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"Instance Point on Faces" is not carrying over the proper textures in blender geo-nodes
I'm using geometry nodes in blender 3.41 and instancing a bunch of object on a plane to create a really complex scene. This is a technique learned from Max Hay on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln1IpYnufxc
The pillar objects are textures as stand alone assets but once places with the " distribute points on faces" node they lose their texture and look like clay. The only solution I have found is to change the texture coordinate node to "camera" but it breaks my animation. What am I doing wrong?
It should also be noted that i'm using the addon "1 click damage" so my pillars require 2 textures to look right.

Easiest thing to do is:
Don't realize instances.
If you do want to realize instances and still have the textures work; all you have to do is:
use an attribute node (in the shader editor) and as the name put the name of the uv map your instances has, then use that instead of the texture coordinate node.


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I'm trying to join two meshes but the textures break even when i rename the uv maps to be the same
I am trying to do a simple body hack (head replacement), to do that I'd have to join two meshes (the head) and (the body) without loosing the textures, i watched a few tutorials and they mentioned just renaming the UVs on the objects you're joining the same then ctrl+j, which i did the same, but when i join them the texture still gets broken.Any idea what might be happening? And how to properly join two objects into one without loosing textures if this not the right method? I'd appreciate any pointers. Thanks in advance.

I suppose textures uses a default UV like this:

In this case there is only single UV can be default on the model.
So you need to replace this node by this one, there you can define that UV map you want to use:

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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is there a way to make hair particles an object?
i need to export my human 3d model to another 3d program, and that program isn't compatible with blender's hair particles, is there a way to make these hair particles an actual like object? so i could make it into an object and join it to the human mesh so i can export it properly ? if there is a way please enlighten me

Modifier panel > Particle modifier > Convert?

Check here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/1389/convert-large-particle-systems-to-one-object-efficiently and here https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/24274/how-to-convert-particles-to-mesh : )

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


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help needed with shading applied to a certain part of a mesh?
tldr :ok so I have a mix shader between glossy bdsf and principled bsdf on a mesh, and there is a part of the mesh I do not want glossy bdsf on, is there a way to control which parts of a mesh a shader is applied on?
more details : i have a hair particle system on the object, and i do not want the glossy bdsf to show up under the hair, and i think there is enough hair and do not want to add more to "fix" the problem.

You can select different areas of your mesh in edit mode, and assign them their own different materials.

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

You can:
Select faces of your mesh in edit mode and assign them different materials. This is the easiest, most straightforward way.
Or
Use texture paint to create a black/white mask for the two textures. Combine the two shaders (Put them in the same material) using a Mix Shader, and plug in this mask as the mix factor. This allows for more control, like smooth texture blending and shapes that are not limited to the object's geometry. However, this takes more work to do.


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Simulation in a web browser
I am simulating a tshirt on a person in blender. Everything is working fine but I am looking for a way how to put it on my internet site so it will be animated together. I have found three.js which is really helpful but I am looking for a way of putting animation which is interacting with other object and has been previously calculated in blender. When I do export an glb/gltf file and import it again in blender I see that cloth property on a tshirt and collision property on my person are gone and animation of both things together does not work. I tried also fbx with same results. Any idea how this could be achieved?
Thank you all for help.

The modifier for cloth physics exists only in Blender — there is no way to export it to any format I'm aware of. You can either set up a new physics simulation in a physics engine compatible three.js (which may give different results!) or bake your animation.
For workflows to "bake" the animation, see Cloth Bake: Save frames in timeline as shape key? and https://blenderartists.org/t/export-bezier-curve-animation-as-gltf-and-or-fbx/1151423/4.


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Volume through glass in Eevee?
Is there a way to make volume visible through a glass object in eevee?

Sure. Just use this node arrangement for your glass. Pay attention to the blend modes highlighted on the right:

EDIT - My bad, I didn't see you wanted a refraction component. Adding it is easy, just add  a Refraction BSDF and use another Mix Shader to combine it with the existing glass shader. See below (Note - I used a sphere in the image because the gem doesn't refract so well - surprisingly).

Thanks. This method is better than what I had, but I was hoping I'd be able to use refraction as well.

Can you specify what you mean by refraction? I'm sure it's possible - IOR of the fresnel is a refraction index. Also, I noticed it looks way better if you apply smooth shading to the gem.

The objects seen through the lens are not distorted, as they should be if seen through curved glass.

I updated my answer to include refraction.


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Depth images dont get saved
I render multiple frames in blender, and if not the frames also, I at least want to save the depth maps, as an image. As can be seen in the screenshot I have attached, I have added a 'File Output' node that specifies that path to save the depth images.  But during rendering, only the frames get saved.
In the output properties, I set the output path for the frames to be saved.
What is it that I am doing wrong here?

The path to save should be the path on the file node. The file node works independently from the output set in the properties editor settings

Ok, I understand.  Out of curiosity though, I havent explicitly mentioned a 'file output' node for the frames, but blender seems to understand that the frames have to be saved at the path mentioned in 'output properties'.  How is this possible?

The two outputs work independently. If you press render animation,  blender will render and save to the path specified in the output properties and also in the path specified by the file node. In this case there is no "composite" node so you should be getting an empty frame in the path specified in the output settings in the properties window.

No I dont.  As mentioned earlier, the frames are properly saved in the path specified in output props. It is the depth maps folder that remains empty.

Did you specify a file name (not just a path) for the output node?

for the depth maps, in the 'file output' node only a folder name.  Even for frames, under output props Ive mentioned only a folder

If you just render pass. It should work as you described.
Possible reasons why it doesn't:

you don't have enabled Output Properties > Postprocessing > Pipeline > Compositor
or you don't have mark checkbox on top row of Compositor Editor > Use Nodes
or if you rendered only single image - these are not saved automatically (without add-on)

According to your screen, should be rendered only Depth pass.
To render and save final render (Composite node if enabled) and Depth pass (File Output node) at the same time on Render Animation action - node tree should look like this (for example):

Note: Composite node can be also replaced File Output node. Benefit is not only separate output file, but you can also specify different file format or directory.

In your answer " To save and render both at the same time", do you mean save and render depth image or frames? I need to only save the depth maps, or both of them if it isnt too much work.  Also, in the image above, I see that the 'composite' block you've added is connected to 'Image', and not depth. So how will that help save depth images? Finally, in the 'View layer properties -> passes -> data", I have checked only Z, not both Z and combined.  Is that alright?

Worked!! thks a lot....

I edited a bit the text formulation, so now I'm not sure if you have any questions ... and  what worked for you :) but great you solved it :)


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Bones don't appear in Action Editor at all

Hi there, I'm new to Blender.
I've watched a few tutorials where all of the bones are selected. And then Alt+G and Alt+R are pressed, then the bones appear listed in green in the Action Editor. (To make a simple walking animation).
Pressing them resets the pose for me but does not show anything in the Action Editor.
How can I make the bones appear in the action editor?
Thank you.

In the Dope Sheet you've enabled the Only Selected Objects option, so you'll only see the tracks and keyframes of the bones that are selected (if keyframes have been created for these bones! as pointed out by Batfinger). In the video he also has this option enabled but he has selected all his bones.

May be worth mentioning will  also show nothing if no keyframes inserted. (after new blank action added via action editor)

I've edited, tell me if this is what you mean


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Adding a knee bone for better definition to Rigify metarig
So i'm getting into some 3d modeling and learning to rig characters. Using rigify is pretty easy, but I'm trying to figure out how to add additional bones. I noticed by default the rig seems to lose volume in quite a few places so wanted to add some more bones for better control around some of those important areas.
This short video shows an interesting idea for preventing knee or elbow volume loss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbQX8C3lrHE
My deal is when I try this I get the following rigify error.
Blender File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rLOcRHm5gFsLCtbnDMAHBSxwnsvvgoZs/view?usp=sharing
RIGIFY ERROR: Bone 'thigh.L': Heel bone not found.
Incorrect armature for type 'leg'
Is there a way to make this concept play nicely with Rigify? Seems like it would be easier in the long than floating bones to add volume or manually painting a bunch of weights.

You can add knee bones to a Rigify rig but you need to do this to the generated rig, not to the meta rig.
(The meta rig is used by Rigify to define the location, shape, and size of the generated rig.
The generated rig will eventually be used for posing. It consists of numerous bones, such as deform bones (that deform the mesh and start with DEF- prefix in their names), control bones (for IK/FK), and mechanism bones, etc. All these bones can be found on the different bone layers.)
But Rigify has a custom property named "Rubber Tweak" for the shins (knees) and elbows that can give those areas more volume.
For comparison:

If you want to add an extra knee bone you can find the deform bones on bone layer 30. Add a knee bone between the thigh and the shin bone as described in the video:

Clear Parent (Alt+P) to separate them
select the ends of the bone, F to add the knee bone
rename it to DEF-knee.L
parent the shin bone to the new knee bone and check the connected checkbox

Additionally, you need to add 2 bone constraints to the new knee bone (switch to Pose mode, see  for details).

Rubber tweak option (right leg), extra knee bone (left leg)
Note: There is a bug (Blender 2.91), that makes Rigify not generate all needed layers. The bug happens now and then when you have edited the bones and press the Generate Rig button. Check if all layers are there before you proceed. Are Arm.R (IK) and Arm.L (FK) present? If they are missing have a look here:
Rigify->Generate Rig doesn't create all rig layers in the properties ui

The problem with the extra knee bone technique is that if you need to modify your metarig and regenerate, you lose your corrective knee bones :-( Do you know a way to implement this extra knee bone instead in the metarig, without using a limbs.leg but others Rigify elements (aka "building blocks" ;-) )


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When I imported these characters they looked like this. But they are supposed to look like a Roblox character
When I imported these characters they looked like this. But they are supposed to look like a Roblox character

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

please share your file: https://blend-exchange.com/

This looks a UV problem. I would recommend going into your UV editing tab and checking to see if your textures are projected on the right spot. if they are and it is still acting up I recommend looking in you'r Shader editor for any problems. but this should be fixed with some work with your UVs.
edit: Your question is also poorly worded so I cannot tell if this is something to do with Textures or shading with materials.


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Difference in applied base colour and view port also render image is totally different
I am new to blender and 3d applications I have done my first low poly building

As you can see I have created a building and copied but some of the objects are showing black colour and my final output render is also totally different from viewport.

did you check your face orientation? if yes, pls provide blend file because you didn't give us enough useful information to check it out

there are 4 modes in the viewport, are you sure that you've selected the Rendered mode, and that you see the world and lights of the viewport? As for the black objects, it may be because these objects are overlapping with duplications, overlapping faces can create a black surface

Sorry guys , i have checked the face orientation and it has so many inverted normals i tried to flip those by selecting all and recalculate outside and inside but nothing seems works , i have merged the duplicate vertices but still in face orientation there are so many inverted normals

the black faces are probably due to overlapping faces, not inverted normals. The faces maybe overlapping within the same object or it may be another object. Please share your file (at least one object), pack the images if you use some.

Hello and welcome. Rather than take photos of your monitor post actual screenshots instead, see How to take a screenshot. Photos are harder to read, because we have to guess if we are looking at a external interference like reflections or smudges or Moiré patterns, hardware issues such as a malfunctioning display or connection, a software level bug or driver malfunction, or an or actual artifact or issue with the model itself.

Please add details into your original question by editing it, don't post information in the comments


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How to make something like this with cuts in circle border in Blender?
I am new to Blender and trying hard to design a 2D image into 3D
I am able to make the lines in center but don't know how to make this circle with cuts in border where lines are cutting

Hi Please use a title that reflects the content of the question. It should be descriptive but succinct, unique and identifying, summarizing the issue so that users can at a glance understand what your post is about. Use the [edit] link below your post and avoid anything not strictly essential to the post. Remember, your title is the first thing potential visitors will see, and makes your question findable for future users. See "What is the problem with posting an image or link and asking “How do I do this?""

Do you already have your design as an SVG file? You might be able to follow this method to extrude the SVG logo/image into a 3D object. Extrude and bevel an imported svg curve

I already tried doing that but there are too many extra vertices and edges everywhere and it all going in wrong manner and it visually very wrong.


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Modelling and texturing a hole/crack in a wooden floor
I'm fairly new to blender and I'm trying to model a wooden floor (floorboards etc) including shading/texturing with a crack/ hole in the centre of the floor. What do you think is best way to go: model the floor with splintered floorboards (etc) then texture onto that? At the moment I'm finding it difficult enough modeling the floorboards so it would be a big help to have ideas of what the workflow should be.

Wow thanks I didn't realise until now that I had answers. Thanks for the feedback. This is very helpful.
To be more specific I have added an image. I am trying to model a large area of wooden floor with a hole/crack in the middle. The actual interior space this is based on is 6.5 x 36 metres - that is 306 floorboards long - see the attached photoshop mock-up of the floor. I'm still struggling with working out how i should proceed. I've spent a whole weekend trying to achieve this by using the array modifier, following this video. I can create a floor this way but not with a hole in it. Has anyone got any solution? or suggestions of workflow. it has to be fairly simple as I'm not advanced with Blender. I want to create this floor for a series of simple walk-though animations and still shots.
]2

hello, maybe show some pictures, is it supposed to be realistic, etc? Also it would be interesting to know how you've worked so far to stay in the same kind of workflow

What you could do is use a wood texture on a plane. Create a bit of bumps with a Bump node so that it has already a bit of 3D relief.

Then begin to create some edge loops and knife cuts through the plane.

Delete some faces and extrude up.

Move some vertices to deform the boards and make them more natural.

Unwrap the side faces because they have been stretched during the extrusions, move their islands in the UV Editor.

Create some new edges, cut again, move vertices until you're glad.

You can also quickly shred some parts of your mesh with a Displace modifier, just choose the group that is supposed to be shredded and assign it the right axis:

Think about the shape of the material you're using, and the shape of its internal structure. Wood is fibrous, it's made of many grains, all laid out roughly side by side, very long and thin. This means its internal detail, weak, and strong points are longer than they are wide. to model a broken board, I'll usually model a shape not unlike a brick with a jagged side, then stretch it out till its the length of the board I need.
you can also add some separate, thin meshes on one side or another, to look like splinters poking out. cracks along boards, meanwhile, almost always follow the grain.
as always, reference helps a lot. https://eduardlocota.com/product/brokken-lamp/ https://www.artstation.com/artwork/kqwWd
an easy shortcut is to make the model high poly, then using proportional editing set to random, pull out the center vertex from a side. then smooth it out a bit, and repeat. this'll give you two levels of complexity to the break - an uneven shape, and splintered ends.
as for texture, it'll be tough if you don't simply separate the broken side from the intact side. because the cracks usually happen alongside the grain, when texturing you might want to line up a few of the longer cracks with more visible grains.


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Blend file size is huge
After adding image as planes and use as a particle, size of File and used by ram is increased from 35MB to 568MB.
Ram used 350MB to 10GB
Even if i add ivy file size is 35MB.
Only 3 textures are used (5MB).

What did you expect when using particles?

Why does your computer display only two spaces in between the commas?

Particle which are stable bot moving any direction or location i just used for leaf and i also convert into the mesh and also leaves are not much than ivy

About comma i don't know

Don't convert particles to mesh and the size won't soar up.

Your computer needs to save every single particle position, rotation, scale, physics, etc. in order to properly display them. For a single particle, this isn't much- but it adds up, especially with thousands of them.

I convert the particle to mesh and there is no particle system at the moment but still so much memory

I need to do anything in data blocks?  I also purge all but its getting No orphan...  Any solution

applying the particle system won't do any good. Try going into the particle settings and under "viewport display", lower the percentage. In the viewport your computer will render less particles, thus taking less memory to do so, but everything will show up in your final render.


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Open .blend in different mode?
So I was in sculpt mode and I accidentally hit tab causing the mode to change to edit and this crashes blender. I cannot reopen the files because I assume they were autosaved in edit mode causing huge a lag spike. I tried disabling load UI, I tried append, I even loaded a recovery file but thats useless because it was from 5 hours ago. Whenever I load up the .blend or the .blend1 file it just eats up my RAM before crashing. Is there a way to force the .blend file to reopen in sculpt mode or am I screwed?
I'm using 2.8
I have 32GB of RAM and an 8-core CPU with a 1080ti GPU on Windows 10 64bit

You could try uploading it here, and seeing if someone else here can open the file - https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

You could create a new, empty project, go to Sculpt, then try to DragDrop import your broken .blend file. Then Choose "append". Or Choose File->Append... Then navigate to "object" Folder ("Mesh" didn't work for me). Choose your Mesh.

https://i.sstatic.net/nNqZy.jpg


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How to orient a point to the next one with geometry node? (Curve follow)
I'm working on a vines field and I want to use geometry node to instanced a collection of vine trees following a curve. I'm using Blender 2.93 so I converted my bezier spline to a mesh and used it with a Point Instance and now I need to orient each vine to the next one as a "curve follow" does.
How can I do that? Please help!

Can you please explain a bit more? In the screenshot, you already have instanced vines on the edge. Can you please elaborate on what you want to do

I juste want to orient the instanced objects following the green arrows in the screenshot by calculating the z angle from the current point to the next one. Sorry I hope I am clear.

Can You share the blend file? It will make things a lot easier. Just upload it to https://pasteall.org/blend/ and share the link.

I don't think that sharing the blend file could help because there is nothing more than it seen in the screenshot.
The vines are pruned according to a very specific mode and there remains only one branch that must be attached to a thread that connects each tree. So these branches must point in a direction following the wire (here the curve)

Don't think it is possible in 2.93 unfortunately

@Gorgious I tried with Blender 3 alpha and I don't think it is possible nether...
Why we can't just make loop trough points? -_-

It's definitely possible in 3.0 but even more confusing than the standard array + curve which is already not straightforward. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGyZ_o3TkCE

Oh man! I was so happy to read this! But unfortunatly it does not solve my problem...
He never show its geometry node setup in his video + in my case I need to scattered multiple objects. I have a collection of 4 different vine trees for that. That is why I tried to achieve this using geometry node and not just array+curve instancing. I thing I will forget procedural methode and I will do it by script.
Oh by the way in the video it is not Blender 3 but 2.93

it works if your curve is just 2D....on 3.0.0 ...i tested that. But if you started moving points of the curve in z-directiions it doesn't work anymore unfortunately

This can be easily solved with Blender 3+.
Either you do it like here in the screenshot:

...or you calculate the direction vector for your rotation by yourself using the points:  Instance Objects on a Line Mesh or Spline


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ANIMATION NODES_ PLAY ANIMATION IN COLLECTION
I'm trying to reproduce the earth animation from this tut : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEYI4lnOprY
At the end, some arcs are animated. I have this node tree :

My problem is that i'dont get the animation when i play it on the timeline. The tutorial is from blender 2.79 and it was the object group system instead of the collection one of the 2.8x.
So i have replaced the "object from group" node by "collection info" on the upper left of the screen capture and it react good when i change values in the bevel start of the "Curve Object Output" (on the right), but if i plug the "Map Range" to it, nothing happen and normally it should play the animation. I tried to change "object" by "Collection list" in the "Loop Input" but i'can't plug it to the "curve object Node". I'm a beginner in AN, and if someone could tell me what i should do it would be great. Thanx !

Please don't write in all caps, it is the online equivalent of shouting and is considered rude.

My bad, I didn't even think about it when I wrote that ♂


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How do I achieve this 'dynamic cracking" effect in 2.8?
Im trying to achieve this effect in 2.8, any help would be great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05tEg_Im6Bk

The Cell Fracture add-on exists in 2.8+ too. In what part of the process are you stuck ?

I missed the part where he joined all the cells together which is where I was stuck. I got it down, is there a way to enable physics on this? The cells are all one object now so Im wondering how I would go about running a simulation with physics enabled?


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Painting splotches into a normal map?
These splotches on the right are coming from this normal map and I cant figure out how.

I just learned how to bake procedural textures into the normal map but this looks painted in somehow?
I've tried using a black and white image texture. Painting splotches in and than plugging that through a normal map node and baking that to the normal map. (Same thing i've done with procedural textures)
I thought black and white would work beings that's what values the procedural textures use but its just not turning out.

your normal map is very pixellized, have you tried to bake onto a larger image in order to avoid this pixellisation?

This isn't my normal map, its an asset pulled from a game, specifically Fortnite. The normal map is alot bigger and this is just a small section Ive zoomed in on to get a better snapshot of where the splotches are coming from. As for the pixelation, In the UV Map, it looks like theyve just saved texture space for bigger more noticeable parts of the object.

oh ok it's the stretched splotches that are bothering you, could you please pack the images and share this particular object?

If you push the contrast of your normal map you'll see the splotches you're talking about, you just need to paint on this part with the correct color in order to get rid of them (you can do it in Blender itself, if you use an image editor like Krita make sure that the image is 32-Bit Float):

Ah I see, I wasn't trying to get rid of them, Just trying to figure out how it was done. So thank you! This was racking my brain for like an hour now.

yes it was hard to see


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Spiral or Spin at a set angle? "Golden angle"
Is there an easier way to spin an object at a set angle?
The picture below was done manually by duplicating and rotating each object 137.5 degrees (Fibonacci's Golden Angle) each time, but im wondering if there is an easier way to achieve this?

You can use the Array modifier:
Create your petal, move it a bit away from its origin in Edit mode, create an empty at the same position as this origin, give your petal an Array modifier with the empty as Object Offset:

Now rotate the empty on Z:

You can precisely set its angle in the N panel:

Note that if you move or scale your empty it will also affect the location and scale of the instances.

If you have an object like this and your pivot point is in the center like here:

you can press:
SHIFT-D -> R -> (angle you want) -> [Return]
Then just hit SHIFT-R as long as you want.
result:


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Constant or gradual rotation from array modifier?
Is there a non-destructive way to make these leaves rotate upward gradually? I've used an array modifier with an object offset to rotate and scale them and a constant offset on the z axis to raise it up. I've tried to illustrate what I mean with the annotations.

subdivide the cube
add simple deform
add an empty,the origin of the cube shows the point you want to rotate around, and turn the Z-axis of emtpy to the direction you want to rotate around.
set the simple deform as I shown.

Update:

right click inner angle,copy the data path

right click outer angle,add driver,pay special attention to the setting I circled.

then you can rotate the inner leaves and the outer leaves rotate as your formular shows.

That almost works but they all rotate at the same angle when I need them to gradually rotate//bend more as the leaves get smaller.

I have update the answer


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how do you layer two procedural textures while keeping opacity?
Trying to figure out how to layer these two textures created from nodes while keeping the opacity. I've tried using mix shader/ mix rgb/ combine rgb nodes but Im fairly new to texturing so I could be plugging them in all wrong. I just want the pillow to have the black gradient over the yellow/gold part.

If you just want to transfer the darks from the gradient, use a MixRGB node set to "multiply". If you want pure black transfer, make sure the mix factor slider is all the way at 1 (it's less than 1 in the image):

Since your gradient texture is black and white, you could also use it as a mask, to mix your cushion texture with another color or texture (texture not shown) - Just connect the "other" texture to the open socket (the one that's currently occupied by the orange color):

Lastly, if you want the 2 materials to have different shading properties, connect the shaders (BSDF's) through a Mix Shader - Because there is no such option as "multiply" for the mix shader, using the B&W texture as a mask is advised - you can still use it as a mask (mix factor) for itself if you want (see below):


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Cloth not sewing together all the way
Why are some sections not sewing together all the way? I've tried adding more geometry but it still doesn't give me a clean sew.

This is apparently because the collision margin around the body is too large / the shirt is too small. Tightening the collision margin may fix the problem, but at the cost of stability.

The garment is physically too small to fit around your mesh, allowing for the ‘Outer’ collision margin you have set on your collider Cloth and Soft Body collision settings.
‘Apply Scale’ on each of your meshes (good practice for any simulation), reduce collision ‘Outer’ and/or increase the size of your garment.


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How do you add subtle details to a normal map?
Ive intensified this normal map to show what's really going on. The detail is so faint in the normal map its pretty much invisible, its almost like theres another texture overlaying that part of the map. How do you add subtle detail like this to a normal map?

Shade smooth your model before (and after) baking the normal map.

Im asking how you ADD texture like this to the normal map. This is not a smoothing issue.

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Are you talking about the little bumps on the surface?

Yes this is an asset I pulled from elsewhere. Its not mine. I was looking at the normal map for it and noticed it has alot more detail in it. Just not sure how to add that softly. Every time Ive tried to do it, it comes out harsh in the normals and throws off the shading.

Well, the strength of you normal node is 10 which is way too high (1 is usually the max needed) - is there some reason you need it that high? Are you saying that's what's required to make the "fine details" stick out?

Yes, i strengthened the node to see exactly how it was affecting the object. Not necessarily required. I just cant see the details very well under my scene lights and
the object probably has some other textures for the roughness and specular, I just couldnt find them.

You can add detail from another Normal Map (in this case a Noise Texture) by either combining an existing Normal Map Image Texture (like the one you have above) through a Normal Map Node OR a black and white "heightmap" texture through a Bump Node, and then combining the two using an Vector Math node set to "Add" (default), In the image below, I mixed the Noise Texture (heavily) with white to soften the look. You can use the slider to control the influence, however I recommend keeping the mix between .96 and 1 (very high, I know - noise textures are strong)

EDIT - To make the "mixed" normal affect certain areas differently, you can either assign different materials to those faces (islands) and manipulate them that way, or you could use a black and white image texture as a mask (I used a checker texture for the example). You will need to mix the Normal Maps using a MixRGB node instead of a Vector Math (so you have access to the "fac" input), so you will lose some precision, but it will be negligible. If you want to cover certain islands, you may want to save an image texture of your UV islands, convert it to black and white (in some photo editing program) and super saturate the contrast (so the light grey/white areas become solid white and the dark grey/black areas become solid black), and then literally "paint over" the islands you want omitted with black. This could get rather complicated if you want multiple variations, though. For that, I suggest simply using different materials.

How would I add a noise texture to only one part of the UV map? Like If i had an object with multiple parts unwrapped and I wanted to add a different texture to each UV island?

I added an edit to my answer with some possible ways.

Sorry Im a little confused, I would assume adding a different material to each part would be the way to do it like you said . Would that mean baking out the procedural materials into a single separate normal map and than blending the two together?

Its hard to tell without knowing more of your setup, but yes, you could do it that way. You could also add a noise texture (or other texture) to each of your materials the same way as the above  example.


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Baking normals of high poly torus to low poly?
Why does my torus keep baking normals like this? Ive tried unwrapping without stretching the uvs but it gets the same result, high poly is just the same torus with subd applied. What else could be the problem here?

are you talking about the angles? If your low-poly has angles (because you've not given it a Subdivision Surface modifier) it will be the result

Okay i thought something looked wrong but I guess not! Thanks

the bake rays will be perpendicular to the low-poly faces, so if you don't give it Subdivision Surface modifier it will create these angles, if you give it Subdivision Surface it will be round

The angles we see are the angles of the low-poly. Let's say that you have this high-poly and this low-poly:

If you bake the high-poly to the low-poly, as the rays of the bake will go perpendicularly to the faces of the low-poly, and as there is an angle between these faces, you'll have this result:

If you give a Subdivision Surface modifier to your low-poly though, it will add virtual faces and you'll have a smooth result:

So modifiers are taken into account when baking normals even if theyre not applied?

Yes that's it....

merci moonboots!


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does scale matter when baking normals and sculpting?
Is it better to make a mesh bigger than usual, than scale them down to correct proportion after sculpting/baking is done? I feel like the brushes have a hard time doing what I want them to do when working on smaller scale game props (i.e 2x4 planks of wood). This also brought up another question about baking, does the scale matter when baking normals? Would i get more accurate results? What is the standard practice for this?

In general, scale shouldn't affect a bake or a sculpt (other than that you need a bigger brush for sculpting.)  If you find that a bake varies by more than 1/255 in a channel, then it's worth making a bug report.  Variation of 1/255 is possible just from floating point precision errors and not worth reporting.
There are a few corner cases where scale matters, both for sculpting and for baking.  Some sculpting tools can have settings that can be affected by actual world space-- for example, gravity for a cloth brush depends on the size of an object; tiling options are affected by size, etc.  Some materials are affected by size, measured either in local or world space: bump, displacement, subsurface scattering all have values like that (not to mention, using non-UV texture coordinates, like position or object coordinates.)  If the material changes, then the bake changes.
There are also outside corner cases where precision issues may affect objects differently because of their distance from the world origin.  There are issues with this with regular renders, and although I haven't tested, it's reasonable to assume that they would apply just as much to a bake.
Generally speaking, these aren't issues that should affect very many bakes or sculpts, and when they do, it ought to be pretty obvious.  However, the number of potential exceptions makes it difficult to answer a question like this in the abstract.  It is not just brush settings and material nodes that matter; there is also the question of whether or not you have applied scale.


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Weird edges on texture maps?
I've been downloading or extracting models (Specifically from games) to study them  and  one thing I notice in all the textures are these weird striped or sometimes blurred lines around the edges.
I used this image texture as an example because it shows what Im talking about, but all of them seem to follow this pattern.
Whats the reason behind doing this and how can I achieve the same result?

Look sliek what happens when you use 'inpaint' node in the compositor on an image, spreading the pixels outward from the edge of each island. Not exactly, but similar.

If you are getting models from games, they are probably made out a software like substance painter... That's called Padding or dilation and is a process that happens after the generation of a texture. Its purpose is to dilate the borders of the UV islands to fill empty areas with similar pixels.

To get the same result, go to Render Properties > Render Engine : Cycles, then go to Bake, set the Target to Image Texture and set the Margin to the amount of pixels you want your texture to be expanded.


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Splitting objects at UV seams?
Is it standard practice to separate your model at the seams for game asset creation? (keeping it as one object). Ive extracted quite a bit of game assets and they're all split up into multiple pieces at the UV seams. Just wondering if this is standard in the industry and whats the reasoning behind it?

It's standard for game coders to not bother programming anything they don't need.  One thing they don't need is face-corner data-- split vertex data.  All they need to render the game is vertex data.
Your video card has no conception of face-corner data.  It doesn't know this face has this UV and that face has that UV.  It only knows that a vertex has a certain UV, which is interpolated across all of the vertex's faces.  Yes, that means that even if you don't rip your seams, those vertices are still being calculated twice (or more) by your video card.  If game developers want to handle face-corner data, they need to do that internally.
But they don't need to handle it.  Face-corner data is a convenience for artists, but it's not necessary for games.  If you need a UV seam or sharp edges or discontinuous vertex color, you can just double your vertices at that discontinuity.  And it's trivial to build that into an export algorithm.

Of all the game asset creation “tutorials” out there. I find there’s a lack of important information such as this. Love the explanation!  Is there a  good resource to more in depth information on game asset creation?  Also, By “doubling vertices” do you mean just duplicating them or adding another edge loop?

@boynpoy "do you mean just duplicating them or adding another edge loop?" Not sure the distinction you're making.  It's just like selecting the seam edges and doing an edge rip operation.

Awesome, thanks for the clarification!

Select a seam, then press Shift G to select similar and choose Seam. This will select all seams in the model

Press Ctrl V and choose Rip Vertices. This will separate the edges, and create overlapping edges each belonging to the different side of the seam

Press P to separate mesh, and choose By Loose Parts. Now you have different objects separated by seams of the original mesh

Not every seam will result in a loose part. We can undo the ripping of these vertices by merging the vertices by distance


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UV unwrapping with triangulation?
I cant figure out how this object was unwrapped to keep the UV island square with tris.

Below is my copy of the object before merging vertices together, I've unwrapped and used follow active quads to square up the island.

This is what happens to my UVs after merging vertices together.

Yes, UV mapping is essentially turning vertex position in 3d space and mapping it to a postion in 2D space. If you project the UV mapwith a certain number of vertices and then delete or merge some of the vertices it is going to lead to this effect. Can I ask why you want to delete these specific vertices though? Is this model for use in a game engine by chance and you just want to save on polycount?

Yes!, Ive just been looking at game assets trying to replicate them for my own educational purposes. Figuring out what I need to do to get similar results. Some things I just cant figure out how it was done though/

I would not worry about reducing poly count here. Alot of info out there about acceptable poly count in games is outdated. These days, poly count is not a huge impact on performance (at least within reason). You're saving like 8? vertices with this reduction, when we've got tools like Nanite in UE5 that can handle meshes straight from ZBrush at 60 fps. Make sure you have enough geo to get the shape you want without too much faceting and then if one of the tech artists or devs says your meshes are causing performance issues, go back and reduce polycount.

With modern graphics pipelines, the things that have the highest capacity to impact performance are things like: draw calls (the CPU telling the GPU to render an object or group of objects), quad-overdraw (GPU taking the time to render 4 pixels when only one pixel has geo that needs to be rendered in it) and alpha overdraw (GPU calculating transparent pixels unnecessarily). With the last two, too LITTLE geometry is actually more likely to cause these issues. Check out this article for more info about this.

What about cylinder projection?

Havent used cylinder projection much, very handy & worked like a charm! Thank you


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Can you 3d model threaded objects for printing in blender?
Is there a way to 3d model threads on a bolt with precise dimensions (i.e M7 x 1.25) that can than be printed?

Yes you can.  See https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/237421/how-can-i-make-a-perfect-m6-screw/237423#237423

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/45395/how-to-create-screw-thread-with-a-circular-profile https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/50102/how-to-model-the-bottle-threads


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Video with Alpha Channel
My image sequence is rendering with the alpha just fine. When I render that image sequence as a video, it shows up as a black background. Encoding set to : Quicktime > QT Animation with the Color set to RGBA.


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Shading issues with custom normals on cell fractured object
Why is the shading doing this? I've followed some steps on here for how to get a seamless cell fracture but this is the result im getting.

Custom normals on original mesh before fracture

Data transfer modifier on a fractured object with the following settings

Face Corner Data

CustomNormals

Nearest Corner of nearest face

Just wondering, shouldn't there be many fragments? I can see only one in the outliner? And when you have many all of the fragments need the Data Transfer modifier. And which steps have you followed? A link to the question(s) would help the readers here. Also, how have you added the Custom Normals?

Another related question that you've asked: Adding Custom normals to an object?


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Adding Custom normals to an object?
How do you put custom normals on a mesh? Im trying to create a seamless cell fracture and Ive been told you can do it with a data transfer modifier, but the original mesh has to have custom normals? Someone please ELI5.

For more context here is the related question you've asked Shading issues with custom normals on cell fractured object

You can edit the normals with the menu Mesh > Normals (Alt+N) in Edit mode or add and apply an Edit Normals or Weighted Normals modifier. Look here for the overlay settings to make the normals visible.


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How do you render just the reflections of smoke?
How would you go about rendering just the reflection of smoke? Im trying have smoke reflect off of text but not appear anywhere else?

For your smoke domain, in Object Properties/Visibility/Ray visibility, disable Camera:


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eliminating fall off in weight paint?
Is there a way to get the weight paint stroke to be constant instead of having a fall off? I tried messing around with the fall off curves but that doesn't work. Essentially I want to weight paint with just the red and blue values and nothing in between.

Since the last versions you'll always have a gradient between a vertex and the next one, for example here the left vertex is 1 and the one on its right is 0 and you can see a gradient between these 2 even though there are no vertices between them:

thank you for the info!


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Layers of clothing for character models?
I've been messing around with the sewing tool recently and I'm wondering how you add more layers of clothing over each other (specifically on character models). The cloth simulation doesn't seem to be handling multiple layers of cloth colliding with each other very well. Tweaking cloth/collision settings for hours and nothing is giving me good results.

you could delete or hide (with a Mask modifier) the layers of cloth underneath to avoid the overlapping?

that could work! But what if the cloth is moving around? it wont stay positioned over the underlying geometry the whole time, wouldnt the mask would have to be moving with the clothes?

you can also use a Mesh Deform cage to deform several meshes, see the method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6s9H8xX7YA

and see my answer here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/120954/mesh-not-following-armature


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hard surface pinching
Im trying to model this piece of geometry but I keep getting some pinching.

This is the topo with subd turned off, as you can see theres a cluster of verts due to all the supported edges and bevels.

If you want to keep your shape round, try this topology:

I need to maintain the crease that goes between the insets.

do you have a picture of the model object?

The first picture is what I’m trying to get except the pinching at the sides of each inset, sorry I’m at work. I’ll get a better picture later

is it what you're trying to achieve? https://zupimages.net/up/22/16/sglx.jpg

Yes that’s what I’m  going for!


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What is this texture map used for?
I downloaded a model with all the texture maps and I've never seen one like this before. What is it, and what is it used for? Any help would be appreciated!

Hi :). Is the texture named? Some engines use channel packing - each RGB channel contains a different BW texture which could give similarly weird result when combined ;)

Could be used for material ID or object ID mapping...

The name for these textures are

T_palm_tree06_D.tga for the diffuse
T_palm_tree06_N.tga for normal map
-T_palm_tree06_M.tga for the one shown here


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Lights have no effect when placed inside a building Blender 2.82?
I need for a personal project a scene with a church, so I found a free church interior
The problem is that, after opening the model in Blender, if I try to put any lights inside of church, the lights have no effect. No matter which type of light I choose, there is no light in render, whether I choose Cycles or EEVEE.
Would some of the more advanced users from you download the scene and see where is the problem?
If, for example, I go outside of church and put a cube, the lights have effect on cube, but on exterior or interior of the church there is no effect.
My specs are:

Windows 10
Hpz820 PC - 2 xeon  total 12 cores
96 gb ram
Blender 2.82

can u post image

Put the camera inside and then render.

Even with the camera inside, there is no light

Here it is an immage , where the size of the spot light is huge, intesity likewise, but with no result
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oX1HMjJ6MJVY3CmqlUylVbvuWoBUwjSp/view?usp=sharing
Thank you very much for the responses so far :)


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Is there a VNC (remote desktop) software that can successfully launch Blender..?
Is there a VNC (remote desktop) software that can successfully launch Blender?
I tested a few (Linux server and Linux client). For example X2Go works for all other software except Blender.
Only Blender 2.79 in software-gl mode launches. Blender 2.79 and Blender 2.83 (both in normal and software-ql mode) crash.
I guess it is the VNC software's fault. Here is X2Go's crash report:
> # backtrace
./blender(BLI_system_backtrace+0x1d) [0x6989e9d]
./blender() [0xc1548f]
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(+0x3ef20) [0x7f601308ef20]
./blender(_Z33GHOST_X11_ApplicationErrorHandlerP9_XDisplayP11XErrorEvent+0x11) [0x17304f1]
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6(_XError+0x11a) [0x7f60142d18fa]
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6(+0x3d82b) [0x7f60142ce82b]
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6(+0x3d8d5) [0x7f60142ce8d5]
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6(_XReply+0x240) [0x7f60142cf830]
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXi.so.6(XListInputDevices+0x84) [0x7f6014086d44]
./blender(_ZN15GHOST_SystemX1120refreshXInputDevicesEv+0x5f) [0x1731a3f]
./blender(_ZN15GHOST_SystemX11C1Ev+0x453) [0x1732193]
./blender(_ZN13GHOST_ISystem12createSystemEv+0x35) [0x172eda5]
./blender(GHOST_CreateSystem+0x9) [0x172dc29]
./blender(wm_ghost_init+0x2d) [0xee800d]
./blender(WM_init+0x275) [0xed4135]
./blender(main+0x2a3) [0xb4bf53]
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe7) [0x7f6013071b97]
./blender() [0xc11c0c]

There are many Open Source remote desktop applications out there. Somebody may know which OSS application works or which one works after some tweaking..?

Recently I found this in Docker Hub: https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/blender
I've tried it on my EC2 server(CPU only) and it ran perfectly.
This docker is using KasmVNC.
https://github.com/kasmtech/KasmVNC
By the way, there's an official web-VNC Blender demo from KasmVNC:
https://app.kasmweb.com/#/cast/8183460092

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference.  Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review

I've used blender successfully with RealVNC.

Thanks but the solution should be open source :(

Did you mean it didn't crash when using the RealVNC client or RealVNC server, or both? What did you use as client or server?

It means i used both, server and client to control a few computers running blender remotely. I have no clue, nor do I care if they are opensource, it worked for me. Good luck on your project.

I heard about people using ThinLinc for this purpose (found one video in Portuguese) https://youtu.be/dU0sAeDbcHY?list=PLXOK6XjgmOFyiODs_r5uFIAaHQ40RFG0O&t=1749


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DETAILS GONE BECAUSE OF DENOISE

Here is the texture and not rendered
as you can see there are fabric textures

Here  is rendered
then when i rendered the texture is gone i try to do more samples but no difference
what possible solution to fix this im a beginner

Hello and welcome. Please don't write in all caps in the title or body of any posts, it is the written equivalent of shouting, is harder to read and may be considered rude. Please use the [edit] button below the post to change you text into regular case.

You have pretty much answered your own question with your title “DETAILS GONE BECAUSE OF DENOISE” - basically, the denoise pass is intended to smooth out the noise that results from a render with a minimal number of samples - so as to allow you to cut down the total render time. The texture of your fabric is very similar to render sample noise and so the denoiser is simply trying to handle that noise and results in smoothing out the surface.
Your only real option - if you want your final render to include such “noisy” textures - is to disable the denoiser and, instead, render with sufficiently high number of samples.

I wouldn't call it the only real option, more like the brute force solution you are sure to be successful if you have enough time to waste. But other solutions exist: OpenImageDenoise usually does a better job at preserving details, higher samples will also allow the denoiser to preserve detail as they get more defined instead of being just noise. Alternatively, you can disable denoising in the render options and instead use the compositor's denoise node, which you can then mix over the original noisy render to have control over the amount of denoising (demo)

@L0Lock Ok - I accept there are other ways to still use some kind of denoise but that is really dependent on the type of noise present and how long you have to tweak settings and get the desired results. From a practical point of view any denoiser will run the risk of removing detail you potentially want to keep - the point is that denoising is not a “silver bullet” that can handle every situation.


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Make Curved Ends that form into a circle base?
So I am trying to figure out how to make this base shape. I've tried array modifier with a circle curve, but that makes my pieces separate and not connected.

So far I have this simple outline, but not sure how to make the top pieces beveled properly since the angles are not fully straight.

Is there any easy solution to making these curved tops?
If I extrude and make bevels it looks like this but it's not angle properly and seems incorrect

Did you create the thickness with a Solidify modifier or else? Is the top row of faces vertically flat or angled according to the side walls?

I made a circle with 12 verts then extruded up and extruded inwards then scaled the top face with z to 0 so they stay flat, but those 2 edges are slightly angled so beveling doesn't work for a simple solution

have u tried using a weld modifier after the array modifier so that they get connected?

I would remove the inner walls and use a Solidify modifier, this makes it easier. You can apply the Solidify afterwards if you need it as "real" mesh.

@chris how would the weld modifier connect the pieces made by the array modifier?

why don't u just try instead of asking back again?

because that is, what the weld modifier does. It is pretty similar to "merge by distance". So if you have double vertices, the weld modifier will "melt" them to 1 vertex and so you have a connected mesh. You could have easily tried yourself by just using the default cube, array modifier, then apply array modifier ->edit mode _> mesh -> separate loose parts -> you get several objects. Same with an weld modifier -> apply all -> you get one object

Now I want a muffin or cupcake. So much for my diet. ;)

Delete the inner walls and just keep the outside faces. You can add thickness with a Solidify modifier (now or after creating the rounded tops, doesn't matter).

Go into an orthographic view from the front or right, whereever you have your reference. Move the top edge further up with G Z and scale it with S so that it covers the shape you want to achieve.

Create a loop cut with Ctrl+R and slide it up to where the rounded tops should start.

Now select the top edge again. From the viewport menu, choose Mesh > Split > Faces & Edges by Vertices. You might not see a difference immediately, but each vertex on the top edge is now split in two vertices.

While they are all still selected, press Ctrl+Shift+B to bevel the vertices. Like edge bevel you can scroll the mouse wheel to get more or less segments. Hit C to clamp the effect so that vertices can't go past each other. Left-click or Enter to confirm.

Now this might look too rounded, so directly after beveling there is the tool options menu on the bottom right. Change the default Offset in the Width Type dropbox to something else, like Percent for example and change the value for width. This looks less rounded.

At last, hit A to select all, then M > Merge > By Distance to get rid of the doubled vertices that might be there because of the clamped bevel.

If you now add a Solidify modifier to the object (or already have one), the result looks like this:

You could create a 12 vertex cylinder with Cap Fill Type > Triangle Fan, remove 11/12 segments:

Subdivide vertically, move up the top vertice with the Proportional Editing (Sphere) activated:

Create an empty at the same position as the object origin, give your object an Array modifier, Object Offset mode with the empty as Object, rotate the empty 30° on Z:

Give your object a Lattice modifier, scale down the bottom of your lattice, give your object a Solidify modifier in order to give it thickness:

Shade smooth your object, activate the Auto Smooth option:

This could be a place for Simple Deform > Taper, so you can work in convenient axes.
Staring with a 12-sided topless cylinder:

Mark all edges with Bevel Weight 1
Subdivide all with 2 cuts
Use CtrlShiftNumpad + to select every mid- section edge around the top, and GZ raise to  rough half-circles:

.. and then you're ready for:

Simple Deform > Taper
Solidify ('Complex', 'Even', 'None')
Bevel  (by Weight, 2 segments, Shape profile: 1)
Subdivision Surface


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normal map from hand painted texture?
How are normal maps like this made from hand painted textures? I know you can convert these textures in other software like photoshop or gimp but the results come out very different than the one pictured below in my experience. I've found that some people will go in and hand paint over the normal map to fix compression artifacts and antialiasing. But what is a good technique to get similar results?

Hello, I'm not sure to understand, to get a normal map you either need to bake the 3D relief of an object, or convert an image to a normal map with softwares like CrazyBump or online converter like NormalMap-Online

I know you can convert the maps,  but dont they need to be greyscale images to work properly to convert to a normal map?

I think the software will use the values to convert, so I don't think it needs to be b&w but you need to test


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Workflow for baking High Poly UVs to image texture to use on low poly model?
Looking at the normal map of this asset. It looks like it was baked with some of the parts Unwrapped at High-Poly and than the low poly model over it. (Seen in the 3 middle circles). Its only an 8 point cylinder but I can count 16 vertices around the edges of the baked normals. So a higher poly models UVs are baked in?
How is this done? I've tried to do this and end up having to have 3 separate models of the same mesh. A low poly model , and mid poly model. And than a high poly model to bake to the mid poly.
After baking is done I still have to use the lower poly model. My problem is the UVs never line up and I end up having to scale them inside the margin bleed. But when I do that the UVs get stretched or shrunk.
What is the process for doing this?

Hello, maybe it's me but I find it hard to understand, maybe explain what you're trying to do and share your file: https://pasteall.org/blend/

So you bake from High to Low Poly with 'Selected to Active' option. It looks like the active object was a higher poly mesh when it was baked.  The UVs only show an 8 point cylinder (bottom two circles in the middle) when the texture map shows a 16 point cylinder was used when it was baked.
Was the low poly unwrapped with 'use subdivision surface' on, and than removed after bake? Sorry I know this question is hard to explain. I will upload blend file after work today.

so maybe rebake but this time give a higher subdivision level to the modifier of the high-poly object?

I’ll give that a try! Thank you


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Follow Active Quads on multiple UV islands at the same time?
Is their a way to square all these up at the same time?
I can only get 'follow active quads' to work on one island at a time.

If you reset and re-unwrap what does it give? Have you tried the UV Squares addon?

Same results from reset and unwrap, Ive heard about UV sqaures, Ill look into it!


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What is this texture mask used for and how can I apply it in blender?
I downloaded a tree model and it came with a diffuse, normal and mask texture maps. Im not sure how this specific mask texture is suppose to be used or how to apply it in blender and I cant find a whole lot of info on it.

It looks like Cryptomatte ... that doesn't make a sense for this kind of material. Usually used for compositing.
More sense makes Normal Map texture, that let branches to appear as angled for light (not as flat plane).

Just a Normal Map node ...

Additionaly it can be used as Alpha factor (if you separate R channel), but it doesn't seems to be purpose, since edges are not anti-aliased.
Here could be used also for a color variations, probably?

(It works without RGB separation too. You can plug texture directly to ColorRamp node as well.)

Color variations make sense! It already came with its own normal map separate from this one. How would you apply this to create different color variations?.
Also, thanks for pointing out the lack of anti aliasing. Although this makes it a little more confusing because that's how I was pulling the alpha originally. But if this isn't the purpose for this, Im not sure how else to pull the alpha WITH the anti-aliasing. None of the textures seem to be anti-aliased so does that mean that's how it is in game? The textures were extracted directly from Fortnite on my PC.

If you pulled this from a game asset, it's likely that they have channel-packed one image with multiple maps to save memory @bonypoy

Ah I see, so if I’m understanding correctly. For example the Red channel would have roughness, Green would have specular, and Blue would have…an alpha? Maybe that’s where I get confused,  which maps should be packed into what channel?

@bonypoy correct, I don't know if there's any standard practice, but someone out there surely has the info

Well thank you so much for your input! It definitely seems to be a channel packed image. Going to be researching more on that!

I thought it is channel-packed image too (and it can be partly used in that way), but if you check channels, the only ways to use them I see, are mentioned in the answer, but ...R for Alpha is outlined (straight / premultiplied), so if I'm using it right there should be another texture/channel transparency. B looks like a branches separation, but doesn't contains small one upper left. So my guess is still Normal map (Displacement?), Normal map you mentioned is probably for needles plasticity?


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Bottle cap with threads
Im wondering how I can extrude the faces outward and smooth them out so its rounded like a bottle cap. (This is suppose to be the inside of the bottle cap).

You can simply put it into a bit larger cylinder.
Tools used:
Edge > Bridge Edge Loops
Vertex > New Face, F

I'd recommend the Solidify modifier.  For this it's important to have your normals facing inside your bottle cap, so the effect pushes out.  Check your thickness to make sure the outside grooves of your screw threads aren't collapsing on themselves, and turn Even Thickness on and off to see which works better for you.  Then apply the modifier.


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Wrapping beveled curve around a complex shape?
Im trying to make a strap that goes around this object. Right now Im using a curve thats beveled  with a shrinkwrap modifier, but im getting some weird results.

Hello please share your file so that we can give a try: https://pasteall.org/blend/

I am not sure what you want to achieve, but if you take a beziercircle and shrinkwrap it around an object

you could add a geometry nodes modifier afterwards with this node setup

and you will get this:


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is it necessary to flatten cylindrical UVs when using an image texture?

Im pretty new to UV unwrapping/mapping and Im planning on using stencils to paint decals onto the image texture. While everything else unwrapped pretty much square, im wondering if its necessary to flatten out the main body part of the UV (upper left in UV editor).

That depends on the image texture in question and how you intend to use it.  Some image textures are painted to match existing UV patterns, but most require some degree of straightening.

yes I think it will help... anyway it's pretty simple to use cylindrical projection, select just that part of your mesh, align your viewport -press numpad 3 in your case to see from right- and press U > Cylinder > Direction: View on Poles...

Cylinder projection will be more coherent, and it will be much easier to paint if you plan to do it in the Image Editor. If you plan to paint on the object into the 3D view you could simply choose Smart UV Project


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normal map causing flat shading 3.0
This question has been asked before but the answer does not help me here. I've baked a normal map that causes flat shading on the object. Both objects are shaded smooth & auto smoothed before baking. The answer to the previous question was to switch the color space to non-color but the color space drop down is greyed out. So is this just happening automatically in blender now? If so what else could be the cause of the flat shading?

So after a few hours of fumbling around I figured out that the color space seems to get locked once you bake something to the image or somewhere along the lines. Switching the color space to non-color BEFORE you bake was what I had all wrong. Alternatively, you can save the normal map and use a different image texture node and load the normal map previously baked.


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Ornamental spin or array?
How would you model this ornament? I've tried using an array on a cube with an object offset to an empty. Which works for one of the branches, but I cant figure out how to make them spiral as seen in the picture.

if you can make it for one of the branches, you could parent an empty to your complete branch (all objects), copy it and just rotate it

Create your object, create an empty at the exact same position, give your object an Array modifier with the empty as Object Offset, move the empty away from its initial position and rotate it a bit:

Create a second empty at the same position as your object, give your object a second Array modifier with this second empty as Object Offset, again move and rotate this empty:


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Sculpting around corners causing weird pinching
Why does this happen whenever sculpting around corners? I can never get it to smooth out or crease smoothly without this weird pinching on the corners. Im working with 3 million polys and it still gives the same result.

Maybe some normals got flipped, that always results in strange pinching. In edit mode, select the object and then press the "Shift + N" key combination to recalculate the normals. You can also use the menu as an alternative: In Edit mode, select the object, and then go to Mesh > Normals > Recalculate Outside.
Here is a nice explanation of the problem
If this doesn't fix it, maybe have a look at your object in wireframe mode.
Maybe vertices got way too twisted by too much sculpting operations. If the smoothing brushes cant't fix this, then maybe you should try to fix this in Edit mode


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Should you straighten UVs even when it causes stretching?
Everyone says you should straighten UVs wherever possible. But this causes some stretching, when and where should you straighten uvs, and where would you NOT straighten them?

The result is that there will be relatively more detail on the parts that are elongated and relatively less detail on the parts that are shortened, but it's entirely up to you to decide if it's something you want or not. I wouldn't worry too much about it in this case, since the relative elongation is homogeneous along your band of faces, you won't notice a visible change in texture detail density. Again, it's up to your workflow to decide wether it's a problem or not.

Thanks! This was just a basic example I whipped up, but what if you have islands that are heterogenous?  When I don't straighten uvs, I get some pretty noticeable aliasing/when baking high to low, especially on round/curved objects, even when baking in substance painter at 4k with 4x4 Anti aliasing turned on. Which i shouldn't have to do to get quality bakes.

One thing you can do is download quality assets online (there are a lot of Creative commons downloadable ones over on sketchfab) and study how they are uv unwrapped

Great idea, Thanks!

straightened UVs make for easier packing which is good when resources are limited - video games. They are also good at aligning to pixels which work well with low-resolution textures, which is again good for video games.

UV mapping is used to display 2d textures on a 3d surfaces - that's all there is to it. There are absolutely no rules here. You can do whatever you want however you want as long as it gives you your desired results. Generally you mostly want to avoid stretching, but that's not a rule at all. You may want to stretch some textures on purpose to get some specific effect. You should manipulate the UVs in a way that matches your idea of how the texture should look on your 3d object.

Thank you for the reply! I was just trying to better understand an industry standard workflow for game assets, what if you're baking from high poly to low poly though? There are definitely some rules, no? texel density,  where your seams should go in terms of hard edges, not to mention the terrible aliasing problems with curved/round islands.

There are no "rules", just things people do for stuff to work. Also there is no such thing as "industry standard" if you ask me. Just do what works. Stretching will probably not happen on geometry in your picture just because of straight lines. Scale the UVs in one axis at a time to see if it helps. The scale is probably not uniform after however you straighten the UVs. It's hard to see the actual problem from images you show. If you edit the question and add more detail about the problem(like for example show the actual texture stretching), maybe you could get a better answer.

The only problem I have found is that if you straighten a longish perimiter, like the frame of a car windscreen for example, it becomes very long in the uv layout, in order for it not to stretch. In this case I just uv it normally  ie the shape of the windscreen


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Set Vertex Normal X Y Z values Individually
Can we edit the vertex Normals similar to Maya, where you can set the X, Y, Z values individually between 0-1, or is that not possible in blender yet? In my specific case, I need my X and Z values to be 0, and the Y value to be 1.

How do you intend to use these normals? In shading? For export?

Its suppose to be a grass asset for Unreal Engine, fbx export.

Hey not sure if you found a solution yet but here's a tutorial. https://youtu.be/FT-QfuzoQEk?t=153 I came from the same grass tutorial :)

Is it split normal vectors or vertex normal vectors?


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Turntable animation with variable speeds
trying to get my camera to whip around a subject on a turntable, slow down, then ramp back up again.
Im using a Follow path constraint on a circle, i can only get either a continuous loop or it comes to a complete stop before looping again when I try to control the speed.
Here's an example of type of shots Im trying to go for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AkModwf40w
There's even a breakdown of the specific shot (Starts at 31:00): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOFQG095fYI&t=1872s
If you'll notice the camera slows down but doesn't come to a complete stop before starting again.

See if this video on changing the animation speed on a path helps. There's also this answer here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/261354/camera-path-animation-speed-change?rq=1

Thanks for the reply, but these only work for paths that are not looping. I need control over speed at a specific point while maintaining a smooth loop.

Ok. Why not use an Empty rather than a path in that case and try this tutorial. You can change the speed by key framing the angle at various positions along the timeline.


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Optimizing UV space and maintaining texel density?
Modeling this sword. Im having trouble figuring out how to use more UV space while maintaining texel density.

You can see here, the islands cant  be scaled up more without going outside the boundaries. Furthermore, I would like to get higher resolution out of the handle wrap for texturing in substance. (2 long skinny islands in UV map). But again, those cant be scaled up without breaking the edges.

Here is the handle wrap, textured in substance.

I've seen game ready models with much better resolution for things like this, seen here.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Jl6aO0

This question the way it is asked currently, is either too specific (won't help anyone else), or needs focus (How to optimize UV unwrapping is too general of a question...). The tape going around the handle is a repeatable texture and so it could be just a repeatable, seamless pattern, with A LOT of resolution: https://i.imgur.com/YayvQHm - if you have some dirt, you could still make it repeatable each 200° or so: https://i.imgur.com/kqaFxb0

You can rotate it 45 degrees to make it longer.  You can also, you know, break it up.  UV seams have minimal impact outside of certain texturing methods.  You have some places that are clearly occluded on your wrap, making these obvious seaming points anyways, even if seams were something to be worried about.  Better still, though, to retopo that wrap and handle into a single manifold mesh, but if you want, you can wait until after texturing the wrap and handle to do so-- and then you can use an 8k "high poly" image, and a completely different retopo UV with a 1k image.


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bolt heads with bevel modifiers causing tons of artifacts
So the geometry on the bolts that come in the 'bolt factory' plug in are not ideal for making a high poly bolt with bevels and a subd. At least for the phillips head.
Curious to how some of you model high poly bolt heads for hard surface game assets?

could you please show some pictures of what you have / what you want?

Why would you want a "high poly bolt heads for hard surface game assets"? Shouldn't that be a low-poly object for a game?  - You could duplicate, then remesh the new object and sculpt in the imperfections, and finally bake a normal map for the low-poly version.


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Baking AO onto a Prop with moving parts
How would you go about that? For my example I have this clock.

Here is when I bake the AO map, youll see the clock hands get baked onto the face of the clock. (Right pic). How do I set up my low and high poly models so I can bake the AO from everything while exluding the clock hands.

You could create a new collection and move the hands into it.
Then uncheck everything as done in the image for the collection "buttons":

Bake the AO.
When you want the hands, you can turn on the collection.


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what is the proper way to remesh for sculpting props?
I'm working on a stylized lamp post. I have the low poly and now I want to start sculpting out the high poly. (Just to clarify im not sculpting characters)
Usually I use a bevel modifier with subd to retain the edges, after applying those Ill use 'shift + R' and 'cntrl + R' to remesh to whatever size.
This causes other parts of the geometry to get more dense/disproportional than others. To my understanding, is not optimal for sculpting?
Should I be using edge creases or sharps to do this instead of a bevel modifier?
I just want to make sure I'm not making it harder for myself by doing something wrong on the technical side of things.  Thanks in advance :)

Do you plan to bake the normals afterwards? In that case you could subdivide with a modidier, only sculpt a part and only bake that part, don't care about what's happening with the other parts?

Yeah, im just trying to practice a high to low poly workflow for game assets, ill be baking and texturing in substance. So would you just use the simple subd instead of a catmull?

It depends on what you want, Simple won't round your object. But again, you could subdivide, it may deform some parts unwantingly but it may not be a problem

if you want an evenly sudivided mesh, how about using an accordingly divided cylinder around yor post, then shrinkwarp. This should give you the desired remeshing .

Also you can use Dyntopo in Sculpt mode (keep a low-poly of your object of course)


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Problems exporting custom textures in PS1 style
I watched some PS1 graphics tutorials and tried to create similar textures from low quality images. I textured practically every part of each face.

Is there any way I can create a UV map from my selections, or anything I can do to import the texture into Unity? I am not quite sure what to do.
This is the tutorial I was watching and he seems to manage to get them into Unity using the same method, this video might just be for educational blender purposes though, I'm not sure.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57531/fbx-export-why-there-are-no-materials-or-textures

Hello and welcome. it is best to add information into your original post, rather than post it in comments, where it can be easily missed

Seems like a question about Unity, not Blender. Or am I missing something? Are you asking how to export a texture and model? Textures can simply be saved from image editor and models can be exported via File - > Export menu.

Not sure if this is the question. But if this is a game model, I would create a new, clean UV map. That is, no overlapping UV islands except for mirroring and shared textures. Then you can bake the textures using the new UV map to a new texture image. Maybe this video series helps.


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Applying Mirror Modifier moves object
When I apply a mirror modifier the left part of the object moves a little bit. Any idea why?
Before applying the mirror modifier (black colored object)

After applying the mirror modifier (black colored object)

If I interpret your question properly, it is the LH object that is the original to which the mirror mod is applied?   Perhaps edit your question as to which is the base object, and include a screen-cap of your mirror modifier.  Perhaps the "Mirror Object" origin is not where you expect -- can you provide information on that object and include it's XYZ location?  If the "Mirror Object" origin is not where you want you may want to mirror around an Empty at the proper location (although better to mirror around the properly set origin of the helmet like object.

The problem was a curve modifier. I had to apply it first.

I had to apply the Curve modifier before applying the Mirror modifier.


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Flip fluid addon locking off parts of obstacle
When the fluid bakes, it stays contained in an extrusion in the mesh as shown in the pictures. When debugging the obstacle, I found that it closed off a part of the mesh and the fluid stayed contained throughout the entire simulation.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GjKqrINdAtYRASEc-wmu5LDxmqbFeOGw/view?usp=sharing

Didn’t check normals?

Recalculated inside, nothing changed.

r u sure this is the blend file you made the screenshot of? if i bake your simulation, i cannot see your result....so pls add a blend file which gives the result you showed in the screenshot and not a modified one. thx.

just a hint: would be great if you add an information like "i am totally newbie in terms of flip fluid and modelling" so i could first search for the beginner mistakes...this helps us finding errors quicker.

@Shrimps Hi. Please don't post essential information like links, files download or additional details in the comments section where it can be easily missed. Instead edit it into your original post with the [Edit] button above. Comments are transitory by nature, can't be indexed or searched for and may be erased at any moment.

ok, you made a lot of beginner mistakes in your scene.
First, "normally" you should apply scale and rotation, if you are starting simulations (at least with rigid body + cloth -> they wouldn't work if you had negative scales as you have here in your file).
Second, your normals were wrong on your plane.001. And just hitting "inverse" doesn't help if they are wrong.
But...you can "repair" them by adding a solidify modifier to your plane.001 (i used thickness of 0.03). By this you get "automatically" blue faces and the simulation works then properly, if you "uncheck" the inverse for the flip-fluid obstacle settings.
result:

Thank you so much, I really appreciate the help.

You are welcome


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Voxel perfect model where a light can change the color of each voxel instance with no gradients/shadows using Geometry nodes?
I made a voxel-izer by using geometry nodes' instance on points node. Here’s an example as well as the geometry node setup:
Before:

After:

Geometry node settup:

Material setup:

I wanted to apply a cell shader material to the model by using the color ramp and principled bsdf nodes. I initially thought this would change the color of each voxel instance, but instead it  placed gradients/shadows on top of the voxels.
Cell Shaded Material setup:

Examples circled:

My goal is to make a voxel perfect model with no gradients where a light can change the color of each voxel instance. My guess would be that I would need to use the geometry proximity node in order to switch each voxel instance to a different lighter material in order to achieve this, but I don’t know how to implement this idea nor do I know if there’s a better way of doing it. Can anybody help with this?


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Undo operation keeps resetting my settings
im using blender v2.83.2, since this release I'am experiencing unwanted undo behaviour.
Every time I undo for example a brushstroke, at the same time, I am resetting the most recent changes in settings like, shapekeys oder simple brushsettings. Is there any toggle or other workaround for that which I have overseen?
best regards.

I think that it's a bug (I recently saw a reference of it in a youtube tutorial.. not 100% sure if it was Blender Guru or similar)

Yep, known problem:
https://developer.blender.org/T71759

Sculpt/Vertex/Weight Paint Brush Size Gets Undone After Undoing a
Stroke
Short description of error
After changing the size, then doing a
strike and immediately undoing it, the brush size gets undone as well.
Steps to reproduce

Splash Screen > Sculpting or File > New > Sculpting.
Change the size of the brush ]
Sculpt: Only one stroke.
Undo

Thank you very much!


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How to do fluid simulation?
Blender newbie here.
Trying to create a simple fluid simulation in blender 2.83 but it just doesn't work.
Here's what I did.

Create a cube. Add fluid modifier. Set type to domain and domain type to liquid.

Create a sphere. Add fluid modifier, set type to flow and flow type to liquid.

After clicking the play button in timeline, nothing happens. The sphere stays where it initially was and there's no change in its geometry.
Can someone tell what exactly are you supposed to do to create a basic fluid simulation.
Thanks!

You are already really close to setting up a fluid simulation and have all the right steps - you're just getting caught out by the order as it's at the point where the domain is set and containing flow meshes are being initialised - so since you're creating the flow last it appears that it isn't getting linked to the domain correctly.
There are (at least) two ways of resolving this. The first is to simply switch the sequence of creating the domain and the flow - create the flow first, then position and assign the domain; the flow object should then be initialised with the fluid particles and you can run the simulation.
Alternatively, you can change the domain to object's Fluid Type to None and back to Fluid (and change Domain Type back to Liquid) - this should also re-initialise the fluid. Additionally, I've discovered that changing the cache to Final and clicking Bake also re-initializes the simulation.

This is what seems to be the case. Right after I posted this question I was able to get it to work. Its weird that this wasn't mentioned anywhere in the tutorials/documentation/videos I found that a particular order is required.

Great. To be honest it’s probably a bug. When I get chance I’ll test it on the latest experimental build of Blender and raise a bug report if still not working.

I've tried the latest build (2.90) and that has the same issue. I've created a bug request to report this : https://developer.blender.org/T78936


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Facial Animation for Fuse/Mixamo Character
Thank you in advance for any help.  I have created a character with Fuse and I was successful in exporting to mixamo to apply movements.  I can even import my Mixamo fbx into blender no problem.  I would like to add some blinking and some random facial movements to make the character look more alive and less "creepy".  Does anyone have any suggestions on easiest way to do this?
Thank you!

When you export your character to mixamo a rig is created. When it is finished you can choose if you want your character with facial shapes.
In Blender choose the body of the imported character, in object data you will find a lot of shape-keys. click one  and change it's values. See what happens.
Guenther
Edit - Adobe has since removed the facial Blendshape option.

The facial shape keys option appears to be gone. Any idea why is was removed?


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Attach/parent decal to character clothing
Thank you for any help.
I have a character that I created in fuse with clothing.  I'm trying to attach my logo in blender to the shirt.  I can do it no problem with subdivision surface and then shrink-wrap modifiers but when. Animation goes the decal does not move with character.  I've tried to parent to object buy that doesn't work either.


text:
_ctypes ImportError DLL load failed %1 is not a valid Win32 application
OS : Windows 10 64 bits
Blender 2.83 64 bits => I haven't found a 32 bits version.
Python 3.7.7 32 bits environment within miniconda.
numpy 1.16.4
I got this error message when I try to load an add-on to Blender 2.83 with a 32 bits system python 3.7 environment.
Here is the stack trace :
(tybl32) C:\>"%PYTHONHOME%/python.exe" "C:\tympan_blender\tyblender\blty" "start"
creating C:\Users\d19749\AppData\Local\blender-tympan\2.83\scripts\addons
copying C:\tympan_blender\tyblender\blender\addon -> C:\Users\d19749\AppData\Local\blender-tympan\2.83\scripts\addons\blty
copying C:\tympan_blender\tyblender\blender\config\startup.blend to C:\Users\d19749\AppData\Local\blender-tympan\2.83\config\startup.blend
starting subprocess with command: blender --python-use-system-env --addons blty
found bundled python: C:\tympan_blender\blender-2.83.0\2.83\python
Exception in module register(): C:\Users\d19749\AppData\Local\blender-tympan\2.83\scripts\addons\blty\__init__.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\tympan_blender\blender-2.83.0\2.83\scripts\modules\addon_utils.py", line 382, in enable
    mod.register()
  File "C:\Users\d19749\AppData\Local\blender-tympan\2.83\scripts\addons\blty\__init__.py", line 23, in register
    from . import collectionwrapper
  File "C:\Users\d19749\AppData\Local\blender-tympan\2.83\scripts\addons\blty\collectionwrapper.py", line 4, in <module>
    from blty.element_types import (
  File "C:\Users\d19749\AppData\Local\blender-tympan\2.83\scripts\addons\blty\element_types.py", line 3, in <module>
    from . import tympan_utils as tu
  File "C:\Users\d19749\AppData\Local\blender-tympan\2.83\scripts\addons\blty\tympan_utils.py", line 8, in <module>
    import numpy as np
  File "C:\outils\miniconda3_64\envs\tybl32\Lib\site-packages\numpy\__init__.py", line 140, in <module>
    from . import _distributor_init
  File "C:\outils\miniconda3_64\envs\tybl32\Lib\site-packages\numpy\_distributor_init.py", line 33, in <module>
    with RTLD_for_MKL():
  File "C:\outils\miniconda3_64\envs\tybl32\Lib\site-packages\numpy\_distributor_init.py", line 18, in __enter__
    import ctypes
  File "C:\outils\miniconda3_64\envs\tybl32\Lib\ctypes\__init__.py", line 7, in <module>
    from _ctypes import Union, Structure, Array
ImportError: DLL load failed: %1 nÔÇÖest pas une application Win32 valide.
Saved session recovery to 'C:\Users\d19749\AppData\Local\Temp\quit.blend'

Blender quit

Blender is launch within a python script with this command :
cmd=['blender', '--python-use-system-env', '--addons', 'blty']
p = subprocess.run(cmd, env=env)

The env variable hold the system environment variables plus those notables ones :
set PYTHONHOME=C:\outils\miniconda3_64\envs\tybl32
set BLENDER_DIR=C:\tympan_blender\blender-2.83.0
set PYTHONPATH=%TYMPAN_INSTALL_DIR%\cython;%PYTHONHOME%\Lib;%PYTHONHOME%\Lib\site-packages;%PYTHONHOME%\DLLs;%PYTHONPATH%
set PATH=%BLENDER_DIR%;%PYTHONHOME%;%PATH%

What I unsuccessfully tried :

Miniconda 32 bits
Miniconda 64 bits with 32 bits Python 3.7 environment,
Downgrade numpy to 1.16.2
Rename blender python folder to python.old
What I'd like to try :
Using Blender 2.83 32 bits => Is there a way to get an official 32 Blender 2.83 version ?

Could it be an incompatibility between Blender 2.83 64 bits and addon relying on 32 bits system Python environement using numpy ?
Thank you for your attention and feedbacks.

I think 2.80 is the last version that comes with a 32 bit distribution. I wouldn't count on a 64 bit version running smoothly on a 32 bit system. You can get 2.80 32 bit here - https://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.80/

Thank you for the advice @ChristopherBennett. Using a 64 bits Python environment solved the problem.


text:
How do i change the pivot point of the "Rotate" text fields in the Transform panel?
I've already figured out how to set a pivot point for the normal Rotate tool in the Toolbar, but whenever i try to animate something rotating, it always ends up rotating around the axis (in this case the Y axis) instead of rotating around the pivot point that i previously set it to. Keyframes seem to look at the "Rotate" text fields in the Properties panel instead of how i actually rotate it using the Rotate tool in the Toolbar, which is why the title is phrased like that.

When you rotate an object around an origin other than the object's origin, it changes both the object's rotation and location.  As a result, when you set your keyframes, you'll want to use "LocRot" rather than "Rotation."


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Can't Symmetrize Amatures Correctly
Whenever I Symmetrize my Armatures they always flip on the wrong axis. I've tried turning the model, and it always ends up flipping the wrong way

I guess it is because your model is too small. select the armature and try scaling it up..

I tried that, it still doesn't work

Try putting the origin of the mesh at he center of the mesh, and the origin of the armature in the center of the armature (or on its symmetry axis), if you don't have that already. And then put them both at the center of the scene. Shift+C and Shift+S > Selection to Cursor can help with that.


text:
Lighting up the scene using a fire in cycles
I am rendering a torch light scene which looks something like this in my viewport and this is how I want it to actually look, but maybe a bit dimmer and realistic (for which I'm using Cycles).

But this is how it looks while rendering. No details are visible at all. How can I make the fire throw light onto the scene without adding an additional lamp?

Also, after the rendering completes, this is how the image looks.

Can someone tell me what's happening here and how to rectify it? And also, how to achieve the desired lighting?

Do you have an emission-shader added to the fire?

@MarcoVitale I created the fire using Quick Effects Smoke. So what do I add the emission shader to? The object that is acting as the fire emitter?


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Fire disappears in cycles render
I've been trying to render a flame in blender 2.8. It appears fine in my viewport. However, the flame disappears when the rendering is complete and everything turns black. Can someone tell me what's wrong?
Viewport:

Rendered Image:

Here is my node setup for the smoke domain:

Hard to tell with the current information. Did you bake the simulation cache? Is the domain object enabled for rendering (camera icon)?. Is there another object blocking the view? Edit your question and add more information. Also, you don't need the additional emission node, the principled volume node, just plug the color ramp to the color socket for emission and the value to emission strength

@susu yes i did bake the simulation. could you please tell me where to find the setting which enables the domain object?


text:
Stencil Texture Paint - Paint bleeding
There is no better way to explain my problem than a screenshot, so here it is.

Why is this happening and how do I deal with this?

are you sure that your unwrap is correct?

@moonboots i am pretty new to texturing. can you please elaborate?

You need to unwrap your object in order to paint on it, you can see the unwrapped object in the UV Editor window. If the unwrapped is bad, the result of the painting may be unexpected like here

@moonboots thanks a ton. that worked

do an Unwrap > Smart UV Project, it should work well


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Movie clip editor messes up with my colors
Before I state my question, you need to know that I'm way out of my league. I'm just trying to stabilize some timelapse and that's all I'm using Blender for.
I have a few hundred PNG files that I took with a camera and then adjusted their colors using Darktable. Now, I'm trying to track and then stabilize them before turning them into a clip. I managed to learn how to do so after watching some online videos and everything worked perfectly. It's just that the rendered images and also the viewport within Blender change the color of my images. I mean when I open the same files in Darktable or even in gThumb, the colors look perfect. But when I drag and drop them into Blender, everything is different. Here's a sample shot:

On the left, you can see Blender's viewport (the output render file is the same) and on the right is the same file opened in gThumb (Darktable shows it like this as well). Can someone please help me find what the problem is?

Just posting this so I can post the pic. I can't be 100% certain this will solve your problem, but you likely find some success playing around with the color management settings. See below:

That was it. Thanks.

To be more precise, if the image is using sRGB there is no reason to use filmic blender, the view transform should be "standard". https://i.sstatic.net/oWh4A.png Read: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/176754/blender-image-output-gets-greyish-touch/176760#176760


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UV unwrapped object showing unwanted lines in Substance Painter
I would like to paint on my 3D object in Substance Painter and have UV unwrapped it as in Picture 1. However, when exported to Substance Painter, it's showing strange lines. How do I remove them and am I UV unwrapping this correctly? Thanks!

Your model has Ngons, they have to be triangulated and unlike quads they can be triangulated differently depending on the algorithm used, this can cause a lot of problems in substance, like the one you are showing, make sure you clean your topology before you export the mesh to substance.

Use Smart UV Project in Blender to ensure you don't have any overlapping areas. Manual unwrapping requires careful placement of seams (and is recommended for many complex objects, say, a human face), but for this, U -> Smart UV Project will get rid of the issue, and additionally not have stretching, for example.

The problem is that there are there are overlapping areas in your UV map.  Thus, when you paint on one area in the texture, it affects the other portions of the UV map that overlap that same point.  You'll probably want to try using a different UV projection for the model.  Try out several options until you get a nice UV map that doesn't overlap.  Just note that some projections are view dependent.  So try going into a view that makes sense (like front view) before unwrapping.  You can also try electing edges in problematic areas and selecting Ctr+e -> Mark Seam so that the UV map disconnects along that edge.  Once you got something that looks pretty good, you can head over to the "Texture Paint" mode to get a basic idea of how good the UV map will work before importing it into Substance Painter.
Hope that helps!