sound, the Bake Sound node I could just delete entirely. Step 1 remained the same, and here's a shot of the updated Step 2:


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Applying textures to a maze
I am very new to Blender so any help would be appreciated,
I am trying to create a 3D maze to import into an OpenGL project. I have created the object the way I want it for the maze now I just need to apply the textures to the walls, floor and top of the walls. I have not been able to figure out how to apply the separate textures efficiently. This is what my maze looks like as of now:

If someone could point me in the right direction to apply textures to the correct place that would be great. Ive tried to unwrap each individual face and apply the texture but it seems like there would be a faster way to do this.

this might help https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/516/add-different-materials-to-different-parts-of-a-mesh

To select each component:

Floor - select a face on the floor and hit Shift+G --> coplanar
Top - same as floor (just select a top face)
Walls - select any face from the top and any from the floor, select coplanar again, then invert the selection with Ctrl+I. Alternatively, select any two wall faces with different normals and select similar normals with Shift+G

To unwrap the floor and top, I'd suggest going into a top-down view and using project from view. Then scale up the UV's to be a reasonable size for a tiled texture.
For the walls, select and hide the top and floor components, then use L to select a section and unwrap with follow active quads (must make one face active in the selected group first). You'd need to do this for every island. This will give the benefit that the texture wraps cleanly around corners.

If you are fine without this benefit, select a wall face going in one direction, then do Shift+G --> normals, then unwrap with Project from View after setting your view appropriately. Finally, deselect everything and do the same to the wall faces going in the other direction.
Here is an example maze with concrete and dirt textures split with walls and floor by this method:

Another option is to use UltiMaze (disclaimer - I am the developer) and use tiled objects that are already textured. You can download the add-on for free here, purchase or read the documentation here, or discuss the add-on here. If you don't want to bother yourself with going to GitHub, use this direct link to download the master zip that you can install.
These "mazes", e.g., were generated using this technique:


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Hard lines visible on curved surface
I have a cylinder which the geometry is making bad shading. The mesh is quads, I have done a data transfer, but then I lose the definition around the feature of the shape which is border shape.
I also add a bevel, but the lines around the border shape are zig zagish.
With the data transfer the condensed geometry looks smooth, but its ruining the nice definition.

With data transfer:

With the Bevel:

I'm not sure you'll have something correct with your method, you could redo it from scratch, begin with this flat mesh:

Select the outer edge loop, enable the addon called Mesh: Edit Mesh Tools and CtrlE > Offset Edges > Extrude, set the Width in the Operator Box:

Extend the mesh around:

Create these faces:

Give it a Simple Deform modifier, Bend mode, 360° on Z:

Extrude the slope inwards:

Bevel the edges:

Result:

Excellent method, thank you Moonboots!


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How to manually set constant keyframe animation between set keyframes
I'd like to know how to manually make the keyframes on the timeline to be constant like in the dope sheet editor.

I have a motion of an object rotating every 90 degrees. Every 20 keyframes the object rotates. I'm trying to figure out how to make the yellow line in between the keyframes so the object doesnt animate until the next keyframe.
Sometimes when I insert a keyframe the yellow line appears, and sometimes it doesnt. It's like I'm doing something by luck, but cannot understand why its happening.
Lots of tutorials are showing this yellow line, but its only for the thumbnail.
Someone please explain.

The yellow bar just means that the keyframes before and after have the same value.
So, it's as simple as go to the initial frame, set keyframe with a rotation value, go to the final frame, set keyframe with the same rotation value.

Setting a constant interpolation to the initial frame has the same animation result, but the start and end keyframes are NOT the same value, so no yellow bar.

I'm feeling embarrassed it was this simple... Thanks for your prompt reply.


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How to model this mesh section of a hand watch
I'm attempting to model a hand watch. In the reference images, this section indicates its blended with the circle shape of the watch. I added 64 vertex circle to try match the blue print where the LUG of the watch is. But even 64 vertices dont match, so I can extrude and make the LUG.
If I grab the vertices to reposition them closer to where the LUG starts, I lose the circle shape which is 100%.
Here's a reference image which shows the LUG and the

Sliding the vertex closer, alters the shape of the circle.

Hello, if you meve the vertices a bit so that it matches the picture, it won't be noticeable, so I guess you can do it

One of the many ways how you can do this is using the Loop Cut and Slide tool to create extra cuts where you need them without changing the shape of the circle.
Press Ctrl+R to activate the tool, hover your mouse over the area where you need the extra cut until the yellow line indicates the correct cut, then click once to confirm you want to cut there, then you can slide the cut along the edges until it is in the correct position.

If you don't want to cut the circle completely towards the center and do not mind having n-gons afterwards, you could also in Edge Select mode just select the two edges where you need extra vertices, then right-click and choose Subdivide from the context menu. Then go to Vertex Select, select one of the new vertices and press G twice to activate Edge Slide, then slide the vertex to where you need it and repeat the same with the other.

Ok I got it, thanks for the GIF demo, helped me well with the 2 solutions. I thought this method would be incorrect if I slide the vertices because the circle shape would add more geometry, but my result is good for my first attempt. Cheers.


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How to make an object spin 360 degrees without snapping
Im animating an object with 2 empties. I want the object to simulate a physics style orbital animation, but Im confused with the animation rotation properties. When it gets to 100th frame, the animation has a snapping frame. It's not the typical 360 degree rotation like a globe. Ive attached the file.

"Empty.001" starts with 0°, 0°, 0° and ends with 360°, 0°, 0° so it is back at its starting angle - that's fine for looping.
The object "Empty" however starts with 90°, 50°, 0° and ends with 90°, 360°, 0° - that's not the same orientation as it started, so of course there is a "snapping" frame. (Actually the Z rotation on frame 101 is 0.000021°, but that slight deviation from 0° should not be too noticeable.)
Either set the beginning to 90°, 0°, 0° or the end to 90°, 410°, 0°.

Thanks for help!


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Problem Hair Texture And Eyelashes
While working on the texture of a model I found a problem with hair and eyelashes.
I used Cycles render and nodes to add textures, selecting alpha so it leaves only the textured image of the hair.
The problem is that the texture is fine but it remains with a thin white border.
Picture of a fast render

Your image texture is probably unmatched to the alpha map. Try expanding its colors on RGB channels so they are not white outside opaque areas

how can i expanding color on rgb?


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Automatically select texture seams?
i am making a game, and i have some issues with a model i am making. THe model looks normal in blender, but when i am in my game, it is all messed up where the texture seams are. I need to edge split the texture seams. but i don't know where they are in blender, I am hoping for a way to easily auto select the uv texture seams. here are some screenshots:

It's not clear why there's a need to split mesh on seams, afaik game engine does that by itself. However you can select all seams by using Shift+G menu (not automatically of course, one seam edge has to be selected). See https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/65097/select-seams-easy-and-fast-way

I have a feeling i will need to update my blender for this, but thank you :)


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Shining reflection
How can I add a very slight "glowy" shine on places where light is directly  pointing at. Just like in real life. I always need to do it with photoshop afterwards, but in one of Gleb Alexandrovs renderings I cann see that he have done it already in his Rendering. Unfortunately I cant find a tutorial so far.
Let me show you what I am aiming for.

On Top you see the render result and below I have added the "glow" with photoshop. I think this is more realistic. Is there a way to achieve this effect immediately into blender? Maybe even showing in the rendered view :,) Please.
Best regards
Frece

In Compositing use the Glare Node: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/compositing/types/filter/glare.html Related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/34377/how-can-i-create-light-streaks-in-cycles/34383#34383

Isn't there a specifivc mininal node construct for exactly my pupose?

What is "mininal node construct"?

Honestly, I don't see any difference between the two images. But I would use the Principled Shader and lean towards roughness rather than shiny. That will help spread the highlight out. The size and type of light source will have an impact as well.

In this link there is my answer showing a "minimal node setup" for the glare node https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/94082/rgb-lighting-on-a-wireframe-in-cycles/94096#94096

@user48469 to see glowing effect while rendering in Cycles add volumetric nodes - Volume Absorbtion and/or Volume Scatter. This will heavily increase amount of time to render. That's why this is often done with post-processing with Glare node as already suggested. Note also in Eevee render engine available in 2.8 this can be previewed in viewport in real time.

@cegaton your link is exactly what I have looked for. I use it in all my renderings now. Thank you SOOO much! (I want to add a discription of how to use it properly in this section here. I just need some time)


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Python API: Transformation from `Bone` bind pose to `PoseBone` using SQT

I am trying to understand the Blender Python API, more specifically Bone and PoseBone types and how they fit in with skeletal animation.
This is how I understand it so far:
The Bone type holds the transformation matrix from the bone's local space to its' parent object's space in its' matrix_local property.
There is one PoseBone for each Bone in a scene for each frame of an animation. Another way to put it is: There is a pose for each frame of the animation and this pose's skeleton (for the current frame) is made up of PoseBone objects.
Each PoseBone holds the transformation matrix to transform the position of the bone in its' bind pose to it's position in the current frame. This transformation can be accessed through the scale, rotation_quaternion and location properties. If I apply these to the position of the bone in its' bind pose, then the bone will be moved to its' correct position for the current frame.
Each Bone has a head and a tail. As I understand it, the head is the origin of the bone's local coordinate space. So the "position" of the bone I mentioned earlier is also the position of the bone's head.
Am I correct in my understanding so far?

I am trying to create an animation system where the bone is initially in its' bind pose. There is a 4x4 transformation matrix to transform from object space to bone space. We use this to compute the origin/position of the bone in its' bind pose.
For each frame of the animation, the scale, rotation_quaternion, and location are used to transform the position of the bone from its' inverse bind pose to the pose in the current frame.
One thing that is not clear to me is what the rotation_quaternion represents here. How do I use it to compute the position of the bone in the current frame?

There is something else unclear to me. I understand that for skeletal animation in Blender, each vertex of a mesh has a list of bones that its' bound to, with an associated weight for each bone.
How is the final position of the vertex computed for each frame? Can I make a transformation matrix from the scale, rotation_quaternion and location properties, compute a weighted average of the matrices for each group, and use that to transform the vertex's position from its' bind pose? Again, I am not sure how to fit in the rotation_quaternion here.
As well, does the tail of the bone matter at all for the vertex skinning? As I understand it so far, all I need to know to compute the final position of the vertex for the frame are the SQT transforms of the relevant bones.

I am stuck on this and would appreciate someone helping me straighten this out. The documentation is appreciated but I think I am missing some essential details for what I need to do that I can't find in the documentation.
Partial answers and hints will still be appreciated.
Thanks,
YUNG PROGRAMMER

using quaternion for rotation does prevent gimbal lock, see Why are quaternions used for rotations?
Use it to set the rotation part of your final matrix at time t. See mathutils for conversion


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How to make an EQ soundbar with Geometry nodes
How can I make an EQ soundbar with Geometry nodes? I would like to be able to determine how many bars are visible going up and down, if I can have 10 or 20 or 30 bars, and with the classic gradient colour, green to red.

Would it also be possible to use a simple deform on geometry nodes, to achieve this as well?

What part are you struggling with ? Gradient of color on multiple squares, connect audio amplitude to geometry nodes, something else ?

One sound bar doesn’t make a spectrogram. Do you just want a volume meter?

A shader would be easier than geometry nodes... can a shader be used instead?

I have made an animation using array modifier, but there's not much control, animating the speed of the bars,  also it leaves one bar always visible on count 1,where it should be 0. So I thought geometry nodes seems more intuitive to use. But Id like to see what other options the community has to offer.
Keep it mind, this soundbar will not be animating with sound within Blender.
https://ibb.co/J2HZSvS

Here, a customizable shader solution with:

Value for box count
Value for lit box count
Customizable division border size
Customizable top border size
Customizable side border size

The bend modifier will work as long as you don't "apply" it:

Some comments:

Used "generated" coordinates because they're assured to be between 0 and 1, making it easy to have constant values in the nodes
When using generated, you need to follow the actual axes of the object (disregarding its rotation). In this case, Y and Z
You can use other coordinates, such as "object" or "UV", but then you'd have to adjust the values accordingly, and it would be harder to work with ramps, since you'd have to normalize the fac values.
I used multiplications for masking the borders (knowing that 0 = black), but you can use "mix color" or "mix shader" nodes instead if you want the borders to be different from black
I plugged the color straight to the surface output for visualization, but you can use a BSDF shader, no problem.

About animation:

You can create attributes via geometry nodes ("Store Named Attribute") and use them in the shader ("Attribute")
You can use custom attributes
You can right click the "value" node and insert keyframes

Thanks for your time and effort setting up the nodes!


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Subsurface Modifier Principle
Just a swift question I have. When doing a hard surface modelling, is the Subsurface modifier off limits, and its more recommended to use Bevel modifier? becuase Subsurface modifier is for smoother topology such as, character design?
Thank you.

There are no rules.
  Use what works for you :).

Sometimes bevel doesn't give good results, so subdivision needs to be used instead.
They can also be used together for easier cotrol.
Bevel modifier - easily adjustable edges, limited in tight corners (creates overlapping geometry)
Subdivision Modifier - works almost anywhere because it actually moves the geometry.
Using Bevel and Subdivision together

Point Taken, Thanks for your demonstration.


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Shape Contour modelling
I'm practising with this sphere object, and as seen in the example I have chosen a selection of faces, which I then merge by (faces), but the merged faces doing retain the sphere contour, but rather merge to a flat mesh surface. Is there a way to merge these faces but the same time the sphere retains its shape without the deformation.
Thank you.

Not really, as far as I know. You've eliminated all the enclosed vertices of the inner faces, which are necessary to maintain the original geometry. Perhaps you should explain what you're trying to achieve with this merge so that people can offer alternative solutions.

I wasn't trying to achieve anything in particular, just experimenting with Blender because I'm a novice user. So wanted to see out of curiosity if there was a correct way of getting a sphere with a whole by maintaining the curve.

No, it is not possible.
The deformation of the mesh is created by the different positions of each vertex. If you delete vertices, you will lose information thus losing the original shape.
There is no way for the software to know where you would want the face to bend, and as a matter of fact the preferred way to tell that to the software is to add vertices and move them accordingly.


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Camera is not looping seamlessly
I have snapped the camera from point A to point B, the camera snapped exactly where the cursor was, and then I did, selection to cursor. The camera looks perfect from edge to edge. But when I click pay to view the animation, its not a perfect loop. I have included the file.

you need to set your Array's Relative Offset value to 1, it was set to 0.97 so it created a visual jump:

Also maybe apply the transforms, recreate the junction between start and end, put the 3D cursor on the end again and recreate the camera movement

OK, thanks for that point out.  The camera animation is fixed, but now that I have added a mesh circle in the background, it doesn't look seamlessly, what am I doing wrong? I added an additional file:

well, if your circle doesn't move, seems logical that it jumps back after one loop, what you can do is move it as fast as the camera, for example you can parent it to the camera

I did it, but it seems that there's still a small glitch, I parented the circle to the camera and kept the transformation, so the circle is moving with the camera, but it looks like its skipping one frame.

it looks like first and last image match so it may be a preview bug, try a render?


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How to add glow to star background
I have these nodes set up, emulating a starry night sky. is these some way I can sort of give them a more lighting up glow effect?

have you tried the Bloom effect in Eevee and/or the Glare node in the Compositor?

Yes I've got the bloom effect checked on EEVEE .This is going to be an animation not static image. So I'm not knowledgeful if the compositor would work for what I'm trying to achieve.

yes, compositor also works for animations.

Yep, it worked for me, thanks.

you can also animate the Strength value of some stars Emission node if you want them to shine more or less along the timeline

Using Eevee bloom, you can get this kind of result:

This is tuned using 4 parts:

Densify the colorramp setting black and white close to each other
Grow the background strength (eg 50)
Play with the bloom radius
Grow bloom intensity above its limits (set the value manually), for instance to 2

This is a intuitive way to achieve the effect using the nodes set up. Thanks for the screen shot, very useful!!!


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How to space edges evenly using LoopTools addon
I have added the subdivision modifier to my mesh, and the loop cuts are uneven. Im trying to use the LoopTools addon but the result is messed up. Is there a method to get the edges evenly spaced using an addon or some other method?

I'm not sure you can fix your problem with your current shape, but you can easily simplify your mesh with some edge dissolutions, unless you need all these edges for some reasons?
You can try with the Edge Flow addon though, activate and try CtrlE (or Edge panel) > Set Linear (and activate Space Evenly in the Operator box).
For a flat surface, Edge Flow would work fine, here is what the Edge > Set Flow tool gives (and again, play with the Operator box parameters):

Although not the best result if the mesh has been extruded, its still helpful for the flat mesh, so it did what I was after. Thank you!

why do you need so many edge loops? If you have no reason you should dissolve most of them

practicing modelling a radio and has lots of controls and sliders and screens. So I make lots of  Edge loops, so I can make circles, so 4 faces make up a circle and have quads. https://ibb.co/TcyftM7

why not but as your surface is flat you could create ngons without any artefact

You're absolutely correct, I can get away with Ngons since it's a flat surface. But I'm trying to do the right thing with topology so learning the correct way becomes a regulation for me and not to become a bad 3D designer. Everyday I learn and try to adapt the correct methods of topology theory :)

I think the right thing is to have the good result, ngons or tris are not bad as long as they don't create artefacts


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Won't delete selected vertices
Blender won't let me delete vertices! I started from an edge group and used ctrl+ to expand the selection to multiple vertices. When I press "x" and try to delete them, the first time, it appears to do nothing! I selected the same vertices and tried again a few times, and only after a couple times did blender delete some of the selected vertices. Anyone know what's wrong?
Here's a screenshot of what I'm working on:

I'm trying to use the Makeclothes add-on to edit clothing for a Makehuman model.

When the delete menu pops up which option are you using?

The first one, "vertices."

would help if you could upload the file

My best guess, there are duplicate faces, edges or vertices at that position. To get rid of them, in edit mode tap A once or twice till everything is selected and then press W and select "Remove Doubles"

To upload file use https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/. The available screenshot doesn't cover all the possible information. You could also attach screenshot per each action you describe in the question together with the file

Another tip: As I was selecting a section of vertices to delete but they didn't seem to be deleting.  Turn X-Ray on might do the trick if using group selection if you are forgetting about vertices behind other vertices.
Alt+Z in Blender 3.x


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UV Unwrapping pear
I am trying to UV unwrap a pear shape object I modeled with an image of a pear. I just want a semi-accurate projection of the image onto the object (Not trying to make this look lifelike). The unwrap mode "project from view" seemed the closest to the image in terms of shape, but the texture is not showing up at all on the object.
What am I doing wrong, and is there a better, easier way to do a sort of image projection onto the object?

Possible duplicate of Render not showing UV texture

That texture needs to be applied in a material and be selected to display I believe

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos That question/answer only addresses the internal render engine. This question is about cycles. Therefore the answer will not be helpful to this user.

Work through a camera view that is set to use the same render pixels as your reference image texture, and unwrap 'Project From View' through the camera view. Then your texture will align correctly to the uv projection, and if you plug that image into your material then it will show when in Texture view. If you don't want to do that, you can set up Proportional Edit with the O key in the Uv editor and select single verts and drag them around to match the boundary of your pear image manually. Mistake I see in your picture is that you have the node window set to Compositor,and not Material and I cannot see if you already mention the image as a texture in your material to tell.

Thank you for your response. This is where I am at right now: https://imgur.com/a/W6Nkk       I am trying to adjust the verts around the pear boundary manually. Is there a way to move multiple verts at the same time? It seems that I can only move one by one.

"Proportional Edit with the O key in the Uv editor and select single verts and drag them around to match the boundary of your pear image manually"

When you use Proportional Edit, you select a single vert and the influence falloff can be adjusted with mmb to affect multiple vertex around the selection.


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Fur/Hair Flickering Issues
This is something I've been struggling on for a good few days now - so if anyone can help me I would incredibly grateful!

Basically, I'm working on creature design for a film I'm making. Part of the creature would have hair - so I've been working out how to realistically animate it using the hair dynamics. However, I've found that the hair (to a greater degree or another) has an annoying property when animated in that it seems to 'strobe' or flicker when rendered.
This is an example of some massive flickering (apologies for the dodgy armature, but I'm halfway through setting up my mocap and the arms in this session refused to behave properly): massively flickering hair.
I reduced the number of hairs which seemed to help a bit - this one is a mix of short, non-animated hairs and a few longer animated hairs: lesser flickering hair.
To me, it seems the thicker the hair and more dynamic it is (lower stiffness, higher mass &tc) the more flicker I'm getting. I'm using two hair BSDF shaders with a high (.9) roughness into a mix. These vids are rendered with about 30 samples (path tracing) but the issues also is exhibited with 500 samples. In the second video I'm using 30 interpolated children with 150 hairs.

I've been trying various tips mentioned in other posts (though I'm not sure how to change the UV coordinates for a hair material as mentioned here: How do I prevent hair flickering in Cycles?).
Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction regarding either the above post or other things to try? Let me know if you need anything more from me!


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Boolean Cut Flickering
I came across a tutorial on YouTube on how to make a disintegration effect and have tried to integrate it into my film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm4rDDRcbDQ.
However, I've stumbled over a bit of an issue. Most of it works, but I'm seeing a bit of flickering with the boolean modifier as it cuts down the mesh (which is a 3D scan of one of my actors): https://i.sstatic.net/IeNHk.jpg
I don't suppose anyone knows how to fix this? It seems to be a problem with the boolean but only on certain parts of the mesh. I've tried recomputing normals and decimating the mesh but to no avail. Any advice would be very much welcomed :S

the boolean modifier is flaky at times, esp. with unclean meshes (typical for 3d scans). Given, that it doesn't work on a few frames you might look specifically at the position that gets intersected and see if there is any bad mesh topology. You might also try nudge the position of the intersecting mesh, so it skips that bad parts at 24 frames per second it will be very difficult to tell. You might also try the remesh modifier to clean the mesh.

Cheers, thanks for the tips. Will gradually work my way through them to find the solution :D


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Tips for Making Particles move down Mesh
I've got a problem I'm hoping someone could help with. I'm looking to emit particles from only a portion of a mesh, then to make the section that's emitting particles move down the mesh. That is, the mesh itself stays static but the part that's emitting particles changes - like this:

The reason for me doing this is I've got a 3D scan of someone's head which I'm planning to make melt - with the particles coming off the flesh as it 'burns' down... I thought I might be able to use shape keys but as far as I'm aware you can't keyframe them. :/
Any help would be much appreciated!

Use a boolean modifier.

You can key frame Shape Keys. You right-click in the slider where it says "value" (after moving to another spot on the time line and setting the value to what you want of course), then choose "insert keyframe".

Ok sweet thank you! I will give these a go :P


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Is there a way for me to copy the oriuentation of an object in blender game to another while the game is active?
So I needed a way to reset the 3rd person camera view, since the camera seems a little wonky. I'm able to have a proper reset 50% of the time, reverting the camera to the same orientation of an empty group just like I want it to. The other 50% of the time it's flipped 180 degrees in the wrong direction. Does it have something to do with the fact I used a secondary mouse control to allow the character to be observed without changing its faced direction?
I essentially just want the camera to have a reset-able view after someone looks at their own character.
 I've been using track-to in order to copy the rotation to the camera.
I'd be fine with it if a coin toss didn't determine the success of the program working.

Please provide an img of your logic editor and scripts if using some, this may give you and idea.

I'm unclear what exactly you want to achieve. Where is the camera located? Where is it looking too? When and how do you want to change these two parameters?

Who about multiple cameras?

One for general view.
One for character A.
One for character B.
...

Then switch between the cameras.

Api reference localOrientation
from bge import logic

scene = logic.getCurrentScene()
own = logic.getCurrentController().owner # Cube.001
obj = scene.objects["Cube"]
print("obj",obj.localOrientation)
print("obj",obj.localOrientation.to_euler())
print("own",own.localOrientation)
print("own",own.localOrientation.to_euler())
obj.localOrientation = own.localOrientation
print("obj",obj.localOrientation)
print("obj",obj.localOrientation.to_euler())
print("own",own.localOrientation)
print("own",own.localOrientation.to_euler())


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Export 2D view of objects
I have several parts of a vehicle in Blender. I need to have pictures, png files highly prefered, of side/top view of these objects. The key point here is that I need them to keep their relations, e.g. if two objects have the same length, I need them to have the same length in pixels in the exported pictures.
How would I do that?

Rendering with an orthographic camera might be the best way to go.

You can use an orthographic camera. That way perspective has no effect and all of the objects will be the same size in all the images. Since all the camera settings are still available png files are already the default output file type.
To get an orthographic camera, simply click on your camera and go to the camera tab in the properties window. At the top, click orthographic, and change the scale until all of the parts fit in to the frame.
If you change the orthographic scale at any point the objects will no longer be the same size, so make sure you test all of the angles to make sure there are no problems before rendering.


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How to connect two vertices with curved edge
Is there a way to do something like this

from this?

I've created the first one by adding circle and removing unwanted parts, but what if I couldn't start from scratch and wanted to create it out of two vertices only? Thanks

Look for the screw tool, Alt R. Set the Pivot to Cursor.

As Leander has commented, if you want a circular arc, you can use the Spin tool, (AltR) to spin a single radius around the 3D cursor.
If you want a more arbitrary curve interpolating through control points, you can select and position those points on an existing boundary, and use the shipped add-on: Loop Tools > 'Curve' to form it.


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How to aproach painting/changing texture dynamically
I was wondering, if I for example have animated guy that is painting fence. How should I make it look like he is actually painting it? Like only after every stroke, the fence would change color. But I don't think texture change is the right approach. Any suggestions?


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Alternative to dupliframes in 2.8?
Is there some way how to instance objects along path/curve without deformation? All forums and questions I've found are related to 2.79 and they are all using dupliframes, however there is no such option in 2.8.
I can't believe that such a basic feature is so hard to do or at least so hard to find.

What version do you have? Because I see dupliframes in v2.8 from november build

I downloaded it one or two weeks ago. I found solution using animation nodes anyway

https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/198523/2952

It is really easy using animation nodes.

Here is version with orientations set

I believe it will be way easier to understand if you copy the nodes and play with different values. The first picture will make object follow the path, but depending on what you want to achieve, in my case I wanted to place cones on a road I wanted them to be aligned with the road and also be on top of it. So try to disable few of the nodes and you ll see what will happen then

It is true, Dupliframes are gone for 2.8

Dupliframes have been removed. This was a hack added before there were
  more powerful features like the array modifier.

https://developer.blender.org/rBS7400aa7e595063510ce9f29fa1b02ebd3f9296e2
As alternative I can suggest using Dupliface(verts) on a Plane with Array modifier along Curve.

Yea, the thing is I really wanted to make instances, not more real objects, like array modifier does.

Array is only for a plane, actual dupli-object will be a plane's child. AN's Instancer is also creating real object, replicating ALT-D behaviour.

Yes I know, but plane is real.

There are a lot of quirks though, I mean ...first dupliverts are not working with single vert, or at least array modifier doesn't and you cannot hide the original object which sucks. You are still creating real object with array using planes (I know it is a lot less than actual object you want to instance but anyway)...there is really not the best solution to this yet. Animation nodes at least provide great control over everything

I'll just add that for anyone wanting to commit mesh deformations, creating a new object at each frame position, it can by done with a python script.

You can export the objects in .obj format to version 2.79 where you have the option to duplicate them, do the duplication and export it again at 2.80. If you press Ctrl + Shift + A the duplicates will be real objects (instances) in case exporting as dupliframes did not work in 2.80.

Hah, there is difference between instance and object. So doing this would create a whole set of objects, not a single instance.

To transform all objects into real objects, first Shift-Ctrl-A to Make Duplicates Real. All objects are now real objects, but still linked copies. To change this, use U shortcut or Object ‣ Make Single User ‣ Object & Data ‣ All. This I would meant :- )


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How to get better bevels?
as someone who is coming from modo it's frustrating to use blender's bevels:

It can be better if we somehow will bevel concave first:

And then bevel convex:

All of the above goes to Bevel modifier also.
BTW modo got new powerful options to bevel tool in last update :
https://vimeo.com/241009931
If only someone could help with moving it into blender D:

Could you specify what the question is about? Are you asking in which ways can the software be improved, where to look in the source code for the bevel or something about how to use the tool itself to obtain a certain shape?

I'm curious about ways to get better bevels.
Maybe there are custom bevel tools or modifiers, or there are some experimental branches with better bevels.
Current tool has almost no options to tweak, so i'ts pointless to ask about it :(

How about you try google. I mean really.

How about you give actual answer? I mean really.
I did googled, i talked to creator of hardOps and he doesn't know also.


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Copy Physics to multiple objects in Blender 2.8
I'm trying to convert a number of objects to have 'Rigid Body' Physics at the same time rather than having to do it one by one.

I know in 2.79 you could use the left hand toolbar to select "add active" as seen in this thread: Copy Physics To Multiple Objects
But I can't seem to find that option in 2.8

Select your objects to copy to and then the object to copy from.
Then search F3 and enter the search string as "Copy Rigid Body Settings"

Or from the Object menu Rigid Body->Copy From Active

You can also right click this menu and Assign Shortcut to assign the action a key press of your choice.


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Instancing texture mapping not working?
i'm trying to create an LED screen in Blender and i've noticed the UV mapping isn't carrying over from 2.7 to 2.8 and it appears completely greyed out in cycles.
I've been following this tutorial but it doesn't seem to work in 2.8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Zfa1yc5eM

I've tried creating it from scratch in 2.8 but the instancing/dupli option on the texture coordinate node, doesn't seem to yield the same whole image result as it did in 2.7 rather it just maps the desert image individually to each sphere if that makes sense.
Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you :)

This is actually a known issue with From Instancer option (see here for more on that). Good news is that it's just a viewport bug, it renders just fine.
Quick tip as well since you'll have to render the image to see any updates: If you use emission shaders only you can render noise free with 1 sample in Cycles and it's super quick. Won't help with diffuse/glossy/glass etc., but for just previewing colors it may help.

Thanks, i guess it's semi-good news as essentially the only point I was looking to do this in blender over 3ds max was the fact that it had realtime rendering. Also I took your advice but nothing still shows up in my 2.8 cycles render. Do you think this will eventually work in 2.8? I'm not sure whether to invest any more time into learning Blender if I can't get the result i'm looking for. Thanks again


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Spotlight Texture from object mapping?
I'm currently trying to get a series of spotlights to change colour based on the corresponding texture they are mapped from.
In this case i'm trying to reference the "grid" object so that when I move the spotlight it will align with the colour above (as seen in the blue light)
I've enabled the grid as the reference object on the texture coordinate node but am unsure of what mapping type to put on the mapping node or whether I need to scale it.
any help would be greatly appreciated thank you :)
link to model: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1IeGsIcqmSVdlrpjDVLoAadxS1kyiT7O8

A simple setting to do that can be (have added empty at the spot location so that we can see them through the grid):

In this setting, all lamps have the same node tree.
But few conditions to make it work:

The grid origin is a bottom left corner, seeing it from top (3D cursor location in the image below): we want the position to map from 0,0.
The base grid dimension is 1x1 (here it is scaled as you want but the base mesh is one by one): we want the dimensions to fit 1x1 UvMap

The UV map orientation corresponds to the object base orientation (rotating the UV map was needed, starting from your file):

The default 'object' output from the texture coordinates is 'world to object', so the vector transform node is not needed here. The input is 0>1 without this node, because the lamp position is converted to the grid position in its inner coordinates which is 0>1 (as the base grid is 0>1 without scaling).
Though, if you want the grid to have its own inner dimensions different from 1x1, you can add the following, where the 'value' node has the grid dimension (without scaling):


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How to bend & Loop geometry around a curve in Geometry nodes
I've seen variations of this question on here but I'm looking for a solution that will integrate the correct rotation of the arrayed objects aswell as loop endlessly, the below example is exactly what I'm looking for apart from that it cuts out after the start of the curve.
Hope that makes sense, any help would be greatly appreciated thank you!
At the moment I'm trying to combine these 2 different setups:
is it possible to move points along curve normals (Geometry Nodes)
how to bend geometry with geometry nodes

Did you see this "variation of this question" and it didn't help? Keeping local X-Axis from rotating, while moving up and down on a Curve //EDIT: Sorry, I thought you were looking for changing the rotation of the objects.

add this to the x-array node:

change count to 280

result:

Thanks for that Chris, mostly achieves the result albeit very slowly haha.. do you know the reason why that slows down the fps so much? And unfortunately it's not quite as versatile as I was hoping, whenever I change the input curve or adjust the spacing for the arrayed objects (Multiply node controlling offset in your above image) it seems to cause a hiccup in the animation. Would there be a way of combining it with this setup:
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/258733/is-it-possible-to-move-points-along-curve-normals-geometry-nodes
the looping on it was very seamless and quick!

I've been trying to crack it this afternoon but still can't figure it out...would there be a way to use the map range node to remap the values from this setup onto the spiral?
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/258733/is-it-possible-to-move-points-along-curve-normals-geometry-nodes


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Select only edges in U or V direction on a mesh - Geometry Nodes
I'm looking for a way to simply select edges in only the u or v direction of any mesh
I've found this solution but it only seems to work for objects you can precisely input the amount of faces like a grid -
How do you select an edge loop in geometry nodes?
as you can see below it gives me an incorrect selection once I try to apply this to more customised meshes?

Desired Result (Only the curves in U direction)

I'm afraid this won't really (or at least not easily) be possible, because the node "Subdivide Mesh" wildly jumbles the indexes of the vertices. This makes the approach you mentioned definitely not helpful and I don't currently see any other way to mark specific edges.

With a bit of sleuthing, you can do this based on the order of how vertices get created. Here's an example workflow I used on my tesla coil generator. First, a torus made out of two curve circles. Note in the Spreadsheet Editor how there's a 8 verts in a row that have a Y of 0:

That tells us that it must be ordered by the first circle, with a row of verts every 8, and that it builds the 8 main rings of 8 first, then builds the profile edges. So the first 64-ish are Circle 1 and the ones after that are Circle 2. This math checks out in the Edge spreadsheet too, where there's 128 edges (index 0 to 127.)
Based on that, delete edges based on X versus Y.  Here's a setup for the main rings....

...and another for the profile rings.

There's probably better math for that second one, but sometimes you Ctrl Scroll through every option on the math node and one of them works :P

there's a different option that may probably fail too, but won't care about scrambled indexes: to compare edge against some vector, if the general direction is similar it will work, but it is limited to some input direction + tolerance and will fail in many cases, see the image... I guess it could be useful up to some point tough

that compare node in vector mode is pretty cool, there's an angle input there you can use to correct on an 'edge' level, maybe could be used with the help of a guide object to improve results..?
blend to check

Thanks I was hoping to do this on a circle like your above image but unfortunately this solution as seen in your example doesn't quite work.. but it does work pretty well on straight and slightly bending curves so thank you for that! Hopefully blender will add in some kind of UVcurves node soon enough :)

Maybe I understood the UV too literally, you don't have the UV information? If you do:

If you don't: how would you explain the algorithm, i.e. imagine you have an intern that really needs something explained thoroughly - how should the intern determine which edges to select? You can't say "use reason", you need to explain the logic...


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Increase tolerance on Eevee render so objects don't overlap?
I'm currently trying to render out a flythrough of some LED fixtures on a building facade via eevee. (See Below)

The problem is i'm getting an unwanted flicker when I output the animation, upon investigation I found the flickering seems to be due to objects overlapping in the viewport (even though they're actually 50mm apart).(See Below)

Although in cycles it seems to render correctly though with no overlapping.(See Below)

Is there a setting i'm missing for Eevee to so that it will render as it does in cycles? I've tried increasing the samples but it doesnt seem to get rid of the flickering...
Any help would be appreciated thank you

Hello :). This is sometimes caused by too large clipping range of your camera lens. Just lower the distance between clip start/end. Also bear in mind, the 3D view precision is better near the clip start distance.


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Bone effecting part of mesh it has 0 influence on?
though its my second time modeling, its my first time weight painting + working with mesh aspects particularly close to one another.

seen above the right arm bone has absolutely no influence to the belt-tail part of the mesh

however when the arm is moved in the pose menu it moves with it! any thoughts on how to fix this?

yes, on the object property panel (to your right) go to the tab where it shows a icon,triangle of vertices. Look for the Vertex group panel there.
You´ll see a list of "weight groups" you need to locate the one that is named exactly like the bone is afecting your tail. Once you find it, you´ll see your arm turns on with color (in your image is red) and then go to the T panel on your viewport (press T) and on the tool select SUBSTRACT brush. Place the settings to : 1 in weight. 1 in strenght. Now, paint the TAIL.
This will substract instantly every weight influence the tail is having from any other bone.
Once you´re done, switch back to DRAW in your tool palette.
Thank you for your consideration to vote me as the answer by clicking to the left :the icon with a check mark and upvote this answer.
BFCT_Schiller


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Need help with simple turnaround render

This is my first time using blender so bear with me please. When trying to render a turnaround gif I keep running into problems- so far:

The keyframes auto changing to match each other. If frame 1 is 0 rotation, and I change frame 36 to 355 rotation, frame 1 will become 355 as well.
My rig isnt turning with my mesh, despite being parented. this leads to the arms freaking out like so

The platform + tools rotate on a very different axis than the character model mesh does.

any help would be greatly appreciated, youtube and google have been no help with these :(

Turnarounds are generally made leaving the character still, and having the camera orbiting: this can be achieved creating an empty in the center of the orbit, parenting the camera to the empty and rotating the empty: you will have to set at frame 1 a rot keyframe value of 0, then set at frame 37 a Z rotation of 360 (Euler rotation), then go to graph editor, select all keyframes, press T and set the interpolation to "linear" and run the animation from 1 to 36.
If you really want to rotate the character, as it is posed, every movement has to be performed by the armature in pose mode, do not rotate the mesh in object mode, because the character is child of the armature, not the inverse. If it is not present, you will have to create a "Main" bone and set all others bones child of the main, eventually parenting all tools and platform to it, then animate the rotation of the main bone.

thank you so much! that worked perfectly :)


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Can ray_cast ignore objects hidden from view when in local view
Using this code: (can't remember where I got it from)
def cast_ray(self, context, event):
    scene = context.scene
    region = context.region
    rv3d = context.region_data
    coord = event.mouse_region_x, event.mouse_region_y
    viewlayer = context.view_layer
    if bpy.app.version >= (2, 91, 0):  # well actually under 2.93 but I let it
        viewlayer = viewlayer.depsgraph
    # get the ray from the viewport and mouse
    view_vector = view3d_utils.region_2d_to_vector_3d(region, rv3d, coord)
    ray_origin = view3d_utils.region_2d_to_origin_3d(region, rv3d, coord)

    return scene.ray_cast(viewlayer, ray_origin, view_vector)

it will return a hit on objects that are not visible in the viewport when in local view mode. The objects that are not in local view still have obj.hide_get() set as True so I'm assuming that's why that get included in the ray_cast.
Can scene.ray_cast be made to ignore these objects? Or do I have to obj.hide_set(True) them and then reinstate their hide state once my operator finishes?

What is it about your code that is making it only return a hit on non-visible objects? I don't see it here or anywhere in the documentation that this is how that function works.

@Jakemoyo, agreed! I can't find anywhere either, it's why I'm "assuming" it's because of the obj.hide_get() being True. If I mouse over where other objects are in the view (that can't be seen because it's in local view) it returns that object as a hit when called with result, face_location, face_normal, index, object, matrix = self.cast_ray(context, event)

update to above comment
@Jakemoyo, agreed! I can't find anywhere either, it's why I'm "assuming" it's because of the obj.hide_get() being True. It's not "only" returning a hit on non-visible objects, it returns a hit on all objects with obj.hide_get() being True. If I mouse over where any objects are in the view (that can't be seen because it's in local view) it returns that object as a hit when called with result, location, normal, index, object, matrix = self.cast_ray(context, event), it also returns a hit on objects that are visible in local view.

So why not just take the list of hit objects and filter it to get only the visibles? Something like hit_list = scene.ray_cast(viewlayer, ray_origin, view_vector); visible_list = [obj for obj in hit_list if not obj.hide_viewport].

I have a work around that I use in another script for collecting all visible objects and hiding them, then unhiding them when done, I was just wondering if ray_cast can do this for me in local view. I do like your approach, but would need to check if obj is in local view as obj.hide_viewport does not change in local view.


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How to get local "rotation" of a face
Using the scene.ray_cast method I'm able to get the information of a polygon that the mouse runs over in the 3DVIEW.
def cast_ray(context, event):
    # cast ray from mouse location, return data from ray
    # start_time = time.time()
    scene = context.scene
    region = context.region
    rv3d = context.region_data
    coord = event.mouse_region_x, event.mouse_region_y
    viewlayer = context.view_layer
    if bpy.app.version >= (2, 91, 0):  # well actually under 2.93 but it works
        viewlayer = viewlayer.depsgraph
    # get the ray from the viewport and mouse
    view_vector = view3d_utils.region_2d_to_vector_3d(region, rv3d, coord)
    ray_origin = view3d_utils.region_2d_to_origin_3d(region, rv3d, coord)

    hit, location, normal, index, object, matrix = scene.ray_cast(viewlayer, ray_origin, view_vector)
    #       hit : bool - if ray found a face
    #  location : position on face ray hit in global space
    #    normal : normal of face ray hit
    #     index : index number of face in object ray hit
    #    object : object ray hit
    #    matrix : ??

    if hit:
        # get data of face ray hit from it's index number
        poly = object.data.polygons[index]

        # get world vector of face normal
        face_location, face_rotation, face_scale = matrix.decompose()

        # this returns Z axis orientated to face normal
        # ??? need X,Y axis orientated to face somehow ???
        face_direction = face_rotation @ poly.normal
        face_matrix = Matrix.LocRotScale(face_location, face_direction.to_track_quat("Z", "Y"), face_scale)

        return hit, location, normal, index, object, face_matrix
    else:
        return hit, location, normal, index, object, matrix

However I'd like to return the "local rotation" of the face that the ray hits but with it's Z axis pointing along it's normal. (not even sure "rotation" is the correct term) I can get the Z axis aligned correctly, but I have no idea how to align the other 2 axis, or what the rotation portion of the returned matrix even refers to. My assumption was that the matrix returned from ray_cast would be aligned to the face, but it does not seem to be and the documentation on this is lacking.
In other words, I can get the Z axis to align with the face normal, but I'd also like the X,Y axis to align with the face, like the Move Widget does when clicking a face in EDIT MODE with Transform Orientation set to Normal
Note how X,Y axis markers are pointing "square" to the face, not world or object.

My code above gives the rotation looking like this for the same face in the previous image:
(Although, all the objects have been combined into one object when my addon runs, so technically not the "same face")

My goal is to have that blue face aligned with the face the mouse goes over, which is generated from the data returned from ray_cast.
Thanks

It can do with a square, what should I do if the face is triangle?

@XY Good question... Not sure what the move widget does... It seems to point X,Y in the same direction regardless of tri/quad/n-gon... Do you know what X,Y is orientated to when given a face normal?

Z(Normal): cross product of 2 edges.
X: vertex_2 - vertex_1.
Y: Calculated from Z and X


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Object Follow Curves Rotation (Geometry Nodes)
I want to make an object that is being distributed along a curve, follow the curves rotation. I've attached a screenshot of how I thought it needs to be setup, using a curve tangent, but its not working. The red cones are all going in the same direction.
Can anyone help? Thanks!

First hint: if you can use distribute points, your input is a "mesh", not a curve. So it doesn't have a curve tangent

Since your object is a "mesh", not a "curve", you can't use curve tangent (it doesn't exist).
You can use the "normal" of the points instead, but there are more variables involved, so the result might not be exactly what you expect:

You can connect the rotation from the distribution or not, the results vary a little, but are still "following" the curve.

If you want to use a curve, without randomness and evenly spaced, you can try this:

And if you want some randomness, some hacking is necessary (unless someone teaches me how to distribute points on curve).
Use the seeds to vary the random count and the random positions.

Quick explanation:

Create one point just to sample a random integer (which will be the random point count to distribute)
Create N points (using the random count)
Use these N points to sample random floats between 0 and 1 (they will be factors to sample positions and tangents on the curve)
Sample the curve with those factors to get: random position on the curve with their respective tangents

Thank you for your help. It wasn't exactly what I was going for, but I appreciate your time.


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Store the same asset in multiple catalogs (Asset Browser)
Is it possible to store a single asset in multiple catalogs in Blender's asset browser?
I have a dirt material, and I want to store it in a catalog named dirt, and another catalog named, ground.
Once I've added the dirt material as an asset, I drag the dirt material into the dirt catalog I've made, then I click back on the all, to show all assets, and then drag the dirt material into the ground catalog. But when I click back on the dirt catalog, its no longer there, because I moved it to the ground catalog. Is it possible to assign the dirt material to multiple catalogs?
Thanks!

No. They have a "folder" structure, as opposed to "collections". From the Blender Wiki:

An asset can be assigned a catalog. Similar to files on disk, where a file can only exist in a single directory at a time (ignoring hard-links), an asset can only be associated with a single catalog at a time.

Image from the manual entry for Asset Catalogs

Thanks for the info


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Randomize Noise Per Object (Geometry Nodes)
I have a cube with a subdivision surface. I'm using the set position node, and a noise texture, to make the object bumpy. (See Photo) When I duplicate the object, I'd like the location of the noise to be randomly different on the other object. Is there a way to randomize the vector location of the noise texture per-object? Thanks!

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/250752/self-generating-random-shapes-with-geometry-nodes-in-3-0/250754#250754

@Benus The linked solution suffers the same problem as Chris' answer. Moving the objects around changes the noise and every object will look the same as another when moving into the same location, so it's only a solution for static objects (and I guess that's not what Ryan had in mind).

Yeah, I would like the noise to be randomly different when you duplicate the object, but I don't want the noise to move when the object moves. To help you understand what I’m after: I’m trying to create a geometry node setup that will procedurally generate rocks. And every time you duplicate the object, it will randomly generate a different shaped rock. If this isn’t possible with geometry nodes, that’s ok.

This task seems quite simple at first glance, but on closer inspection it is quite tricky.
The problem here is that "random" is not really random in this case. From the outside it is, of course, but within a node tree it is not.
If you apply a node tree multiple times, the random value created in it will give the same result in all use cases, because the node Noise Texture generates the values based on the positions, which are always the same in all use cases.
Normally this is not relevant, because a random value is mostly related to the positions of the single vertices/edges/faces, but exactly this position should not be variable in your case.
If you use the position as a variable, you will get exactly the result you don't want: The random value changes when you move the object.
Therefore you have (at least) two possibilities to avoid the problem:
Variant 1
Control via Group Input
One possibility would be to "feed" an individual value from outside into the nodes, so that within the nodes a unique value can always be generated.
This could look like this:

Here I have created a Group Input of type Integer, where the vector for the node Noise Texture changes when it is modified.
This way, even when you move the object, the noise remains unchanged.
However, you have to set an individual "Seed" value for each object.
Variant 2
Control via Index
Another option would be to feed this variable value into a node tree from the outside, and create all objects in this one tree.
This could look like this:

Here I first create several Empties in a Collection. I use these as positions for the individual rocks.
Then I first use the node Collection Info in the node tree and instantiate several cubes at the positions of the Empties in it.
After that I capture the index and the position of the instances. The index is crucial here, because with this unique value per instance I can now control the displacement.
Unlike the previous variant, however, the position of the individual objects is always relative to the zero point of the object in which the nodes operate.
Therefore, I also capture the position of the instances to be able to compensate for this difference and achieve a displacement from the center of each individual object.

(Blender 3.2)

Thanks for the info!

you can use this node setup:

result:

Note: but yes, if it would be the same location, it would be the same
noise...

Not random and varies as the object moves when it's animated.

nobody said the the object is animated....and of course it is random - and if it isn't "enough" random, you could use a math multiply before after location and before add.

That wouldn't be any more random.

Thanks everyone for your help, although this isn’t really the result I’m after. There are two problems with this: The first problem is that when I move the object, the noise moves as well, and I don’t want that to happen. I just want the noise to be randomized when you duplicate the object, or apply the same geometry node setup to a different object. (Second problem in the next comment)

The other problem with this, is that when I move the first object, the noise changes for all of the other objects. To help you understand what I’m after: I’m trying to create a geometry node setup that will procedurally generate rocks. And every time you duplicate the object, it will randomly generate a different shaped rock. If this isn’t possible with geometry nodes, that’s ok.


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How to Create Procedural Snowflake like Pattern with Shader Nodes
I'm trying to create a snowflake shape procedurally with Blender's shader nodes.
I have a general idea on how it would be created. Somehow I'd need to make the blocky shape thats on the edge of each piece, and then mirror that shape to the other side, so that it's symmetrical. Then I'd need to array and rotate that shape around the center to finish the snowflake shape. But I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make it.
I've attached a photo of the look that I'm going for. It doesn't need to look exactly like the photo, but just something close to that. A simple snowflake shape.
Thanks!

After finding this amazing tutorial by Luca Rood on Creative Shrimp's YouTube channel, I was able to make a simple result that I'm happy with. (See Screenshot Below)
11 Procedural Shading Tips in Under 10 Minutes: https://youtu.be/QZiVXcrsvPM

cool thanks for sharing! pretty amazing what we can do with shader nodes.. check this one out, they made a donut using only shader nodes XD https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/271865/142292


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Rigging Tank Treads (Treads Deform When Rotating on X and Y Axis)
I'm trying to rig tank treads. I followed this great tutorial By GodRayStudio.
Tutorial I Followed: https://youtu.be/FqfIfEx5Eb8?si=RD9_6Ar59ywLq2Qy
The tutorial makes a pretty good setup, but the problem is that when I rotate the tank treads on the X or Y axis, the treads become distorted. Is there any way to fix this issue with my current rigging setup?
Video Showing the Problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9epbc6LSvLk

Blender File to Download:

Two things: first of all, you have one curve for both treads. In the video he duplicates the tread object and the curve. Your curve also lies between the two tread objects, but the curve and tread object need to have the origin in the same location (and the tread mesh should have the origin in the center to make sure you have no unwanted offset from the curve). Also one of your object is scaled -1 on X and it seems you've switched the direction of the curve...?
The other thing is, nice tutorial, but I would setup the constraints differently:

I would only use one Child Of constraint. Set the curve as Target of course, then disable only the Location: Y. And do not use Set Inverse.

Then add two Pivot constraints. Set the curve as Target for both. On one constraint set the Rotation Range to -Z Rotation, on the other to Z Rotation.

Now duplicate tread object and curve and move them over on the X axis.

Add an Empty, place it between both treads, select the curves, then the Empty and CtrlP > Set Parent to > Object ("Keep Transform" like shown in the video is unnecessary, this has only an effect if you re-parent from one object to another).

And that's it. Now you can move and rotate your treads with the Empty.

Thanks for your help! Just one problem I'm having: When I select the curve and the treads, and Press Shift D, and move it over on the X, the duplicated curve moves over, but the duplicated tread stays where it is. Do you know how to fix that? Appreciate your help!

@RyanKingArt Oh hey Ryan, sorry I should have mentioned that (maybe I'll edit it in the answer later so everyone can find it): when you duplicate both objects with Shift+D and move them on X, let's say -2 m, then the origins of both objects are moved -2 m, but the problem is, the tread should stay on 0 relative to the curve. So either you move them both and then set the tread's X value back to 0, or you just duplicate without moving at first, then select just the curve and move it and the tread will follow automatically.

By the way, I don't know if you want your chain links to be distorted on the curve because it is a bit unrealistic. So if not, I would use a simple small quad face to be arrayed along the curve, then parent the link to it and enable Instancing on Faces on the quad.

Thanks, it worked! I duplicated the treads and curve, but left them at there default position. I then only selected the curve, and moved it over on the X axis, and the tread moved along with it.

@RyanKingArt The only thing that's still problematic with this setup, although you now can rotate the treads in each direction, this whole setup does not make this really working tracks, it is just some kind of fake. Because turning on the Z axis for example will make the treads counterrotating like on a real tank where one drives forwards and the other backwards to rotate, but this movement will decrease the closer the Z rotation gets to 90° and will reverse beyond that (and therefore look like the tread move in the wrong direction). This is no perfect simulation of tank treads.


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Make the Rotation of one object Effect the Location of another Object
I'm trying to rig an object, so that when I rotate one object on the X axis, it makes a different object in the scene move up on the Z axis. But I want the object's rotation to not be effected as it moves up.
Example: In the screenshot below, I want the cube to only move up on the Z, when the cylinder is rotated. But I don't want the cube's rotation to change.
Is there a way to do this using object constraints, or some other way?
Thanks!

You can use drivers, you can also use the Transformation constraint. Choose the cylinder as Target, enable Extrapolate, Map From > enable Rotation and set the values you want on Y as it's the Y rotation of the cylinder that will matter, Map To > choose Location and  Z Source > Y as you want the Z location to be influenced by the Y rotation of the cylinder:

Result:

It works! Thank you!


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Displacement Glitches
I'm setting up a displacement map, but some parts of the mesh are all black and glitchy. (See Attached Photos) I think I've set up the Displacement correctly:

Render Engine: Cycles Render
Feature Set: Experimental Mode
Modifiers: Subsurf With Adaptive Subdivision
Material Surface: Displacement and Bump

The Texture I'm using is from Ambient CG: https://ambientcg.com/view?id=Rocks011
(I Downloaded The 4K JPG.)
If anyone can help I'd appreciate it! Thanks!

Possible that lowering the normal map strength or just setting it to object space will solve this

Hello. Thanks for the idea, but I tried that and it didn't help.

@Kifayat Ullah is on it.. so I won't add to that, except to say that if you want to see the subdivision the renderer is actually doing, you can plug a Wireframe node into the Surface output. If you want undercuts on your rocks, you would need a  displacement map rather than a height map, and to use Vector Displacement

Thanks! @RobinBetts

This happens when our gradients are no longer gradients. This is what I mean.
Look at this setup

As you can see, these nodes are creating a square. Now, what the color dodge node is doing is that it is controlling the fall-off of the gradient or you can say the bevel of your displacement. Look what happens to the displacement when I change its value:

Now, if I put the value to 1, the square becomes a solid color. That is when displacement gets messed up.
What you should do with the displacement of this texture is that use the displace modifier for accurate geometry. Not all textures should be used with the displacement node only. There is another way.
In this instance, take a plane. Then make sure you have adaptive subdivision on. Then, go to the modifiers and add a "displace" modifier. What that will do is that it will allow you to displace your texture as real geometry. This is what I mean. Once you add the modifier, this is how it is going to look like. Your plane is going to change its location: (btw, im using the 1k version of the rocks due to my potato computer, hehe)

Now, in the displace modifier, click on the "new" button.
Then, click on this button:

It should then open the texture tab. Now click here:

Then browse the displacement texture of the rock texture you downloaded.
You should now see this:

Now, go back to the modifier tab and lower the strength of the displace modifier.
You should now get something that looks more better.
However, you still see the lines, even if a little (use auto smooth to get even less lines). And I think that is because there is the "gradient" problem (I mentioned above) in the rock displacement texture.By bluring the texture, you can get rid of that. Open any photo editing software and blue the texture. And then repeat the above-mentioned steps with this new blurred texture.
This is what you should have once you use the blurred image (keep in mind that you need to blur it "very" slightly):
As you can see the lines are totally gone
Here is the final result:

Final result (I'm just using the 1k version that's why there isn't much detail so please ignore that)

Is your question solved? Do you want me to explain something?

Hello. Thank you for the help! But I have a question...  You Mentioned Above:
"Not all textures should be used with the displacement node only. There is another way."
Are you sure about this? Not all displacement textures are supposed to be used with the displacement node? I know about this way of setting up displacements, but this doesn't use the displacement in the shader editor, which I would prefer to use most of the time. And if this is so, then how does someone know when to use the displacement modifier, or the displacement node? Is there a way to tell when to use which?
Thanks!

Oh! I meant that it's sometimes better to use the displace modifier rather than using the displacement node. That is when you want (in this instance) to put something over the rocks texture, Now, if you are using the displacement node, you would have to go into the rendered view again and again to make sure that the object you are putting on the plane is not clipping with the rocks. So being able to view actual geometry of the rocks is going to be helpful. Otherwise, feel free to use all textures with the displacement node.

There is no problem at all. Pardon me for what I said because it feels confusing to me as well.

The problem with the texture was that it had that "gradient problem". This problem occurs when there is/are edge(s) that are very sharp and are not defined by any gradient. See the square shape eg. I gave above. The displacement glitch is seen when the square turns into a solid white color with no gradient information. Thus, it leaves the software confused about how it should displace the hard edge / the shape with no displacement information, basically. So to solve this, we blurred the image which basically softens the hard edge thereby creating a sort of gradient.

Ahh ok. I see. Thanks for the clarification! I blurred the Displacement map and it fixed the problem for the most part. Thanks so much for your help!

No problem! Thanks for the kind words!


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Distribute Points on Faces By an Exact Amount? (Geometry Nodes)
I have a simple geometry node setup, where I'm distributing a cube on a plane. I don't want any of the cubes to be overlapping, so I turned up the distance min on the distribute points on faces node. Is there any way to tell the Geometry Nodes to distribute an exact amount of cubes on the plane? For instance, can I distribute exactly 1,000 cubes on the plane?

You can use this node setup:

it deletes all indexes which are greater than a number.
The attribute statistic node gives information about the geometry which is plugged in the attribute. Here the index is plugged in. Index is running from 0 - 1299. So if i now delete all indices which are greater than 299 i got exactly 300 points. I didn't instance anything and i didn't join geometry because i just wanted to show which nodes are necessary so - in my opinion - it is easier to understand.
Here an example with the instancing:

and here the node setup with the "input geometry":

Note: Index is counting from 0. So if you say greater than 1000, you will get 1001 cubes. So enter greater than 999 and you will get 1000 cubes.

Thanks for your help. Can you give a little more info on this? For one thing, I want to see the plane, so I added a join geometry node, to join the plane back in. Then I still couldn't see the cubes, so I added the instance on points node, after the distribute points on faces node, and plugged the object info node into that with the cube as the object. What value do I change to make the exact number of cubes?

just change the 300 to 999 in the greater than node. i updated my answer

@RyanKingArt: i hoped you know the instance on points node, because you made a tutorial with it here: https://youtu.be/lrhlOBWXd7Y

Thanks for the information. I still have a problem though. I want the cubes to not be overlapping, so I turned up the distance min a little. The problem with that, is that it removes the cubes that are overlapping, so the number now isn't exact. Is there a way to still use the distance min, and still have an exact number of cubes?  Also, in the screenshot, you added a density max of 80.800. Is that number important at all? What number should it be set to? Because if I change the density max, it adds more or less cubes.

Yes, the number is important. The number says how „dense“ the distribution should be. If you now increase your distance, of course you get less points/instances and if this number is then lower than your limit you won‘t get your exact number. So to get your exact number you have to raise that value until the number of your points are higher than the limit you want to have. That’s why I plugged in a viewer to check the value of the points.

Thanks for your help!

You are welcome