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How to add small details such as buttons/switches?
How do I add small details such as buttons, switches and grooves in electronic products in Blender? I can only think of Boolean for this purpose but boolean is not the best solution it seems as it need very dense mesh. Also please don't suggest any paid addons. Can't afford right now.

Sorry, voting to close this question as it demands opinion-based answers. There's no "correct" way to do this, it depends on the model (and if you are talking about just this one specific object shown in the picture, the solution is of no general benefit). It comes mostly down do these two, 1. Boolean, not always the best but not necessarily the worst solution, or 2. just model it. I don't know what addon you have in mind, either one modeling it for you(?) or doing other fancy Boolean stuff. But that's it mostly, the exact way can vary a lot. But no magical "button & switches generator".

I disagree. It asks for ways to do this not for the best way. No different than many technique questions.

i have to agree to Marty. Maybe you read too quickly?

@MartyFouts Well, if nobody agrees so the question won't be closed, no problem. I just thought since one way (Boolean) is already given in the question and supposed to be "not the best solution", it is somehow asking for the best way. And the method given by Chris' answer for example I wouldn't suggest, since the reference image looks like the goal is maybe seeing things quite close-up (I might be wrong on this one, but have no information on that) and since these buttons and switches are not micro details and not too complex shapes I would model them. So, we have different opinions here.

Are you trying to model this at full resolution or is this going to be for a game mesh that will be baked down and low poly?

There's also another nice tutorial here for headphones, with a nice technique for the leather wrinkles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2iloupX7S8

Honestly there's no substitute for just modeling it out sometimes. I might use something like this method.
Model your curved headphone shape:

Model out the button however you like. Use a medium amount of geo with no support loops. I set the bevel weight on sharp edges over 30 degrees with a few select edges I didn't want removed/added to the weight set. This is for the next step.

Apply a bevel modifier with these settings set like this:

Alot of times it works fine for objects with the angle set to 30 or 45, sometimes it's not so universal so you'll need to manually set it to weighted edges to specify the edges you want.
Then I add a subsurf, and a weighted normal modifier which gives us this result.

Not bad for a mesh that had 16 n-gons just a second ago. No need to add support loops or anything. This technique usually only works with objects that need a subsurf to smooth things out and give it that "realistic look".
Trying to do super flowy organic shapes will probably not pan out.
Then add a lattice modifier with only one layer to it and fit it to the button object. You might want to rotate it into position as best as you can to prevent skewing.

Then add a shrinkwrap mod to the lattice object to bend the  button object to the curved shape. You might have to fiddle with the offset settings to get it just right.

(NOTE: Before you do this next step, duplicate the curved base object and make sure your button curve Lattice modifier is targeting this mesh for deformation. Then hide the duplicated object.)
Then if you want to really sell it; duplicate the button object. Select the outer face ring and use Alt+S to push it out a bit.

Then delete all the mods except the lattice and apply the lattice. Select all the mesh, then run Select Boundary Loop to get the exterior edge, invert selection and delete everything.
You should have something that looks like this.

You probably want to use Alt+S to push this out away from the surface a tiny bit. (I found I had to make a face to give the verts a decent normal to follow, then just Delete>Only Faces once it's moved into the correct spot).

Then we're gonna use Knife Project to cut this shape into our curved object. Just read the manual, I won't go into the step-by-step here. (Tip: if you select the faces you want to cut, then press Shift+Numpad7 it will give you the best camera view to cut the faces with)

Run it.

Then we just inset the resulting geo from that operation.

You will probably need to go through to clean it up a bit. Just delete the random floating edges and nearly doubled vertices:

Cleaned:

Then use the same Bevel>Subsurf method to smooth this out.
The reason we duped the base object and hid it before all this, is because if you inset the geo it will cause the Lattice mod to deform against the inset geo, which we don't want.

Final result:

You can basically use this method for the rest of the button models.

.. Congratulations on your honesty. Choosing the trickiest feature to demonstrate that modelling is the way to go :) Modelling it beautifully. And illustrating it beautifully.

Great showcasing of the lattice and shrinkwrap mods. I'll probably add them to my process, to keep it more parametric :)) (btw Robin is right)

@RobinBetts hey man, I never said 3D modeling was easy. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Excellent use of Lattice. :-)

@Jakemoyo Thanks you so much. This helped a lot. The use of single-layered lattice is something I would never do. I tried doing shrinkwrap directly on the mesh itself (which distorted the button). Your method is far more accurate and controlled. Cheers.

I would suggest using shrink-wrap method described here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rlMzsBWtPY
In short, the method looks like this.

Prepare the base model with a lot of subdivisions. In my case, I'll use torus:

Make a copy of the model, and set a shrink-wrap modifier on the high-poly model:

You are free to add holes in the mesh now, that doesn't break the surface of geometry:

To add a volume, extrude the points:

add them into the new vertex group:

Put this group into shrink-wrap modifier:

With this technique you can add any holes in the mesh without braking the base surface, even if it is very complex.

One very easy way is too use normal maps. Disadvantage: you have to "find" these normal maps "somewhere".
Then you can use this node setup (the object is just a smooth shaded ordinary cylinder):


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Separating rendered objects in layers for Photoshop?
I want my rendered objects in separate layers so that i can take them in photoshop and add stuff in between. How do I do that? One way I learned was hide other objects and use Transparent in Render Properties>Film>Transparent but this method doesnot render bounce lights. What I need is an entire scene rendered as usual but the objects separated in different layers. * phew *

Cryptomatte masks can be used. There is this EXR-IO add-on for Photoshop that lets you import Multilayer EXR files with Cryptomatte masks.
Rendering simple render layers(View Layers) is also an option. You create new layers and choose what collections to include, exclude or mask in the Outliner:

You can also control which ones to render:

That's animatable.
Note that if you use compositing, Render Layers node has an option to choose the layer:

It's animatable property as well so you can output some layers for some frame ranges and others for other frame ranges.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/render/layers/view_layer.html
You can hide objects from a layer, but leave their shadows and reflections in tact as well:

Photoshop is not the best tool to do compositing though. Compositing in 32 bits can be done in Blender. That would make things easier with color management. Other way if you use EXRs in Photoshop you will need to do color grading in Photoshop. Which is very similar experience to chewing broken glass if you asked me...

But won't layers disable the bounce lights too from the disabled objects?

It depends on what you are after. You can mask the object, exclude it , or leave it's light bounces and shadows only. See updated answer.

OH that's neat. I will try this, and maybe this is what i am after.

I just tried this and this is exactly what I needed. Thanks a lot!

One solution I have is to enable Cryptomatte passing in "View layer properties". Watch a youtube video on this matter!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OykO2GkSyUo

I feel cryptomatte is the make do way for the moment, thanks,.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Inset only edge (of one side)
I have been looking for inset edge only (not the whole face) is it possible? Example attached.

You mean, like cutting an edge? CTRL + R? If not, you need to explain a bit more

or offset edge slide ctrl + shift + R.

Ctrl Shift R worked. Thank you. @lemon

Maybe @lemon can answer, or you can self-answer, to mark this one as solved.. thanks.

As per the comment by @lemon the solution is ⇧ Shift + Ctrl + R to Offset Edge Slide.

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


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How do I redirect my edge flow here?
I want to redirect the edge flow here as shown with blue line without breaking the quad based geometry?

Is it a problem if it adds 2 vertices on your outer edge loop? Because you could simply do that:

I don't think it will be a problem (I think) as I have a shrinkwrap modifier supporting the mesh. Let me try. Thanks for your reply dude! I feel so stupid to not think flexibly. Also let me thank you for being so prompt on this website and helping me a couple of times!

you're welcome  ;)

Well it works! :)

Just another option in case the outer edge loop would matter, you could do something like this (but I personally think @moonboots answer results in a better mesh):

Thank you! I feel your's is also very tight. I don't see much of a difference between your's and @moonboots.


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Using Simple Deform to bend multiple objects at the same time?
I want that I can bend/twist etc multiple separate objects using the same Simple Deform Modifier? Is that possible? That will help me organic looking models also when I do Boolean it will also modify the boolean objects too. Any insight on this?

You can join objects by geo nodes modifier and than use simple bend modifier ... Or you can set bend modifier to all selected objects from contextual menu and than set drivers with specific value in modifier to sync values.

@vklidu Can you show me how to do it in both the cases? Or direct me to a youtube video where it shows the same? (And would they have different material if joined)

version Geo Nodes
Probably even better to use Collection Info node (than Join Geometry) so you can affect all objects at once ...
... all objet you want to bend place into collection. Than add any mesh object (I used Plane) but can be anything, this mesh is not going to be a part of the result. The Plane object just has to be out of collection (that you want to bend).

version Copy to Selected
Downside of geo nodes technique is lost of materials. To keep materials you can try use Copy to Selected ...

Ad Empty object
Select all objects you want to affect by bending.
Ad Simple Deform modifier and choose Empty for Origin field.
Now go to modifier header and next to camera icon open expand menu and choose Copy to Selected. This operator ads modifier to each selected object.

If you need to change Angle (with all affected objects still selected) right-click over angle value and choose Copy to Selected there. This operator syncs value for all Angle values in modifier of all selected objects.
This angle value can be synchronized by drivers ... its simple copy paste technique, but has to be set manually for each object. After driver assignment you can set angle and see effect in real time for all objects.

Do I need to join the separate objects first? Because when i put 2 objects in a collection and apple Geometry node to one of the objects and do exactly the same what you did it only affects the object where i have applied the Simple deform node. (I am getting error "Collection contains current object")

See edit for more info ...

Hi, i forgot to ask, how do i add different colours to separate objects? Using set material in geometry node applies the same colour to entire model.

See edit for more info ...

Here is one example what vklidu meant:


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How to make a light affect a single object in a scene?
I want to light a single object in a scene. It has many purposes for my render. How do I go about it?

I think you need to use the Compositor and the View Layers

Ins't there a way to do it in 3d viewport itself as it will be quite a task if i have to render and re-render everytime. Also, i do not even know the way as you mentioned just now... lol

maybe you can cheat: bake the texture and use an Emission node instead of a Diffuse, so that the object will appear enlighted

Well, can you tell me the 1st way? Using compositor and view layers?

the second way would not work in your case?

I have never baked a texture. Plus whatever little i know I need to be able to at least view it in 3d-Viewport. Because I have to experiment a lot with lights and a single pass never suffice.

Put the object and its light in a collection:

Create a second view layer in the Outliner:

In View Layer 1 enable the collections except the one with the object and light:

In View Layer 2 enable the collection with the object and light only:

Enable the Film > Transparent option:

Render, then go into the Compositor window, enable Use Nodes and Backdrop (in order to see the render in the background, press V and AltV to zoom or unzoom, or select the Viewer node and catch the handles of the image), duplicate the Render Layers node, in each one select a render layer, mix them with a Color > Alpha Over, plug into an Output > Composite and an Output > Viewer:

Thank you. This works for my objective. :)


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render won’t save “cannot read permission dennied”
i'm new to blender, i'm trying to save my rendered image but i keep getting this error, how to fix it? thanks
Image link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CwU98i5MC-4/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Hello and welcome. While files, images, and external videos or links may be helpful additions they should not be the only way to obtain information about your issue. Don't make understanding your question rely on downloading a file, watching a video or visiting an external site. Use the builtin tools to upload images or gifs, along with thoroughly explaining the problem in written form so it can be indexed and searched for thus helping future visitors with similar issues.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/119851/render-stops-after-1-frame-render-error-permission-denied-cannot-save-0001 https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/33105/why-do-i-get-a-permission-denied-error-when-importing-an-obj-file https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/84602/cannot-save-blend-files-permission-denied

i tried to post a simple image but it said that the image was large


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How to get normals of generated geometry in geometry nodes?
I'm using Blender 3.6.2 and I'm experimenting with geometry nodes. I would like to apply a transformation to the points of a mesh primitive I added through nodes, but I want to use the normals of the neighboring faces of the generated mesh, and I can't find any way to access that data, since the Normal Node has no input.
I feel like my approach might be wrong, but it seems like accessing the normals should be such a basic thing to do? Is there a way to do what I'm looking to do?

The normal node has an output. This output gives you the normal of the points(I think it's face corners) You can use a evaluate on domain and get the normal for each face. Why would the nrmal node have an input? Currently you cannot do something like set the normal of a point/edge/whatever. But you can output the value and use it in the shader nodes and even bake it if you want to. But your actual question,"use the normals of the neighbring faces of the generated mesh" is something that I cannot help with. Please wait for a proper answer for that. But I hope the info I have provided is helpful

@TheKalaakaar I don't get it, if I have multiple mesh sources in the geometry nodes editor, which one is used to calculate the normals? How do I specify this?

Say you are using the set position node. And you add 1 to each axis of the existing position by using a vector math: add after the position node. Then the position node will be evaluated in the context of the geometry which you used the set position on. It seems you are not too familiar with the concept of fields and how they are evaluated. It's not that simple, or else I would have explained it myself. I would first suggest you to watch the video by Erindale on this topic. Hopefully that willl clear some of the doubts. Best of luck

although i answered, i recommend watching some basic beginner geometry nodes tutorials e.g. of Erindale who explains it very well

let's say you have a cube:
if you add this node tree:

you will get points on all faces:

if you now instantiate a cone (with pivot point on the bottom) on the points, you will get:

To get the value of a normal of any face, you can use this:

where index is the face index. Of course you can also use fix "index" numbers like so:

if you put that all together:

you can rotate the instances according to the face normal of the mesh:

result:

thanks, I think I'm starting to get it. will this work with verteces as well?

Hi Sortai, ...comments are for "comments" - not for additional questions. Please be aware that the sense of this site is that others can learn from your questions as well. But comments aren't searchable and won't be found by others. You can ask as many questions as you want - if you have additional questions - pls open a new questions. thx. and yes...if you change that to vertices it will work as well. But best is still - try it on your own - by this you will learn much more than by asking. ;)

and if my answer helped you, pls click on the checkmark left of my answer - thx.

just use a capture attribute


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How to Change Default .exe Settings
I don't mean just saving a new default startup .blend. I mean how do you make a Blender .exe that has a customized default startup file before it ever even runs the first time?
For example, if I wanted to give someone a Blender .exe to install that never gives them a default cube, how would you do that? I found this:
https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/src/branch/main/scripts/startup/bl_app_templates_system
But I can't find the one for 3D View, the true default. So in my imagination there is a default .blend file somewhere in the source that just gets copied into the OS directory on install.
Hopefully it's not hardcoded and is an actual .blend? ChatGPT is telling me it's hardcoded in C but I don't believe it yet.
I want to do this because my addon is very much not targeted to existing Blender users, so ideally I would be able to provide what's basically a fork that auto installs my addon and sets up my custom .blend startup file. If I have to learn how to build Blender myself, that's fine, but I'm hoping this can be achieved without changing the C.
Because I know I can mess with the built-in python scripts and have it work as expected, so as long as it isn't in the C...

What I've figured out is that I can just put a button on the splash screen .py. And then I think I can just sneak my addon into the default addons folder so it acts like a built-in addon instead of like one you have to manually install. And then I think if I just use that .exe/.app, it will run as expected on a new machine. But I'll obv need a windows version, Apple/Intel version, and a Apple silicone version.

"ChatGPT is telling me..." oh no. Large language models take puzzle pieces of topics and try to shove them together in a way that seems sensical, but it doesn't mean they actually go together. They will readily contradict themselves as they have no information verification system besides patterns of ideas seeming edge-similar to continue the jigsaw puzzle analogy. Never try to use an LLM for research that you do not intend to check yourself afterwards.

@TheLabCat ChatGPT is my part-time developer assistant, and I will readily go to bat to defend its competence any day of the week.

Maybe that's why you're stuck.

I am definitely not stuck, more like on an orbital trajectory.


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'Missing bones error' when exporting FXB moel to plask.ai, Does anybody have a solution to this problem?
I have already tried numerous seettings and having no luck. i have added a skeleton and rigged it to my character and exported as FXB file. This file is supported by plask.ai... i will attatch the error along with the shot of the model and setting for help. i would appreciate any assistance thanks! :)

I doubt anyone here knows what "plask.ai" is and problems importing into it are off-topic here anyway, but I don't believe fbx format supports Rigify rigs anyway from the comments here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/264601/imported-rigify-rig-is-broken.

thanks for your reply! i have tried also glb file and have to same issue, is there a way to add bones and mesh to the layers, as the other program only requires bones and mesh, it does not require rigs i think maybe the bones are not showing in the fxb file?

It sounds like a problem importing into your external program and we can't help with that. To check the glb and fbx files, try importing them back into an empty Blender file and see if they work as expected.


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How to extrude a curve from a triangle - Blender 2.93
I'm trying to do the red marked shape on a triangle plane.
I do not know how to do that, nor what I have to search in order to learn how to do it.
I've been looking for an answer on the Internet, no luck yet.

I'm super new to blender, I could do basic stuff with 3DS Max but I just don't get Blender's workflow.
Thank you very much.

Could this be a duplicate of this topic?
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/133870/how-can-i-create-a-mathematically-correct-arc-circular-segment

A possible solution is to activate the Tiny CAD add-on, where you can define a circle by three points.

Thanks for the posts. This is not a regular forum, according to site rules links to answers are not answers if the link goes missing your answer becomes an empty shell without content. Answers should be substantial and stand on their own without relying on external data like links, videos or images. Instead of having users go through external links, either transcribe essential parts of the process here, linking the source, or posts these in the comments section instead.

FWIW, Tiny CAD addon is included with Blender, just activate it.

Thank you, I modified the answer accordingly

Thanks for the answer. I think this is the solution since it solves it at a certain steps.
I still need to join the created circle (semi-circle) to the triangle.
In origin I wanted to modify somehow the triangle's hypotenuses and make a circle. As I said on the post I still don't know Blender's workflow, so I guess this is what I need to go with.

To join the two geometries, you can either do a boolean operation (union) or simply press CTRL+J to merge them. And I'm not sure what you call hypotenuses as it's not a right triangle.

Hello, @AlexBarra, I think Jag's comment above can be read absolutely at face-value, without any intent to offend. Different folks from different cultures and with different first languages can interpret tone very differently, too.. I think,  assume the best, unless contrary evidence is very clear.

Definitely. I'm very sorry if it was taken as an offense. I was just trying to clarify the base case. Actually I don't even understand which part was deemed offensive.

Btw 'right' triangle means triangle with a 90° angle. Not a 'proper' triangle.


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how to find the angles to set the cylinder direction as perpendicular to the faces(polygons in python) of an object?
I want to find angle of an cylinder so that it will always perpendicular to the position in another object faces. I got face(polygon in python) position by 'bpy.context.active_object.data.polygons['index_number'].center' and each face also have rotation saved as 'bpy.context.active_object.data.polygons['index_number'].normal' . For the cylinder I also have cylinder angle by 'rotation_euler'.
In Attached photo the green one is fine. but the red one seems not perpendicular to the face. Anyone can help?
Thanks.

I did not find related questions, if any then request to give link.

To little information. How do you get polygon number? How do you run the script? Why don't you use snap instruments?

That I can handle. Just run a for loop and find out new polygons with area range. For a particular polygon or face its position and normal is fixed. So using that information I want to set cylinder with perpendicular to that specific face.

Hello ! It may be your "get_perpendicular_angle" (or however you named it) function has a flaw. Could you post a snippet of the algorithm ? Also, you almost certainly will hit a roadblock once you start rotating or moving your objects in world space. Make sure you familiarize yourself with object.matrix_world which is used to transform from local to global space and vice versa

Do you change the position also? Just to make sure that correct face has been picked?

'Gorgious' I did not use matrix. According to your comment it seems a little bit difficult.

"Crantisz" face selection is not problem. I can save their index number in a list and using that number to get specific face position to manipulate the position of cylinder when necessary.

Probable dupe https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/19533/align-object-to-vector-using-python   https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/167514/15543  https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/27491/python-vertex-normal-according-to-world

According to batFINGER comment, I checked those posts and try some variation and found my expected solution.
I used .normal.to_track_quat('Z','X') for each face to make it perpendicular and convert it .to_euler() for each face (or polygon in python). For example, if I want the cylinder to be perpendicular to face number 116 then code will like,
polygon = bpy.data.objects['Circle'].data.polygons
cylinder = bpy.data.objects['Cylinder']
cylinder.location  = polygon[116].center
cylinder.rotation_euler = polygon[116].normal.to_track_quat('Z','X').to_euler()


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How to connect 2 geometry node using python script?
I want to connect 2 geometry node using python script. I'm currently capable to create geometry node using node_groups['Geometry Nodes'].nodes.new() but Still unable to connect 2 node.
Can anyone help?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/5413/how-to-connect-nodes-to-node-group-inputs-and-outputs-in-python and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/145882/blender-scripting-connect-nodes  doesn't matter the node tree type, the node basics are the same

Hello, Thanks for your reply. I did it with some changes. That's help a lot.


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How can you make normal map part of the mesh
Its basically reverse baking so can you do that ? I'm not going to upload my blend file cause I believe in this case it is unnesecarie


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Weird vibration of car wheels when rendered - rigacar addon
I am making a low poly car animation for a school project. Since I haven't rigged a car before and dont have much time I used an addon called Rigacar for the car rig (link to addon page: http://digicreatures.net/articles/rigacar.html ). Everything looked OK when I made a simple test animation using a path untill I rendered it. When seeing the rendered result there is a weird wheel bouncing/vibration that I do not know the source of. It happens even if there is no ground sensors used with the wheels. If anyone has a solution or a suggestion that would be greatly appreciated.
Here is a WeTransfer link that includes the blender file and the render result video: https://we.tl/t-yYDxPj7cGl

Okay , so this is sus , this problem doesnt exist in viewport

but i render 30 frames from 100th to 130th frame and there is no such problem with my render

i used eevee engine

I know this is a very old question but I just started using the Rigacar addon and I found that if the origin of the wheel objects is set to the point where the parented object that is connected to the wheel armature of the Rigacar. So if any part does not share the same origin as the wheel armature causes the wheels to bounce and vibrate.


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Rope material stretching along long faces
Trying to make a rope material. Granted I am still learning this, but my result seems to be stretching in strange ways....
This is how the UV is unwrapped and this are the nodes being used

any thoughts on what I am doing wrong here?

Hello :). It seems you stretched some parts of your rope, without updating the UV map.  Simply unwrap again. Also, no need for so many UV seams, it'll only make it harder to line up the texture :).

Yea actually this snapshot is immediately after a fresh unwrapping...

Scale your UVs where it is stretched, you can do this by selecting the stretched faces and then seeing what vertices are highlighted int he UV view, you then press 's' to scale and then 'x' or 'y' to scale on the axis you need, in your case it looks like the 'y' axis.
That should fix it though not a real fix as you have to do it each time you edit the mesh, you have an issue where you have marked all your edges as seams, it's supposed to be like Origami, this is why a cube unfolds to a T shape rather than four squares (UV islands as they call them). Seams are essentially cuts that you would add to the flat paper to turn them into a 3D shape (remember textures are 2D and models are 3D,it's just turning that 3D shape back into a 2D one). Try removing some seams to make less islands. I would say that you need a maximum of three. One for each end of the rope and one for the length of the rope spanning all the way around.
Like seen here:

This one I actually made it one UV island by removing two edges from being marked as a seam in that example (You see how we are back to that T shape? Even though it is upside down):

I highly suggest watching this playlist, it goes into the UV unwrapping too! I know it says intermediate but don't let that put you off... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tdUxzhEy_E&list=PLjEaoINr3zgHJVJF3T3CFUAZ6z11jKg6a&index=1

Thanks so much. I'm not sure why I was stuck so much on this one, and didn't see reducing the number of seems as a solution. This worked perfectly with a little scaling in the mapping node. I did take this one step further by making applying follow active quads on the islands.

Basically when you add seams to every edge, every face becomes scaled to fit the UV area for the best use of texel space. Otherwise you have loads of UV pixels that are not bing used and are a waste of data. By adding the least amount of seams, it constrains that scaling and will make sure that the model is closer to 1:1 ratio on the UV.


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Vertex Paint disappears after switching to edit mode
Basically, after painting the vertices, I noticed that at some point while editing my scene, they disappeared ...
and I tested every step i did before to find out what was causing it to disappear.
I found that, for some reason, entering edit mode and exiting edit mode deleted my vertex painting.
So I recorded a video showing exactly how it happens:
https://i.imgur.com/Y3X2w9B.mp4
My thought about it: For some reason the vertex paint goes 100% white, that is the default color when you create a new one. I know it could happen if u decimate or somehow change the amount of vertex of your object, but I'm just entering edit mode and not changing anything... I don't know if its a bug or I am doing something wrong. pls help!

This looks like a bug, does your object have active modifiers ?

And are you using any add-on ?

@Gorgious No, There's no add-on, and I think the only modifier was a subdivision surface that I removed, at the end I think it was a bug, I did start it all over and it didn't happen again!


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Python Smart UV unwrap on all objects
Follow on from this question but using v2.91.
I want to apply smart UV unwrap on all objects but if I use the code suggested in the link, I get an error
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<blender_console>", line 4, in <module>
AttributeError: bpy_prop_collection: attribute "active" not found

This is the code I used, what would be the suggested way?
import bpy
'''
objects = bpy.context.scene.objects
for obj in objects:
    obj.select
'''
if bpy.context.selected_objects != []:
    for obj in bpy.context.selected_objects: #loop through all the selected objects
        if obj.type == 'MESH':
            bpy.context.scene.objects.active = obj
            bpy.ops.object.editmode_toggle() #entering edit mode
            bpy.ops.mesh.select_all(action='SELECT') #select all objects elements
            bpy.ops.uv.smart_project() #the actual unwrapping operation
            bpy.ops.object.editmode_toggle() #exiting edit mode

I also tried to select all objects using obj.select but it doesn't recognise select.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/169928/smart-uv-project-multiple-objects-to-different-uv-maps

Just updated the code for 2.8+: https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/103199/31447 Closing as dupe?


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Fonts not showing up
I have several fonts, ttf, that are installed on my computer and show up in everything else. For some reason, Blender doesn't show some of them, I don't know why. Can anyone help / suggest / point me in the right direction?

Maybe helpful: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/77216/

Most likely your problem is related to malware_656's answer at quellenform's link. The problem is, that Blender by default opens the folder C:\Windows\Fonts to choose a font from, however not all installed fonts are necessarily located in this folder. Some of them can be found here: C:/Users/username/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Fonts and they get shown alongside all the other installed fonts.


text:
boolean difference of cube and cylinder not showing correctly in CURA or other 3D viewer
Here is my situation:
I place a cube of 20mm and then a cylinder of 2mm diameter and 22mm length through the center of the cube, extending 1mm from either side.
Using the cube as the "master" and doing a boolean difference with the cylinder works fine. The shaded model correctly shows the cylindrical hole through the cube.
I apply all transforms then do an STL export to view in either MS 3D Viewer app or CURA. Both apps show the cylinder ends protruding beyond the cube faces on opposing sides, no hole, just the cube face.
I also tried snapping the cylinder ends to the opposing cube faces in edit mode, then boolean difference in object mode. Blender displays it correctly as in the above procedure. Export STL and view in CURA et al, same result. No hole through the cube, in this case just 6 empty cube faces.
This is a simple example of the problems I'm having with a more complex model. Blender shows all the boolean differences correctly (3D Tools has no complaints) but the holes in cube faces and vacancies that should occur in the volume of the cube do not (render?) correctly in Cura or MS 3D Viewer.
I'm stumped! Is there a way around this situation?Cura render of first procedure
Thanks for your help!
Dave

Did you delete the cylinder before exporting?

Hi @Peter, no, but I do make the eye icon in the collection off.

I did a boolean union, with the cylinder normals reversed. Then keep (eye icon open) the cylinder active. Works great. Then I applied what I learned to my project, works. The suggested procedure did not work for me, alas.

I believe I found a good answer to my own question.
I used the Solidify modifier, 1mm with offset of -1. Then I had to delete a face in the cylinder on one end, now it shows correctly in MS 3D Viewer. I still have to try it in CURA, but I think it will work.
BTW, I found that solution in a web search for boolean not working in CURA. LOL,
https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/8227/boolean-operation-on-two-objects-in-blender

Nope, although it shows correctly in MS 3D Viewer, it does not in CURA . The cube face where the through-hole should be is solid, shows extrusions on the entire face. I gues this is now a CURA issue, so I'll take my problem there. Thanks for bearing with a NOOB

I'm John, not Peter , but turning off the eye icon will only stop the boolean object being shown in the 3D viewport, it won't affect whether it's exported or not. Once you've applied the Boolean modifier you can delete the cylinder altogether.

Hi John, sorry I picked the wrong name from the page. That's a great suggestion. I didn't because I like to leave the option to edit the parts later, but I can make a "printing" copy and use your idea. Thanks! Got my printer yesterday, calibrating...

Yes. I should have said that you need to keep a seperate copy of the Blend file in case you need to change it later. Good luck!

Hi John, if I delete the cylinder, it no longer is in the file. That is, delete and it disappears from the cube in the 3D view. The cylinder is a boolean difference from the cube, so that it will exist inside the volume defined by the cube.

Sonar. The idea is to get the cube cut out as you want it. Then take a backup of your Blend file while you still have the boolean object and the modifier in place so that you could adjust it if you need to in future. Then on the second Blend file you apply the modifier, delete the boolean object and then export your file. You should now have your cube with the hole in it but no boolean cylinder in your export file.


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How to I use pyopenvdb when using a bpy-build
I built blender as a python module, which worked out great (using make bpy). The problem is, that pyopenvdb is not built as well. Is there a possibility to do this from build options? I checked that WITH_OPENVDB is set. Or do I have to built openvdb with python from scratch?


text:
Limit Rotation To Normal Geo Nodes
I am trying to make a scattering system and I have added wind by simply rotating the instances on the X and Y, but especially on slopes if I set the wind strength high the grass rotates too far and goes through the ground

I know I could just limit the rotation with the map range node and it works fine for that but on a steep slope it still goes through, and if I just limit the rotation to a value where it doesn't then on a flat surface it barely bends at all. I want a way to limit the rotation based on the normal and I tried just plugging the normal and the dot product of the normal into the "to max" but that doesn't work

Does anyone know how to make it limit at the normal?
Thank you :)

Be careful what you ask for, if you limit all possible rotations to a surface, with a uniform distribution you effectively put half of instances on the surface (clamped to the nearest valid value). Otherwise simply align euler to normal, if you aligned Z, then rotate around local X 0-90°, and then rotate around normal 0-360°


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Trim one object in the shape of another object in Blender?

As shown in the image. Is there a graceful way where I can trim the excess portion of planks and just have the inner planks remaining that's inside of the boat? (I could not do this with boolean myself, if it is possible then please do tell.)
I hope i am explaining myself clearly. Thanks.

I don't think there's any magic way, just go in Edit mode and move the vertices along the edges until they are good

Just after posting the question I figured it out myself. And yes there is a graceful way without having to go into edit mode and edit each and every plank. It's Blender afterall. The answer is - 1. Join every plank (Ctrl+J) 2. Add boolean 'difference' using the boat as the object. 3. Once it cuts the "boat" shape from the "plank" just delete the excess portions. Then you are left with a clean planks following the contour of the boat! That's it!

Just after posting the question I figured it out myself. And yes there is a graceful way without having to go into edit mode and edit each and every plank. It's Blender afterall. The answer is - 1. Join every plank (Ctrl+J) 2. Add boolean 'difference' using the boat as the object. 3. Once it cuts the "boat" shape from the "plank" just delete the excess portions. Then you are left with a clean planks following the contour of the boat! That's it!


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Knife Project error in Blender
I am tired of this error and unable to Knife Project in Blender. Photo Attached:-

"Regression"? Wdym?

You either need to select 2 objects, or you need to delete the faces (X (Delete) > Only Faces on your cutting object. I guess it's one of these problems

I've tried all this. I have used knife project before & it worked. But it isn't now.

So it may be a bug as Marty says

Knife project has changed in 2.93.4.
The new method:

Select the destination object in object mode. Do not select the cutter.
Enter edit mode. (Shortcut: Tab)
Select the cutter in the outliner (or by Ctrl–left-clicking the cutter).
Perform the knife project.

But Why? (rhetorical) That's really inconsistent with Blender's notion of an 'Active' object or selection everywhere else. It seems nuts, to me, until I hear a justification.

It's not listed in the changelog, so I suspect it really is a bug. If I get time, I'll look at the git repository to see if I can figure it out.

Ahhh.... Sorry, no trouble intended.

thanks man works like a charm

Late comment.. it looks as if the change is to allow multiple sources and targets since multiple object editing became possible. 'Active' no longer works, without multiple 'Active'.


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Is it possible to collide "vertices" with a mesh?
I used cloth sim and trying to collide vertices with a mesh.

As far as I know, the cloth simulation needs faces to interact with collision objects, so I don't think this is possible. But maybe someone else has an idea.

Sometimes answers depend on what you want to achieve. Why does it have to be just a line of vertices without a mesh? I mean, the resulting animation will not be visible in render without any faces, so what is it you are trying to do with it, maybe there is a workaround?

@GordonBrinkmann You're right. I want lots of interacting cables on various surfaces. So i wished that if this line of vertices interacted with mesh then it won't be much heavy on my poor system and i can add shape to the line later as per my artistic choice. Doing it in one go will make my laptop burn.

The problem is, many of the settings in the cloth simulation depend on the geometry of the cloth, especially things like (self-)collision, stiffness and volume preservation. You could e.g. use a Skin Modifier before the Cloth Modifier to create some geometry, this will multiply the vertices "only" by 4. However, the cloth simulation then depends on the geometry created by the skin. No matter if you bake the simulation, disabling the Skin Modifier (even if it's just in the viewport) afterwards will result in a weird messed up cloth geometry.

The cheapest solution would be to extrude the entire line so that it has faces for the cloth simulation. After the cloth simulation modifier, you can use a mask modifier to delete the extruded vertices, turning it back into a line of vertices. Then, you can use a subdivision and skin modifier to make it look like a cable.


text:
Is there a limit to number of lights in CYCLES?
I was making a scene using very few lights along with Nishita Sky Texture. The total emissive lights used are - 2 Area lights + 1 icoshpere with Emission shader + Nishita Sky Texture. Just adding one extra light my scene stopped rendering in viewport and in Render window I am getting message "Out of Memory". What do I need to do ti fix this?

That's a hardware limitation, your pc can handle more than that

I am sure there is a limit, but generally, you can have as many lights in your scene as you want with Cycles. That's quite easy to test:

The problem is not because you have too many lights but because there is no more memory on you PC for your render device to use. So if you are using CPU rendering, there is no more RAM, if it's GPU, there is not enough VRAM for your scene. Large textures usually use a lot of memory but particles and dense geometry can also lead to this situation. When you use the same GPU for display and rendering it might be that the memory gets full, but if you restart Blender, you might still be able to render the scene. Note that other software also use memory even if it's VRAM. A lot of programs use GPU acceleration these days, so it might be a good idea to close other applications.

Right now I am so damn jealous of your PC. I have a poor GPU but I got 16 Gigs of RAM. Also I would like to add. After qutting Blender and restarting PC that limit seems to have resolved. I can add more lights now. (I just checked today after posting this question). So could this be a bug because I was not using any other software while using Blender yesterday.

@NewBlenderer -- here's where you may want to consider a farm for your rendering, where others contribute their PCs with greater capabilities.  I contribute and sometimes render large projects on "sheepit-renderfarm.com".  You'll want to lend your own PC resource to build up points; otherwise you'll be waiting "back of the line" for future renderings.

I can't farm, neither i can contribute. I feel my laptop or Blender behaves randomly. My scene was very low intensity with nothing much going on. I do feel it's a bug in either windows 10 or Blender itself

If it says it's out of memory, chances are it is simply out of memory, no bugs required for that. What are the specs of the laptop? Does it meet the minimum requirements?


text:
How do I fix (this kind of) shading issue?
I did boolean on a high geometry mesh. Now I am getting such shading issues. How would you fix this? I need a practical solution because here there any many vertices ( and I don't want to loose the shape )

You could cut the arch with the Knife Project tool:

Then add some edges:

Rework the topology, remove or join some vertices:

Extrude inwards:

Give it a Subdivision Surface modifier, bevel or add some support edges, you can use the Shrinkwrap modifier to make some vertices stick to a cylinder shape:


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What is the purpose of the Normal Matcap?
What is the use of the normal matcap. What does it help to check in a scene or model?

I guess you can quickly make a normal map with a simple screenshot but there must be other purposes

I don't think matcaps have a "purpose" like that-- they are good for visualizing your mesh in a way that shows its normals, but that's the case for all of them, and this one is not the best for that in my opinion.  However, a normal map matcap is a very easy way to display your normals in a still for purposes of sharing on a market site or something.

Ok... yeah maybe that is the case. I once saw a video (many months ago) where the artist used the Normal Matcap for checking if everything is flush to the ground or things don't look afloat. I was confused with it but he never explained.. I asked but never got an answer. @moonboots

Four of the matcaps including the normal one are for "geometry checking" (click here and scroll down a bit) to make sure you're normals look right I guess.

It is most commonly used for sculpting, as it gives quick and useful feedback on how an objects shape is changing.


text:
Different modes in different windows? (Blender)
Is it possible to view Edit mode in one window and Object mode in another window as shown in image?

no i don't think you can do that

@Matthew That is exactly what I want. One view where object mode is visible with subsurf applied. Another view where edit mode is visible with subsurf not applied. I know this isn't possible in vanilla blender, but maybe an addon. And come on, I can't be the only one who needs such a feature.

Man that's such a useful feature! Not sure why you don't see the benefits? @Matthew

Unfortunately no. But maybe you should describe your problem in more detail so that an alternative solution can be found.
For example, maybe you need to see vertices that are hidden when "subdivision surfaces" are applied. Then you need to enable the "on cage" option.

with this option you can modify the mesh and see the result immediately.

This isn't what I am asking. This does not serve the purpose.


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How do I add bevel after boolean and still have a clean shading
I used the Decimate modifier "trick" before Bevel modifer without Clamp Overlap. But I am still not able to get a clean shading. I have adjusted everything and used Auto Smooth and Weighted Normals. Can someone tell me a free way to do this everytime? Thanks.
.
.

please show a screenshot of your mesh in edit mode. the decimate modifier will mess up your topology. and with bad topology your bevel modifiers will fail.

@HarryMcKenzie I am sorry. I got frustrated and closed the project without saving. The model lives no more.

ok. well, you could just delete this question thread :)

@HarryMcKenzie But I still need the answer no? I come across this shading problem in many models where Boolean is used.

yes because booleans are evil. they usually destroy the topology. so whenever you use booleans you usually have to manually fix your topology.

In the addon, i think HardOps, there is a feature that eats through any geometry when you Bevel an edge, any edge. I wish someone can teach me how to do that using Modifiers because it is possible, albeit complicated.

@NewBlenderer HardOps also just uses things like sharpening edges, bevel modifier, smooth shading etc., it's not a magic trick. If there is really bad topology there can be parts looking messy with HardOps as well (I have HardOps myself).

@GordonBrinkmann I see. I have followed many tutorials of Josh Grambell and others who heavily use HardOps. It did seem like magic though eating away from edges to make a clean bevel (in experimental feature set). I wanted to know the sequence of modifiers that it uses to make a clean bevel. If it's answerable.

@NewBlenderer But there are also tutorials by Josh where he's showing how to manually clean up areas that don't work so well.

@GordonBrinkmann Umm.... YOLO


text:
Geo Nodes Adding Falloff To Normal Node
I am trying to scatter some things on a slanted surface and I want to have little to no instances on the slanted part but when I have a normal into a compare node that goes into the selection of the distribute points it makes super sharp edges.
Is there any way to make the edges more smooth? And is there a way I could also mix a noise texture into the edge to break it up more and make it look more natural?

These are not all the nodes but these are the only important ones.
I don't want to show them all because this is a crazy complex setup with like five hundred nodes, but these are the only ones that matter, but of course there is a instances on points and a join geometry and the basic stuff.

(Using Blender 3.6.12)
This proposal is based on a Boolean Random Value node to draw the probability to instance an object. The probability distribution is controlled by a Float Curve node. The dark grey area of this curve shows the probability as a function of the dot product of the normal with the vertical direction (Z axis). For the demonstration, it is set such that for Value higher than 0.7, the probability is 1. Consequently, an instance is spawn for all faces with the criterion higher than 0.7. Then, the probability decreases sharply with the Value. The mid control point is such that for a dot product of about 0.52, the probability drops to 0.32 (i.e. 32%, i.e. about 1 chance out of 3). It is to notice that in the original GN graph, the Greater Than or Equal node behaves like a Heavyside step function set as Float Curve, with 0 below the threshold and 1 above.

The following picture illustrates a Shader helping to visualise the criterion (captured as the named attribute "QoI", standing for Quantity of Interest in this demonstration) controlling the probability. Probabilities lower than 50% are rendered in black.

The Random Value & Mesh to Points nodes combo can be replaced by a Multiply math node computing a Density from the probability to be input in a Distribute Points on Faces node as shown below:

Eventually, Random Value and Distribute Points on Faces nodes can also be combined as shown below:

Resources:

of course it depends on your geometry on your normal vectors, but you can try it with this node tree:

essentially i "smooth" just the threshold so that it isn't a constant number, but a range of numbers. By this you can get a more random distribution. Don't take my numbers "too serious" - you have to play around with them so that it fits your needs.


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Currently trying to turn this garment into one unified mesh but this empty is preventing that. How can I fix this?
I have this garment I've created and imported as an FBX into Blender. I am currently trying to join all of the meshes together but I also have this empty and I cannot figure out how to detach it entirely from the meshes. When I clear the parent it simply deletes everything except the empty. I am trying to do the opposite.

You have to Apply the object's Location and Rotation by selecting all objects of interest and press Ctrl+A > Scale/Rotation. Select the garments only, Alt+P > Clear Parent and Keep Transformations. Now you should be able to delete the Empties and join all the meshes together.

I am not sure why you want to apply the rotation and especially not the location - applying the location means, the objects stay in place and their origin is set to the world center. There are only a few occasions where this is desired... and also the rotation is more often desired to be preserved when unparenting something. To join the garment meshes together, all you need to do is select them, then Alt+P > Clear and Keep Transformation and that's all to be able to join them with Ctrl+J.

Sorry I meant Apply Scale and Rotation... I updated it.
If you apply rotation and scale to the object before unparenting it from an empty, the object will retain its final rotated and scaled state in relation to the world origin.
This can be useful when you want the object to maintain its orientation and size in the world space after unparenting

The objects will only retain their rotated and scaled state relative to the world if they were rotated and scaled by the parent. If they were (what is more likely in this scenario) somehow transformed and then parented to an empty, clearing rotation & scale will lose the transformations done before parenting... which means, their state is then not the objects' in relation to the world, but the empty's in relation to the world.

I did not want to write an answer, but I have to show the difference between clearing the parenting with and without applying rotation and scale:
If you want to preserve the relative rotation and scale of an object in relation to the world - or to its original state in which it was created, you should never apply the Rotation & Scale (or the Location if you want to keep the origin point where it is).
Applying transformations is very important if you transformed something in Object Mode and want this to be the new original state of the mesh, it is important because most settings of modifiers are based on what is the original mesh with all rotations 0° and all scales 1.
But if you have an object for example rotated by 24.781° on Z and scaled to a factor of 4.379, applying rotation and scale will set these values to 0° and scale 1. If you now want to return to the original size and rotation you might have a hard time figuring out how to get back to those values (especially if you had different on all three axes). Therefore it is sometimes useful to keep those transformations and not apply them - to preserve the state you might want to return to.
Sometimes you might have an empty or other parent to transform multiple objects at the same time while they keep their relative states to each other. And when you then want to unparent them they might jump back to the state they were in before being transformed by the empty. If you do not want that, you have to Clear Parent with Alt+P and choose Clear and Keep Transformation.
However, if you use Ctrl+A > Apply > Rotation & Scale before clearing the parent e.g. an empty in this case, then the state the objects were in while they had been parented to the empty will be set as their initial states. The only rotation and scale that will be preserved will be the one of the empty. Maybe this sounds confusing, I will show it with examples.
First of all, the simple default cube. Its initial state with a rotation of 0° and a scale of 1 on all axes makes its dimensions X = Y = Z = 2 m with each edge aligned to the world's axes.

If you now rotate it perhaps 45° on X and scale it uniformly by 1.5 you will get a cube which is no longer aligning with all world's axes. Each edge is now 3 m long (2 m × 1.5), but although the cube is now larger on the global Y and Z, the dimensions still show 3 m on XYZ because these are the local dimensions and the rotation is taken into account.

Getting the cube back into its initial state is fairly easy now, either manually set all rotations to 0° and scales to 1 or use Alt+R and Alt+S to clear the rotation and scale. If you instead apply the transforms with Ctrl+A > Apply > Rotation & Scale, the values will be set to 0° and 1 without resetting the mesh of the cube. Now this has become the new initial state. Notice that the Y and Z dimensions are no longer 3 m, but have changed to 4.24 m instead.

So what happens now if the cube is parented to an empty? First assumption: the cube was in its initial state, rotation 0°, scale 1 when it was parented to an empty which also had a rotation of 0° and scale of 1. If you then rotate the empty 45° on X and scale it by 1.5 the resulting cube looks like the unparented one before - only that its rotation and scale remained at 0° and 1, because the transformation is done with the empty and the cube stayed unaltered relative to the parent.

In this situation it is completely irrelevant if you apply the rotation and scale on the cube with Ctrl+A (as Spencer's answer suggests) before unparenting, because the cube is already on 0° and 1 relative to the empty. If you now unparent it with Alt+P > Clear and Keep Transformation, the cube will inherit the transformation and now show 45° on X and a scale of 1.5 for XYZ.

This way you can get it back into its initial state by just resetting the transform values. But, since we have no information on your objects and the parenting, some of the following situations are possible:
The cube gets rotated and scaled first, then it is parented to an empty without any rotation or scaling. That's often the case if you transform objects in Object Mode and parent them to an empty just to have one mutual controlling object for different child objects. So, let's assume the cube is rotated 45° on X and scaled by 1.5 uniformly. The parent empty does not show any transformations:

If you now apply the cube's transformations with Ctrl+A (Spencer's answer), the current state will be set as 0° and 1. So you created a new initial state for the cube just like in the beginning without any parenting. If you now want to unparent it with Alt+P, since the empty is not scaled or rotated it does not matter if you choose Clear Parent or Clear and Keep Transformation. The result will be the same, you have unparented the cube and lost the information about how it was rotated and scaled (just like above with applying the transforms on an unparented cube):

Another possible situation: You have a cube that is rotated 45° on X and scaled by 1.5, then it gets parented to an empty. After parenting, let's say the empty gets rotated 30° on Y and scaled to 0.5 uniformly:

If you now select the cube, it shows 45° on X and a scale of 1.5, because that's its transformations relative to the empty:

And now comes the problem when you apply rotation and scale with Ctrl+A. Spencer says, this way the cube would keep the transformations relative to the world resp. the global axes. That's partially correct - but its the empty's transformations relative to the world that the cube will inherit. The transformations of the cube relative to the empty and therefore the absolute transforms to the world get lost.
If you apply rotation and scale to the cube while still parented to the empty, the 45° on X will be set to 0° and the scale of 1.5 back to 1 without the cube changing its current state of the mesh. And when you now use Alt+P > Clear and Keep Transformation, the cube inherits the 30° on Y and the scale of 0.5 from the empty:

And this means, if you want the original initial cube back, the information is lost. Resetting all rotations to 0° and the XYZ scale to 1 results in a cube which is no longer aligned with all global axes and the edges are no longer 2 m each... again you have the same as in the beginning, where you transformed a default cube in Object Mode and applied everything:

This might be the desired outcome and with such a simple example it is quite easy to get the original cube back if you know how it is supposed to be. But if you have more complex meshes and want to edit them afterwards, and maybe they are originally modeled with symmetry to one or more global axes, then loosing the original transformations and trying to manually get the mesh in the original orientation can be very painful. If everything is already applied and unfortunately there is no transformation to be preserved, then there is nothing you can do. But with applying the transforms with Ctrl+A beforehand, you jeopardize any chance of keeping those settings right from the beginning.

Thanks so much for this! This helped me solve my problem, as well as give me insight on multiple methods. I appreciate your help very much!


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How to smooth the edges of my drawn face sets?
I have just learned about the glory of face sets in sculpt mode. However, from the tutorials I've watched it says to hold Shift to smooth the edges out but that doesn't seem to be working for me and I continue to have pixelated edges. Is there a certain setting I have on or am missing to be able to smooth out my edges?

Hello, Shift should work but it will change your topology. Why do you show the Brush panel?

Because I was asking if there was a setting I may not have selected that isn't allowing me to smooth my edges.

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


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OBJ file with many NaN entries
I have an obj file that describes an isosurface of a physical variable. I ran into the problem that my grid is so large that the file size becomes very bloated by undefined entries ("v NaN NaN NaN"). I was wondering if there is a tool that can help adjust the obj file so that these entries are removed and the indices ("f .. .. ..") correctly updated.
thanks!

Hello and welcome to BSE! Can you share the OBJ file? And maybe add some screenshots

Sure. There you go: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3fv82sdhd7vooh3kl1ulm/edenhofer0.100000.obj?rlkey=gb9gw41w3l8mkhvkqopkn1p3q&dl=0
(hope this works)

The file is pretty huge, so writing a custom python script would probably be tiresome and slow performancewise (and has not really something to do with Blender and may be better asked on StackOverflow). But lets go with a Blender solution:

import the .obj file
export the object edenhofer0.100000 as .ply file
import the .ply file again

Now all $(Nan, Nan, Nan)$ have been converted to $(0,0,0)$ vectors.
Select the object, go to vertex edit mode, select all vertices at the origin and delete them. This gives a whopping 601476 deleted vertices.
Of course this solution is only applicable if you can use $(0,0,0)$ for that cleanup. On the bright side cleaning the file is done in around a minute and all the re-indexing is done by Blender.
(Edit: replacing all $Nan$ with $0$ in a text editor should be enough. If the text editor starts to tumble because the file is too big, the .ply way is a nice alternative as it converts the $Nan$ values automatically.)

Thank you, this is a fantastic suggestions. Thanks to your tip, I ended up with a slightly modified solution because the route via .ply files did not work for me. I simply replaced all NaN in the obj files with 0 (I know in my case there should be nothing physically meaningful at zero), then opened this new obj file with blender, went to edit mode, merged by distance, and deleted any weird leftover vertices. And that was is, no more NaNs and an intact file! Thanks!

Great! Out of curiosity, why did the ply way not work? I had trouble replacing all Nans to zeroes in a text editor because the file was so big^^

Blender crashed on my end with the ply files. I simply used sed in bash to replace the values, then it doesn't matter how big the file is (sed -i '' 's/NaN/0.0/g' filename.txt)

Hmm, no idea why it crashes. Using bash is also a nice way of converting the values. But I'll leave the .ply way in the answer as it only relies on Blender and this is a Blender site.


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Halo Particle Colors Can't Be Changed?
Trying to change the color of the particles based on their age in 3.6.2, but I can't seem to get it to work. Even trying simpler materials doesn't seem to affect the color. I've tried using objects as the particle instance instead of halos, but the particle data doesn't seem to have access leading to the particles just remaining whatever color.
Is this deprecated? Is there no way to change color? Can't find a work around.

Does the node setup in the answer in this posting help? https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/286796/is-it-possible-to-change-the-colors-of-the-particles-at-a-certain-point-of-the-g

Doesn't seem to work with that setup either object or halo :/

The 3.6 manual says that "Cycles supports only Object and Collection render types."

I haven't seen Halo particles used since v2.79. Back then we had a Halo-type material coming with Blender Internal render engine:
Halo Rendering — Blender Manual
And as you can see, you could control way more things than the color.
But back then it wasn't compatible with Cycles, and Blender Internal render engine with its materials was removed since v2.80. I don't think you can do anything with the halos anymore, it's good for previewing but no shading possible.

What you could do instead is replace them by a mesh object, put the material on it, and use it in your particles' system.
As an object, you could use a UV sphere or an icosphere. But if you really want something close to halos, that are 2D shapes facing the camera (or you like performances like me):
Use a circle mesh, add a Track To constrain to make it face your render camera:

To make the shader work, you need to normalize the output of the Age between zero and one. This is because the Color ramp only takes values from 0 to 1 while the Age output gives the particle's age in frame number. To do this, use a Map Range node, and set the "From Max" value to your particles system's Lifetime:

You can even  RMB the Lifetime value, click Copy As New Driver, then  RMB the From Max and Paste Driver. This way the shader always uses the particles system's lifetime.
To get the blured sphere aspect of Halos, you need to create a procedural sphere texture, which you can do using the Object's texture coordinates and a few math nodes. Then, invert it, use a Color Ramp or a RGB Curves to controll the fallof of the "blur", and use that as a factor to mix your color data with a Transparent BSDF:

Note that, with this shader, you don' t even need to use a Circle object, a plane does the trick and it's only 2 triangles to load in memory.
In fact, all the screenshots were made using a plane mesh named as Circle. I lied. Oops.


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Get tags of appended asset browser object with python
I would like to get the tags of an object that I appended through the asset-browser.
I know this is possible with linked objects using:
bpy.context.selected_objects[0].asset_data.tags

but can this also be done with appended ones? Is this kind of "metadata" even transfered somewhere into the blendfile?
Thanks!

It does not seem like it, per the Blender manual.

Append makes a full copy of the data into your blend-file, without keeping any reference to the original one. You can make further edits to your local copy of the data, but changes in the external source file will not be reflected in the referencing file.

Yup AFAIK the link between the actual asset and the appended object are completely severed once appended. You can try using a weak reference like the asset name and parse the library but if anybody or a script renames the object you're screwed. The metadata is only kept on the library data block in the library blend file. An improvement is in the works, you can follow it over on https://devtalk.blender.org/t/asset-embedding-proposal/34484/14 PS : it's always better to copy/paste the textual contents of an image in case it goes missing or for visually impaired people. Cheers

@Gorgious u smart


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Sky and atmosphere not available in v. 2.9?
guys. I am initiating on blender so I just downloaded the latest version (2.9).
I am attending to an online course on 3D modelling and animation, but the video lectures were recorded using Blender 2.7 interface.
I need to render sky and atmosphere. In the video lecture, there is a check box for this feature when sun light is chosen.
However, I cannot find such an option in my latest version. I have alreade googled it, but got nothing.
Can anyone help me, please?
Thank you!

Every past version of blender is still available to download. If your course is using 2.7X, why struggle with 2.9 with no prior knowledge of the software to begin with?

also be careful that some options are available in Cycles but not in Eevee

I think this option is only available in the blender internal render engine, which doesn't exist anymore in newer versions.

Hi, @Timaroberts. Actually I always try to keep updated with softwares using theirs latest stable versions. It wouldn't be an actual strugle if the feature were available, since a simple search in google would be enough to solve my problem. However, as it semms, Blender 2.9 no longer has the feature of rendering sky and atmosphere, so this is a setback instead of progress of the software (from my point of view)...

Hi, @Gorgious. That was exactly my fear. And I think you are right... =/

Thank you, @moonboots, for your highlights.

To answer your question, the feature is available under "Sky Texture" when you are tweaking the environmental ligthing settings of the world. Keep in mind the latest addition, the Nishita model, only works with Cycles for now

Hi, @Gorgious, thank you for the tip. Searching a little bit more, I just found out I am not alone in this boat. The environment gets too clear and whitened when I apply the atmosphere, no matter if I render in with Cycles or Eevee, exactly as described here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/194119/how-does-the-sky-texture-work-in-2-9

Long story short, it is somehow physically correct but it will blow most scenes with its default values. Decrease the strength of the background node to something like 0.1 or lower to get a decent exposure in an open environment

Hi, @Gorgious. It works! Thank you!


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World texture with stars and constellations
I have seen many exames on how to create a night sky in blender. However, all of them deal with scattered bright dots on a black background.
My question is: is there an available sky texture image with stars forming actual constellations?
I have seen many images for texturing sphere to fake Earth, moon, etc. What about the sky?
Thank you?

What it sounds like you need is an HDRI.  HDRI's are 360 degree images that blender will put into your world and implement all the lighting from the image onto your scene, as well as providing reflections from the HDRI background.  To add an HDRI to your blender environment, first, download one from an online site such as > https://hdrihaven.com/ <  Next, in your blender scene, go the the world properties tab on the left, click on the color property, and change it to environment texture.  Now all you need to do is open the image, and go into rendered view to see it.  I hope this helped!

NASA has some super highres images of the night sky. It does not get more realistic than this! Sorry I forgot the link but you should be able to find them easily.

I think the link Bruno mentioned is this - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4851


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Animate camera alternating constrained paths
all, I am new to blender, so sorry if my question seems dumb.
I just animated a camera to follow a bezier path. Now, I need to keep animating the camera, but I would like to either free the camera from the path or to follow a different path.
So, this is my question: is it possible to animate camera alternating among different bezier paths?
Thank you!

Yes you can use multiple paths.
The influence value in the follow path modifier can be animated. A value of 0 means that the modifier will have no influence on the object's trajectory.

Thank you @susu! I tried to animate the influence. But the camera gets crazy, rotating and changin place when i vanish the influence. And it also messes up the animation at frames before I vanish it. So, I would like to keep animating leaving from the last view from the animated path to a new location...


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Blender not displaying animated keys
I am trying to animate a material, but the animated keys are not showing in the graph editor.
Can anyone give me a clue, please? Shall I activate any kind of addon, feature, etc? Or is it a bug on blender?
I am using blender version 2.91.0. Below a print from my situation. I also attached a MWE .blend file. Thank you!

Select both the object and the node with the animated property:

Thank you!!! That works! I would never imagine that I should select both... in six minute I will check this as answer. Thank you again!


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Animate to combined paths
I just started to blender animations and I am trying to animate a sphere to move along combined paths: a straight line followed by a semicircle and then another straight line (as shown below).
In my trial, I added a path and struggled to shape it along the desired format, but couldn't fit it.
Any help, please? Thank you.

so your question is more about how to model a bezier than how to animate?

Yes, @moonboots I am more concerned about the bezier! Thank you! I just checked the answers.

If your question is about the path itself, you can create a bezier circle. In Edit mode select all and press V > Set Handle Type to switch from Automatic to Aligned:

Then select the left part of the circle and press X > Delete Segments:

Then select the 2 ends, press E to extrude then type the axis:

Doh too slow... or free handle type.  https://pasteall.org/media/5/7/576250be386f1b0c347c2f796bf57276.gif

good video batFinger...but without keys or voice the viewer (if he/she is a beginner) has no idea what keys you are typing. ;)

@Chris see answer above for explanation.  Created gif to go with an answer, however it would have been identical to this one.

i know - moonboots answers are always perfect ;) learned a lot from his answers and his knowledge

ah ah thanks, if only it was true...  ;)

to build the curve ...

add mesh -> circle
tab -> edit mode
select left half of circle vertices
tap x to delete vertices
select the 2 left most vertices
tag g y to move to the left
tab  -> object mode
object -> convert to curve

link to video tutorial: https://youtu.be/zROqc01VR90
to move an object along a curve you have to add an object constraint modifier and choose the curve as target.
and here is the link to the tutorial, how you animate an object along a curve: https://youtu.be/ExgB5R5MT0o

Thanks for your answer! Gifs and images may make it much easier to understand...

i know, that's why i made the video tutorials, which are even better than just pictures... ;)

Debatable re video tutorials.  IMO there is a slight logic error here. As shown in curve answer extrude the two pole verts of the semicircle, otherwise they will not be quite horizontal.  (and isn't x axis left / right for default circle?)

yeah....I love confusing people with axis...;) This is the advantage of videos -> you see what the person is doing and if you have luck, with voice explanation. And with many luck, the video was not edited and some important parts deleted ;)


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How to delete/select interior faces with geometry nodes?
Fairly basic question: is there a way to replicate the behaviour of the Edit Mode tool: Select > Select All By Trait > Interior Faces with Geonodes?

Probably too late now, but the solution has been made in a different question:
https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/302578/181620


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Camera Stuck and Separated
I am very new to Blender, sorry if the question is dumb. My camera viewer seems to be separated from its body, and from tutorials I've seen, it shouldn't be separated. When selected, only the viewer moves, and the rest is just stuck in the origin point. I thought maybe I really messed things up and actually deleted Blender and reinstalled it, but the problem remains.
What should I do?
Thank you in advance!

Although it doesn't answer what happened, a quick solution would be to delete the camera object(s) and add a new one.

Hi, thank you! I tried that, and to close and reopen the software, but it's still like that...

If you hit 0 on the numpad (or f3 for quick search and type view camera) you can get the camera view. If you're able to see from the viewer when you move it around, you're probably good until someone finds a real solution to the visual error (if that's all it is).

Yes. Thank you. I did that. As you said, it must be just a visual error because I can see through the viewer just fine. It's just the camera icon that's stuck. I have the same error also with the light - the icon is stuck at the center, and when I try to move it, an invisible light moves, and the actual icon stays where it is (if that makes any sense).

Yeah that's weird. There's a bunch of stuff you could mess around with but this sounds like a bug (could be wrong though). The only thing I would suggest is if you have time, try downloading version 2.90 and see if it works.

I don't know how this is possible, but I've downloaded version 2.90 and deleted the newer version, and it's still the same. There must be something wrong with my computer, or something I accidentally did or wronged someone in a past life or something... I guess I'll just have to work around it.


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Link/append Item from Asset Browser using python
I’m working with a giant asset library containing thousands of products with product IDs in their names.
I’d like to have an option to automatically batch import a bunch of assets into my scene. To reduce complexity for now, let’s say the full names of the assets I want are saved in a list.
I know that the Asset Browser is somewhat limited in terms of its Python accessibility, but is something like this possible?
I tried a method that went through all prefs.filepaths.asset_libraries and searched for the assets, but this was far too slow.

Hello, yeah batch-importing assets is not possible in vanilla AFAIK. I don't think the devs built the asset system with humongous libraries in mind. It's on the todo list of my batch asset browser addon for a long time. :) I'll see what i can do. Cheers


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Which View Transform for most realistic Renderings that I want to Edit in Lightroom later anyway
I am currently having difficulty deciding on the correct View Transform (Standard, Filmic, Agx). I want to create product renderings that are as realistic as possible. For this I would edit the renderings in Lightroom later according to my wishes anyway.
And here comes my big question:
From my unterstanding the View Transform is responsible for converting the render's internal, linear image values into values that are more suitable for display on a monitor.
I thought the new Agx View Transform would provide more image information compared to Standard or Filmic. However, the more I read into the subject, I have the feeling that it has no influence on the actual image data. So if I plan to do extensive editing of the images later, it is only important to work with a view transform that compresses the data less. But which View Transform compresses the least and is most suitable for post-processing?
Thanks so much for any help :)

You need to be concerned about the file format rather than the view transform.
So long as you're saving to a format that only supports the 0,1 range of color, then you'll be compressing your color into that range.  Exactly how you compress will be determined by the view transform you choose, but they'll all be compressing your color into that range, and they're all "equal" compression in that sense.
But if you save your image as an .exr, Blender understands that you don't want to do any kind of view transform and saves the raw, linear data into that .exr.  So you can use the uncompressed data in some other application, and only ever apply a view transform at the end of some pipeline that Blender can't even guess at.

Hey Nathan, thanks a lot for this detailed answer. Funnily, i just watched this video, which supports your comment link


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Print out list of Asset Browser Items including their tags
I have a giant asset browser with over 2000 items. Some of the items have tags (product numbers), but not many. I would now like to output all the names of the items and their stored tags so that I can then enter all the entries in Excel, find the matching product numbers manually and then maintain the asset library and add product numbers as tags. I already have a script that outputs all names and writes them to a text file. However, this must now be extended to get and include the stored tags.
import bpy
from pathlib import Path

output_file_path = Path("/tmp/asset_library_contents.txt")

prefs = bpy.context.preferences
filepaths = prefs.filepaths
asset_libraries = filepaths.asset_libraries

with output_file_path.open("w") as output_file:
    for asset_library in asset_libraries:
        library_name = asset_library.name
        library_path = Path(asset_library.path)
        blend_files = [fp for fp in library_path.glob("**/*.blend") if fp.is_file()]
        output_file.write(f"Checking the content of library '{library_name}' :\n")

        for blend_file in blend_files:
            with bpy.data.libraries.load(str(blend_file), assets_only=True) as (file_contents, _):
                output_file.write(f"File: {blend_file.name}\n")
                output_file.write("Objects:\n")
                for obj in file_contents.objects:
                    output_file.write(f" - {obj}\n")
                output_file.write("Collections:\n")
                for col in file_contents.collections:
                    output_file.write(f" - {col}\n")
                output_file.write("\n")
```

I'm pretty sure the only two ways of accessing an asset tag are 1. open the asset blend file (not realistic if you have thousands of them) or 2. Read the information from the asset browser in an open blend file (it can be any blend file, so long as it has an asset browser open).
Since you're interested in seeing all your assets and their tags you can go to the "All" asset browser library that contains all the available assets. I don't know of a trivial way to get the list of all the assets in this special library and it doesn't really matter to the core of the question so I will assume you followed these steps prior to running the script :

Open a new blend file
Make sure a text editor and an asset browser editor are open in your current workspace
Set the library to "All" in the top left of the asset browser editor
Select every single asset with Select > All or A while hovering over the assets
Copy / paste the script in a new text data block in the text editor
Run the script
Open the console with Window > Toggle System Console (On Windows)
?? profit

import bpy

asset_browser_area = next(a for a in bpy.context.screen.areas if a.ui_type == "ASSETS")

with bpy.context.temp_override(area=asset_browser_area):
    # We must override the area otherwise we can't access context.selected_assets
    for asset in bpy.context.selected_assets:
        print(f"{asset.name=}")
        for i, tag in enumerate(asset.metadata.tags):
            print(f"  Tag n°{i} : {tag.name}")

Thanks a million this will do the trick. And as I hopefully don't have to execute this task this often, its totally fine, to do the extra steps before.

@Erdorano Cheers. FWIW I'm still looking for a way to get all assets in an asset browser library without having to parse the files on disk or having to select them first. I will update my answer if I ever find it ;)


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Glare node outputs black square
I've rendered an animation to an EXR image sequence and am now compositing it.
The glare node outputs a black square where the Nishta sky texture sun is.
This does not happen when having the composite directly in the render.
So I beleive I have done something wrong with the exporting options in the output or the glare node is f*ckd in 4.1, 4.0 and 3.6.
I have not tested other versions.

The artifact in blender 3.6:

Rendering output. To be clear this the output for the 3d render itself and not the composite:

Even when the mix has been turn all the way to -1.0 it is still outputting a black square so it isn't an issue with glare it self:

Heres two frames showing how the black square changes from frame to frame depending on location:
First frame:

Second frame:

The few frames after this remained as is shown in the second image until it disapered when the sun was out of frame.
Here is how it behaves with other glare types
and the full node setup. I have tried turning off the nodes before the glare:

It feels more like a faulty EXR than something else. Maybe share your blend file with packed texture with https://blend-exchange.com/.

Here's the blend file with a frame connected.
(https://blend-exchange.com/b/Koz240pK/)

I figured it out. The DWAA (lossy) compression caused it.
Changing the compression from DWAA (lossy) to zip (lossless) fixed the problem.
Either lossy compression gets weird at higher float values or DWAA is a bad compression choice for higher values.


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Why is blender default scene using so much ram? And how do i fix it?

As you can see it's using more than 90% of my gpu in cycles.
It has been working fine for the last few weeks. I have experienced no problems until it just suddenly crashed when I went into render view in another scene.
I normally have between 30% and 80% VRAM usage depending on the scene.
In evee, I don't have this problem.
I did nothing but close and open blender in between it working and using too much VRAM.
I have already tried restarting my computer and updating my drivers.
blender version: 3.6
GPU: gtx 1070 (8 GB VRAM)

As we can see in the text overlay, you are still in the process of rendering samples. As long as you are rendering samples, the GPU will use whatever computing power it can to calculate them. For the VRAM, not sure how you can tell how much is too much for the startup scene. Even an empty scene will take "something".

It has never used this much vram before and this is the first time it has ever used over 90% and when i have at least something more in the scene it crashes because it uses 90% for no reason. I know that it should take at least something but it shouldn't be using all of my gpu memory to render a cube and a light.

Your screenshot doesn't show 90% of VRAM usage, it shoes 90% of "3D" computing. Reaching 100% of that shouldn't crash unless of a bug or having multiple independant tasks fighting for the same resource (like two Blender open, or Blender + a game, ... One could "lose" the battle, and the driver kill it because it took too much time to answer because of waiting its turn for computing), but otherwise it should slow down the computing. Same for VRAM, it should either cancel the task with an error in older Blender version, or overflow in your system RAM at the cost of speed.

It is as @L0Lock said: "As long as you are rendering samples, the GPU will use whatever power it can to calculate them." You have set the Viewport > Samples to 0, which means Unlimited. Therefore it will never stop rendering as long as you are in Rendered view. The moment you took that screenshot it was at 3665 samples. Wait longer and this number will keep increasing (actually I think at one point it will stop and not render forever, but I don't know when exactly).

I'm sorry I haven't realized that this is the case before.
I thought that the problem I had with crashing was related to the VRAM usage but I was wrong.
But now it seems not to happen anymore since I posted this question.
Sorry for wasting your time.


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How do I get mode editor
Im a complete noob at blender and im trying to find node editor but I cant? Could someone just explain the steps to find it please haha.

Welcome to blender! :)
Its called "shader editor" since > Version 2.8
For a better start you can check out the Blender Manual (https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/editors/shader_editor.html) and also the official Youtube Series Blender Fundamentals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zrd37k2tJM)

thanks so much! I kept trying texture node editor and was so confused when it wasn't the right thing

no problem, glad i could help :) maybe you could edit your answer to "node" instead of "mode", so other users could find it more easily. Also if you liked the answer please consider marking it as solved ;)


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Animation Breaks when Exporting to unity
im tyring to Export an Simple animation to unity, the animations is made out of 5 meshes, and created using only keyframes, but when im in unity, the model itself isnt right, some of the meshes move out of their place and others render differently than in blender.
and the animation for some reason is broken too, instead of playing all together, it aplied every string of keyframes to every mesh individually, and and even to meshes which its even their animation.
any way i could fix it?

i dont know how to upload gifs, So i didnt upload the animation problem..

Did you apply (Ctrl A) Loc rot and scale of every object before exporting?

Yes I did, i think theres a chance i know why is it, Can you export animations that dont contain Rigging? I made the animation by moving the object and adding keyframes, Can you upload that to unity?


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2D animating a simple image with simple movement
Blender version: 2.82
I am fairly new to Blender. My goal is to 2D animate an image going from the left to the right and scaling the image while it's moving.
So far I have tried:

Clicking on the desired frame time and dragging the image, then clicking on "Insert keyframe"
Going to object mode and clicking on "Add image" and attempted to add it to grease pencil by converting the object to a mesh which failed.
Trying out other modes other than grease pencil but none of them could add an image (nor could grease pencil)

You can follow @Christopher's answer on an image Shift A  > Image > Images as Planes. Check the shading options, etc,  in the file browser when you select the image to import.

For a simple animation, start with the object in it's "starting position" with the timeline at 0. Press N to bring up the transform tools window, and press I over both the location and scale boxes to insert a keyframe (one press of I works for all three axis boxes).

Then, move your timeline forward, move and scale the object accordingly, and then again, press I over the rotation and scale, to set a new keyframe at the new time position with the new transforms applied. You should now be able to play your animation and watch the object move and scale accordingly.


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Rendering (CPU+GPU) crash almost every time
I have a newly created .blend file (totally about 83 000 faces and 8 MB large) that crashes almost every time I Cycles-render with cpu+gpu. I have set it to 500 samples and 1920x1080@250% (i.e. not too memory-intensive. Usually I have alot higher settings when rendering with Cycles engine, without any crashing)
It is not crashing instantly, but after some time the white "Blender is not responding" screen appear and I need to kill the process.
Is it possible to check the file somehow, what makes it crash, if it is some setting or some objects that is corrupt?
I run Windows 10 pro, 32GB RAM, and Blender version 2.90. Using AMD radeon 7100 PRO graphics card.

it's probably a bug, your best bet would be to report it on the blender dev forms.

it is stranhhe because i have tried blender 2.8x and the same thing happens with this soecific file. so i suspect it is the file itself that is bugging.

I just tried to render after the coputer's wifi connection was dissabled, and it seems to work now, at least for once... Wonder if that is some clue ...


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Joined objects remain separated in edit mode
I apologize if this has been covered, but I have been unable to locate a solution.
I joined two basic objects together before applying array and curve modifiers, but they are still detached in edit mode. Is there a way to combine all vertices into one complete object? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Try selecting the whole mesh, then select mesh > clean up > merge by distance.

I should have mentioned that I tried both "merge by distance" options and "delete loose", but still the same result.

This looks normal... why / which parts of the mesh do you want to be connected?

I joined the laces to the patch and I want to move them as one piece in edit mode. It is acting as if they are still sperate objects.

Hello :). Since you're using Proportional editing, make sure the Connected Only option is disabled.

Thank you so much. I knew it was something simple.

When you use 'merge by distance' in the pop up window it lets you specify the distance. By default it's so low that it only merges vertices that perfectly overlap. Try setting it to something bigger like 0.01 and see if that helps

if the vertices are close enough , you can Select all the vertices and click x to delete and do by distance , or else if you want to do manual work you can CTRL M to merge pairs of corresponding mesh vertex


text:
How do I model these difficult parts of Apple Watch?
How do i model these 2 parts of an Apple Watch (Series 7)?
1:
and
2:

Hi :). What have you tried so far and where exactly are you stuck?

@JachymMichal I've tried Boolean in couple of different ways. Low poly, high poly too. But failing to reproduce clean controlled geometry . I'm unable to wrap my head around doing this in quad based geometry. :(


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Adding Light in Eevee is slowing down Blender
I made a simple city project, just in the blocking phase. I added street 4 street lamps with emission shader (in eevee). Now I have to add area-lights to illuminate the scene. But the moment i add an area-light to the 4th lamp my Blender starts freezing. Why is this happening? Before adding the 4th light Blender is absolutely fine. It seems Blender is hitting some bottleneck with the 4th light? Can anyone shed some light on this and make it possible for me to move further with the proejct?

If your issue is very project specific, you should provide a (minimal) blend file so it could be looked at.

I figured it out. In Render-Properties > Shadows, I had High Bit Depth enabled. Turning it off solved the problem.