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Cannot add modfiers to objects, don't appear on menu

I'm able to apply them on some modifiers, the drop down tab to show all objects will ignore the ball, this seems to apply only to the modifier icons being red. I'm trying to apply a curve to the object. Do I need to apply something else beforehand?
On windows 10 x64, blender 2.92.2

I'm able to apply them on some modifiers, the drop down tab to show all objects will ignore the ball, this seems to apply only to the modifier icons being red. I'm trying to apply a curve to the object. Do I need to apply something else beforehand?

You need to add a curve object to make a curve modifier work

Like a cylinder? I've tried that shape as well and got the same result.

like a Curve > Circle

You need to create a curve object before you can assign the curve modifier to your mesh.

curve: You found in: add-> Curve -> Like this image
but, I think you want to model your object right?

Yeah I want to physically curve the object rather than drag vertex parts tediously.

depends on what you really want you can use the simple deform modifier or use sculpt mode https://prnt.sc/xy6cyo  https://prnt.sc/xy6ee6


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How to make Abstract EM Waves material in Cycles?
I found out a cool image on Internet, and I want to recreate a similar scene (or an animation) with Blender (using Cycle).
But after all of my researches, I didnt find out a way to make this type of material. I also tried a lot of different node trees, but no sucess...
I hope that someone have some tips, and I hope that you'll understand me :).
Thanks for reading.
- A.C

It's similar to this http://blender.stackexchange.com/a/64978/29586 (see final image of answer)

Is there a way to make a 3D mesh, and then apply this kind of texture on it ? (Blue/violet on the edges, and transparent at the center line of the mesh) It could give a better 3D result, instead of a simple 2d plane.

Is this like a cloth sim with turbulent air flow? Change the cycles material to get the blue effect.

@Aloiscoissard The same principle would work in 3D but the maths is much more complicated. At some point in the future I'd like to revisit it from a 3D perspective.

This answer https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/64978/29586 created a wispy material in 2 dimensions only. The same principles can be extended to create a similar volumetric material.

Starting with the Generated coordinates we can create a volumetric horizontal 'plane' simply by controlling the emission based on the Z coordinate. This could be achieved using Maximum and Minimum nodes to control the emission at certain 'heights' in the volume. However, using a Power function and other Maths nodes allows the cutoff to be varied and 'focused' as desired.

The emissions is around the plane Z=0 with full emission at Z=0 and emission falling off at either side, controlled by varying the Focus and Intensity input nodes to produce the following effect.

Adding in some Noise - controllable via a Mapping node - makes it less regular. The individual X and Y Scale factors can be used to stretch the noise into ripples and/or adjust for the dimensions of the containing mesh if required. Note that the output of the Noise texture is reduced by 0.5 so that the noise is centered around 0.0 and it can then be multiplied by a scale factor to allow the noise to be varied dynamically (the Mapping node can't be driven directly by an input value).

Adding a twist to the plane is complicated by the fact that the Mapping node does not provide inputs to very the values within the material - instead, we need to manually apply rotation based on the Y coordinate using matrix multiplication as described here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotation_matrix. ie,
X = x.cos(angle) + y.sin(angle)
Y = -x.sin(angle) + y.cos(angle)

This can be achieved as follows :

Also, add a Color Ramp to fade out at the edges to limit the 'plane' to the range -0.5 to 0.5 (otherwise the rotated 'plane' will extend out to the edges of the mesh as it twists (rather than staying the same width)).

To replicate the effect in the sample image you can adjust the Color Ramp so that the edges are more pronounced and with the centre darker than the edges and blending between the two colors. It's important that the far edges of the color ramp fade out to black to limit the outer edge of the 'wave'.

For additional variation, add some modulation of the rotation by using an additional Noise texture to vary the rotation.

The final material is as follows :

Adjust the various Input nodes, Color Ramp, Texture Node Scales, until you get the desired effect.

Blend file attached
For ease of re-use, the nodes can be placed in a Node Group.

Note that 'Phase' parameters have been added to allow the phase of the waves to be controlled.
Positioning multiple meshes and animating the waves can produce the following result :

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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(Animation Nodes) How to make a wave-like sound visualizer?
I figured out that I can make cool sound visualizer using the animation nodes addon.
Can I make a Wave-like sound visualizer with a plane using AN ?
I want it to looks like this (If possible ^^)
-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtD5UQE5Xj0
->
Edit: Is it possible to drive the vertices of the plane with the music ?
Thanks for reading !

A.C

I already seen this. But I want a plane to move like a wave, not cubes :/. I want it to looks like this (But with a square plane):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtD5UQE5Xj0

Maybe combine with sverchok, like this

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


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Is there a Chamfer modifier like 3d max in blender?
I am 3d max user and i am used to chamfer and turbosmooth workflow in 3dmax.  The chamfer modifier in max takes into account the smoothing groups and bevel edges accordingly. Then adding turbosmooth on top gives you sharp and smooth edges.Is there a workflow or tool to replicated the same in blender?

I don't know 3ds max, but I think what you want is 'bevel' modifier

The bevel modifier does not have the feature to take in smoothing groups defined by user?

You should try to describe at least with an image the desired worflow in 3ds max, better with a before/after comparison for each tool used...

i think it should be clear now!

The bevel modifier supports Creases (Shift E) as well as vertex groups when set to the "Weight group" mode. If you want to apply the bevel anyways (as in yoir image) use the bevel operation (Ctrl B) in edit mode.

The bevel modifier is what you're looking for.  The other answers don't mention that it can be set to use only bevel weights defined by the user.  Bevel weights can be set for each individual edge and smaller weight = smaller radius bevel.

There is the bevel modifier in Blender that works a similar way. The smoothing groups do not affect the shape, there is the profile setting there and if it the profile is set to 0.5, then the bevel is perfect circular shape.


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Objects snap backs to its original position halfway through animation
Link to my blender file.https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WApKxEItBW1lrh2O9S3e7V1lGQ0xU3el
The cube snaps back to its original postion halfway through animation. I am using transformation constraint to move the cube up and down according to the rotation of cylinder.

It's occuring at a rotation of 180 degrees. I would suggest gimbal lock may be the culprit.  Could try setting the y nd z of spinning object to zero, by applying or via an empty parent.


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How to apply the multiply effect strip on more than 2 video clips?
I have 3 identical movie clips stacked upon each other. Each one is slightly shifted to the last. Now, I want to combine all three clips using an effect like the multiply effect, so that one can see the all three clips at once, just like the overexposition effect in old cinema movies.
I know how to do it with only 2 clips, one select the first, then the second clip, and then one goes to add -> effect -> multiply.
How does it work with more than 2 ?


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Version 2.78, 3D view, Problems displaying a movie clip as background, how to fix it?
I am using Blender Version 2.78,
in the default layout I did the following:

1 to go into front view
space to enter command: allign camera to viewport
n to open the box on the right
selected image>movie clip

However no movie clip showing up, I tried both orthographic and perspective mode, inside and outside the camera.
When I open an image as a background, it shows up on pressing 7 on the numpad. The movie clips I tried to open as background images already worked in blender inside the video sequence editor.

try disabling "camera clip" and select again the video through the "open" button

adding that also selecting "image" you can select a movie file, it should work anyway...

where do I disable  camera clip ?

This is what I meant in comments above (if I got what you meant)
As said

also selecting "image" you can select a movie file, it should work anyway
or, using "movie" option, try disabling "camera clip" and select again the video through the "open" button


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Controll cube with arduino + mpu6050
So i have an arduino with an mpu6050 attached to it. It is currently set up to send the raw data from the imu sensor to my computer.
I would like to use this data to control a cube in blender with inside the blender game engine, in realtime.
My problem is that i cant figure out how to get blender to read the data from the mpu. Im pretty new to python.
Pyserial seems to work and blender connects to the arduino, but the actual code on how to get the IMU sensor data into blender is still a mystery to me.
Update: I can now move the cube with the IMU sensor, so blender is reading the data. Even tho the motion is coming trough the movement is not very accurate and that someting I will have to work on.
Here is a link to my github with the arduino firmware and blend file:
https://github.com/Bjaza/mpu6050Arduino-blender
to be more precise heres a video of what i'm trying to do inside blender:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl_8xg2DdJ4
the blender scene im using is only a cube parented to a bone with an allways sensor and a python controller
the arduino is using the standard mpu6050 libraries.
If anyone has any suggestions on what kind of python script to use in blender, i would be ever so grateful.
Posted similar question in arduino forum and the anwser was to match the data input format to the read format.
Example: from this 0.00/0.00/0.00 to this 0.00,0.00,0.00

I suppose you are able to get some data into Blender and you are trying to move a Cube. Please post example of the real-time data you are getting and how you are getting it - in app.handler perhaps? Maybe post the scene you are using for testing? We can help you with moving the Cube, that is not hard, but it is hard to guess what you need exactly.

Oh, so the issue is the data transfer. On blender side, you get bits from serial port like data = ser.readline() or data = ser.read(bytesToRead) in some kind of loop. But it takes 2 to communicate, without knowing what the Arduino is sending, it is hard to guess how to handle the incoming stream and how to chop it into coordinates. The serial communication stuff is not very related to Blender, you might get better help in Arduino or RaspberryPi stackexchange.

The error says the provided string is not sufficient for build-in parsing (string to float). I suggest you create an own parser that can parse the provided format and extract the data you want.

the code doens't work with me can anybody help ?? i don't want it to be complicated i just want simple cube to rotate many errors appeared in the console


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How do I make materials and textures colored at same time when rendering?
So I am trying to make a model in Blender. I imported from Roblox and am trying to make GFX for my war group, but for some reason when in material view it shows the helmet and stuff but not the clothes colors. When I go to texture, it swaps, but it always renders in material. I loaded the MTL and the OBJ, but all is shows in render is this.
That's what shows when I render, it's really weird. Is it a problem with the file I'm uploading, or do I have some settings wrong?? Also, I realize this question has been asked before, but I've tried a lot of fixes and nothing works for me, it's really weird. I've seen blender animations and know that this should be possible, but can't figure out how to do it.
[EDIT] So it shows the textures, but not the colors is what I mean. This post has been up for a while with no answers.

That is what the pieces in the workspace look like.

Hi are you using cycle ? blender internal ?
Are your models made of multiple objects that are parented or is it one single mesh ?

Well, I just use render, not cycle. My model is multiple objects that are NOT parented, like all the pieces are sitting in the workspace. I just added another picture in the question, that's how all the pieces are except some are named SmoothBlockModel. When I used cycle, even more color changed to gray. It's really weird. The thing is, the textures show up on their bodies, but not the color. When I change to texture view, colors show.

Just to be clear, the texture is a color. If you want color from a texture you link the texture to a slot and enable "diffuse color". If you just want a plain color, remove the texture from the material... I'm not too sure what is happening with your blend but it feels like you need to get a few lessons about CG.
The way it works is that any program that lets you do 3d is build with opengl, that is a language. And this language is the KEY to mastering higher lever programs like blender, read a book or some articles about OpenGL.

Hey @ARobloxPlayer25, could you attach a .blend by uploading it to https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/? Make sure to use File>External Data>Pack all into .blend

@WhatAMesh Here is the blend you asked for,    It turned pink btw, the characters, and that's because I need to load the MTL I know.

THIS PROBLEM IS FIXED! For some reason it randomly didn't work for awhile, but now it does. I just left the thing alone for awhile. Oh well.

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


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How do I make a render with a background image in Blender Render?
How do I render an image behind my objects using Blender Render?
Let's say I have a cube.

How could I render this cube with a background image shown. Like when you press Numpad 0 with a background image selected in properties?

I've done some googling and all I found is how to do it in Cycles.
My last resort is to edit my render in a photo editing program. But I hope I don't have to do that.
Thanks!

Can you explain how you achieved your goal Cycles in a sentence or two?

The are plenty of ways to do this.

Place a texture on a plane in the 3D View. UV Mapped plane.
Render with a transparent alpha for the cube.  Place on background image by whatever image processing means including GIMP or the Blender Compositor.
There are also HDRI images free for the background

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


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make rigid body object the same shape as my model
I have an anvil falling into a tower of blocks, however the blocks interact with the anvil before the models are actually touching. Can I make the rigid body object the same exact shape as my model?
edit
After trying the first suggestion below, my anvil now just falls through the tower

In the collision tab menu you can see option "Shape" Try to change "convex hull" to "mesh", if it still won't work, check your blocks if they have shape box as well

yes, as MikoCG says, "Mesh" makes the collision shape exactly the same as your mesh.  It's a  lot less efficient so in general you should try to avoid using "Mesh" collision wherever possible.

Yes it is good to avoid but for shape like this it is basically impossible to use anything else if he want precise collision in all possible bents of that anvil (let's hope that anvil is lowpoly)

errm, not quite; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D4PN7WO-4o

also it is a low poly anvil :D


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Metallic Material Has Black In It
If you look on the left rails there is some weird black shading?
(im using blender cycles)

Try adding sharps to the ends of the rails (Edge mode, select, right click, sharp) and resetting the normals vectors

Are you using the Cycles rendering engine?

It can have multiple reasons. Please share the material node tree

...or share blend file

Yes I am Using The Cycles Engine

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57662/how-to-get-rid-of-shadowy-texture-on-objects

This is a common issue with Shade Smooth.  The normals on the sides are being interpolated to the face on the non-camera-facing side, and so the rendering engine is reporting it as a lost ray because it reflects into the background or otherwise runs out of light bounces before it can find a light.
You can see a recreation of the issue in this example scene.

Two simple ways to fix:

Enable Auto Smooth in Object Data Properties -> Normals.

Create some supporting loops on the ends to decrease the area over which the interpolation happens.


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HDRI image not visible when viewed directly, but visible through glass
new to Blender and I'm trying to replace the HDRI image, but keep the lighting. After trying the compositing method, I decided to go with a big sphere around the model.
I am able to view get the sphere to be visible when viewed directly

Here's the sphere shader.

but when looking through the glass the HDRI image is still visible and not the sphere.

The windows are Archipack rail windows with portals enabled and a basic glass shader.

I suspect it might be my glass shader, since when I remove the diffuse ray, the blue sphere shows up through the window, but the HDRI remains in the reflections. I played around with the different rays, and by replacing the diffuse with a camera ray, I could get the sphere to show in window, but it got rid of the reflections which I'd like to keep.
I'd appreciate some help with either troubleshooting the issue or if I'm going about doing the sky replacement the wrong way.
Added HDRI Shaders
Update: So after a lot of faffing about, I wanted to clarify the question a bit more. I was able to get both the reflections and the outside to render simultaneously by using a glossy BSDF and transparent BSDF into an add shader, however the HDRI image still overlays it.

I think what I want is how to remove the HDRI image from the glossy or glass BSDF? Or any way to only render the reflections on glass, but not the HDRI image itself?

Can you show a screenshot of your HDRI nodes?

Does this answer your question? Use a HDRI just for lighting and change the background color

I can't comment and I'm waiting for an account merge, but here’s the hdri setup.  Also, I tried the method mentioned in the comment already and the same issue persists. Visible only when viewed directly.

@Leo My recommendation for you is to delete the spehre that is blocking the HDRI and use the method above. But it's just a recomendation because i'm not sure why you need the sphere

@Leo Now, im not sure to understand what you need, but is it something like this ? HERE The nodes are from the HDRI

First turn off Glossy in the Ray Visibility panel in World Settings.

Instead of a Glossy BSDF and Transparent BSDF into an Add Shader, plug it into a Mix Shader instead. You can then vary the Fac to determine how transparent and how reflective the material is.

I can then see through the windows and keep the reflection of the objects without the HDRI image being visible as well.

I found an even better answer after some more digging. Apparently what I wanted was something called thin glass and it is pretty complicated.
Useful links:

https://blenderartists.org/t/glass-shader-keeps-reflection-of-environment-map-even-though-it-is-set-to-transparent/1126301

https://devtalk.blender.org/t/principled-bsdf-transmission-behaviour/2096/3

I basically grabbed the Node Group from the second link and it worked perfectly.
For any beginners who see this here are the steps:

For the front of the glass, add a Mix Shader with a Fresnel node in the Factor and a Transparent BSDF in the top Shader point and a Glossy BSDF in the bottom Shader point. Set Roughness on the Glossy to 0.

For the back of the glass, copy all the nodes from the node setup for the front of the glass. Add a Math node set to Divide and plug that into the IOR of the Fresnel node. Set the Value of Divide to 1.

Add another Mix Shader node and a Geometry node. Plug the Backfacing from the Geometry node into the Factor of the new Mix Shader. Then plug the outputs from the other two Mix Shaders into this new Mix Shader. The front glass output into the top Shader point, the back glass into the bottom.

You can then highlight all these nodes, ⌃ Ctrl + G to make a new Node Group.

Plug one of the color points from the fours BSDFs into the empty point on the Group Input node. Hold ⇧ Shift + drag RMB  then let go to create a split the node connection. Connect the other three Color points to this split connection.

Next, plug the bottom IOR point of the Fresnel node into the next empty point in the Group Input. Split the connection and then connect to the bottom point of the Divide node. Make sure it says IOR in the Group Input and not Value.

Finally plug the final Mix Shader output into the Group Output node.

You can then ⌃ Ctrl + ↹ Tab out and plug this node group into a Material Output node and you should be all set. If you want to organize a little, ↹ Tab back into the node group and add a Frame node.
You can then separate the node groups. Press N to open properties and edit the names of the Frame nodes or the final node group.

Remember to still turn Glossy off under Ray Visibility in World Properties if you don't want the HDRI image to be visible in reflections. And to hide the HDRI image in general by checking the Transparent box in the Film tab under Render Properties.
Here's how it looks! Good luck with your own!


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I can't see my Object in Modeling Workspace
I created an Object in the Layout Workspace, when I switch to the Modeling Workspace vertices disappear. When I create a new file, it works.
I upload an MP4 to google drive.Please check it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v6XDjp_vD-76H-lDxmtez-0TWMDqScwr/view?usp=sharing

No,I did not hid the mesh.And it's not working by ALT + H .

Perhaps your viewport is extremely zoomed out? Try having the object selected and press numpad period.

It's not working.Please check the video I uploaded.

solved.Thank you very much NGCHunter2!

Global view shows all 3D objects in the scene. Local view isolates the selected object or objects, so that they are the only ones visible in the viewport.
Numbpad /  is use to toggle Local View

Thank you for the explanation!


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Transformation of object based on axis
ive been doing some sculpting in blender and i run into a problem that i need a proper transformation of my object. I tried with rotation but it does not help. This is what im talking about:

I want the last horn, the big one, to actualy be like the first two horns : "MIRROR-ED" , but i seem to cannot do it right. This is what Happens when i do SHIFT+D to copy object(Duplicate)

I tried rotation, and this is kinda "best" what i can get :

Which does not look right.
So, how do i get a mirror of my right side big horn to be on left?
Actualy, the first two horns had the same problem, but its not that visable, so i left it like that. But for big one i need fix. Any help?

perhaps duplicate then S Y -1?

You can delete the entire site of vertices of the horn you don't like and then add a mirror modifier.

Okay, i just tried what moonboots said and it worked! Thank you very much!

Yes...I get it... But i didnt know you could do that thing like : S , Y , -1... that -1 was nonsense at first glance... But it works now fine.
So i guess its answered question! :)

You want a mirrored copy of your horn, right? Select your horn, apply its rotation and scale with ctr A, duplicate it with a shift D (or alt D if you want a linked duplication), then press S, Y and -1, the duplication will be mirrored.


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Why png image is not visible
I have used the png image and added the nodes as seen below

After render i cant seen the "CE.png" image on the button
After render

Where are my node missing to view my image
Any suggestion or help.

You have the mix shader going into the Displacement of your material.  Are you trying to make it bump-mapped?  I would suggest using the Displace modifier instead.  Otherwise, just move the shader to Surface.

Connect Mix Shader to Surface socket in Material Output node not to Displacement.


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Difference between 2 renders
I have render the image with CPU.

And animation done with GPU
Why there is difference between 2 light. Same mesh. Same lights. Nothing added or change. So why there is much difference in lights. Any suggestion. Thanks

Can you share a file or usefull part from it?

In what format have you saved the animation?

I agree with @atek. When I tested rendering with the two devices (GPU and CPU), I got some wildly different lighting results.

@RobinBetts MP4

Would a good first step be to compare like with like, in a non-lossy format? i.e CPU rendered PNG vs, GPU rendered PNG?


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why hair particles do not drop down
I have created a mesh feather shape. I added the hair particles. When i press Alt+A to play animation they do not drop down. I have a default sphere and added same particles settings on it they do on the sphere.

Any suggestion or help why they do not fall down on my mesh. Thanks

perhaps you didn't click on the Hair Dynamics option for the feather?

@moonboots It is on in both

I don't know enough about Hair Dynamics, but it looks like when the hairs are straight vertical they don't fall, maybe if you rotate a bit your feather or add a wind, it will work, anyway it's not a solution, but it would explain why


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How to emit light from texture?
I have made a building and texture for it. I want to make this building for a night scene, which means that I want it to glow or emit light from the window to look realistic. Is it possible to make it glow or emit light from the texture?

Texture Building

Night Render view

Nodes

What extra nodes should I add to give a light or emission glow from the window?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/90064/using-an-rgb-map-to-assign-various-shaders-in-a-material

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos its not glowing.Is there any node like photoshop eye dropper click and separate glow for that shade.

select all the windows and assign them an Emission node, and in the Compositing, give this layer a glow effect

@moonboots i think you did not get what i mean. The building has a single texture how the windows can be selected separately.

@p2or but i have texture not just plane material

Just tweaking with the simple nodes i got this result and satisfied what i need

With the RGB-BW and color ramp i mix it and with emission.

In your current setup, all the surface that is not emitting is staying black (shadeless). Put a Diffuse Node with the texture into the middle input of the Mix Shader node to have it back.

@NicolaSap you mean between coloramp and mix shader i have to insert a diffuse node

no, in the green empty spot in the Mix shader


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Colors smear into a puddle in render
I'm very new to blender and I'm making my first kitchen scene. When I'm trying to render the scene I have stumbled upon something weird. On both the cabinet drawers and doors the colors seems to smear into a puddle (look pictures). I'll render the image with both cycles engine and eevee so you can see the difference.
I'm running the render with 128 samples and are using OptiX for denoising. I don't think this is a issue but I have a total of 12 max light bounces(Heard this is a lot but render time is no issue).
I wonder if I have done something weird with the material, lighting or my render settings, thanks for any help!

Hello and welcome to BSE.  How many samples are you running and what denoising method are you using?  Please [edit] your post with a little more info. :)

There I updated the post, hope that's enough info :)

Hard to say for sure, but you might try the denoiser in the compositor instead, because you can supply Normal data - https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/229227/110840  Do these doors and drawers have a bevel on the edge?


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Array an object along a 3d spline without massive distortion
I'm extruding a mesh along a flat bezier curve using Array (fixed count) and then a Curve modifier.

So far so good. When I move the points of the spline along the X and Y the object reacts accordingly. However, if I move any of the points on the Z axis, the object is horribly distorted and unusable.

How do I get around this?
File attached

Hello could you please share your file?

@moonboots Updated with link to file

Apply the scale of your curve, then switch to Edit mode, select all the vertices and right click > Set Curve Radius > type 1 (because if you've scaled the curve then applied, it has changed the vertices radius).


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Render finished script
I'm looking to write a script to print a message when the render is done.
if bpy.app.handlers.render_complete == True:
    print("\a") # beep
    print("Render complete!")

only that doesn't work when the render is finished.
I tried wrapping it in app handler but I just got errors
import os
import bpy
from pycl import print
from bpy.app.handlers import persistent

# clear the screen
os.system('cls')

@persistent

def my_handler(scene):
    print("\a") # beep
    print("Render done!!")

bpy.app.handlers.render_complete.append(my_handler)

Traceback (most recent call last): File "\Text", line 15, in my_handler File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\pyc l.py", line 33, in print console_print(*args, **kwargs)       # to Python Console File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\pyc l.py", line 20, in console_print for a in context.screen.areas: AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'areas'
I've had a look at this post. Without a greater understanding of app handler, I'm not sure where I'm going wrong.
I've restarted Blender a couple of times and now have found that it was
from pycl import print

causing the error, simply removing it or commenting it out the script works fine.

Looking at the error message it looks like your problem isn't really tied to the handler, but rather what you're doing when the render finishes. It seems you're trying to access a context which is not valid anymore. Could you post the rest of your code relevant to that ?

@Gorgious I've taken a fresh look at it, turns out I was printing using pycl. Printing to the console, instead of Blender console and the code works fine.


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How to make the 3D Cutout style. (3d paper cut)?
I found a video from “Cutout 102 - How to stylize an animation with the 3D Cutout style”
it's look cool, That's what I want to accomplish for style. I want to make it in a blender, but it is different from the video. Does anybody know how to create it? Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrbPOeOdF0E Make sure you add an explanation to help me better understand the picture/gif.

So if you have a tutorial that explains how to do, why don't you follow his advices?

Because that video is Maya Autodesk is different from a blender, it is not the same.

More importantly, it's a tutorial/documentation for MNPRX render engine specifically designed for making traditional medium looking renders, so unless that render engine exists for Blender, don't expect to be able to do such renders using the same procedures at all. That would require to to everything from scratch.


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Surface normals still regular in edit mode after displacement map
I am trying do perform a displacement map in a conical shape. I created a circle, extruded in Z and resized at the other side. After that, I selected everything and subdivided to have a bunch of small faces. Then, I added a displace modifier and a image texture, so that it becomes like the surface in the top (Object Mode):

The problem is, when I change to Edit Mode I can see that the normals keep as the surface was completely regular, which is not desirabe. I wanted the normals to follow the surface relief, is there a way to do that?
Edit: Accepted answer from Robin Betts, results (I extruded the surface, so that I can have normals on both sides):

If, in the Displace modifier, (as you could with most other modifiers) you click the little mesh-triangle tool-tipped 'Adjust edit cage to modifier result', you should be able to edit the vertices, and see the normals, of the modified mesh.

This works, thanks!! I could not upvote this answer because I don't have enough reputation yet...


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Bump Maps are missing after exporting as glTF 2.0
My goal is to export my entire FBX model into GLTF 2.0 format with all bump maps using Blender, and upload it online using Three.js
I've uploaded my FBX model to Sketchfab https://skfb.ly/YOGv and it shows that my FBX model has the bump maps, however when I convert it to gltf using Blender, it doesn't show all the pieces of this model with the bump maps, I see it only on the bottom of my model, here's the site I'm displaying the gltf model using Three.js [http://virtualvizcaya.org/pages/1916barge_blender.html].
Please help! I'm also new to blender, but I'm open to other approaches to reach my goal. Thanks!

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

The glTF format uses normal maps, not bump maps1. If you can bake your bump map into a normal map it should export correctly and appear the same. Sketchfab also allows you to download your model as glTF, so it may be worth trying that.

1The term "bump map" can mean different things, so I'm generalizing here... For a more precise answer I might need to see your material setup in Blender.


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Painting in "Texture Paint" on a sculpture is leaving errors

So i have sculpted half a horse & would like to learn how to paint it. I followed online blender painting manual & also have watched youtube tutorials.
So i used "smart UV project" to unwrap then i started painting in "texture paint". certain places over the sculpture leaves marks as shown (i have used the colour "white" only in the image above). Then i tried just UV unwrapping it from the "tools" when given the notices that i need UV unwrap & paint slot with the "!" by adding a paint slot. Both ways left me with the same result in different places. Also when using another colour somewhere else in certain places it turns those marks into that colour.
I have done some experimenting & also tried adjusting the angle limit in smart UV project & it changes the locations of where these occur. Also at the start of this occurring i went back into sculpture & tried smoothing out the horse more which did nothing at all to help the issue.
Can anyone please explain & tell me why i am getting this that i have never seen happen in tutorials after i have done the same thing with unwrapping & using brushes.

that marks are often caused by to small Island Margins. Try increasing that when you make your Smart UV Unwrap. For Texturepainting you can also try Lightmap Pack Unwrap or do it yourself with seams

I have tried increasing Island Margins in Smart UV Unwrap & Lightmap Pack Unwrap & i still get these marks appearing. As for doing it myself with seems, it is my understanding this does not work on sculpting mode objects & if it does it's somewhat problematic  compared to a object made in Edit Mode

I paint my objects that are sculpted all the time after retopologizing them to get workable density quads in my object. The unwrap itself has to be clean enough to work with, and there is a possibility with Smart Unwrap to get not only island margin errors, but also overlapping uv coordinates that cause problems.

Overlapping UV coordinates looks more like what it is seeing nothing changed really apart from location on object when i tried fixing island margins. I guess i will be needing to find a solution for overlapping UV coordinates. Thanks for the help

i looked into retopologizing & that looks like what i'l need to do. Thanks for all the help & this problem i hope should be prevented hopefully in future. All i can say about this is that it not as simple as it looks from watching & reading tutorials & seeing other peoples work go perfect with no marks or other problems. Honestly i thought it be simple as sculpt, unwrap, paint & done. I guess i was wrong in thinking things would be simple as explained & watched from a beginners & learners perspective with add-on's to help for making it easier & simpler

Retopoly did not work to fix this issue as i still got the marks. So right now i feel like my download of the free blender 2.79 is giving me what its worth & this has me wondering is there a better version where things work the way they should that i need to pay for


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Smoke simulation appearing black when previewing
When trying to preview a smoke simulation, the color of the smoke turns black while the default color of the smoke is grey and takes too much time to preview a single frame and when changing the color of the smoke it remain black

what render engine are you using? Are you talking about the preview in the 3D view?

Please add some additional information to your question.
Some screenshots or a blendfile for testing will also be very helpful.


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No response while and after rendering
When i render in Blender everything works fine, until I put the window into the background. Sometimes, when I go then tab back into Blender, it says "not responding". Interestingly, it still renders fine, as I can see in the file size of the output.
The actually problematic part is that, after finishing the render, it still gives no response, leaving me no choice but to terminate it, loosing all unsaved progress. I know I can always save before rendering, but sometimes I forget that...

Try to run Blender from a command line to see if it outputs something on it.

Have you tried uninstalling, clearing settings and preferences, then reinstalling it?

well, the thing is, that it does not happen always and I currently have no idea when it does, which makes it hard to identify the problem since I don't want to keep the console open constantly...


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Blender crashing when put in background
When I put Blender in the background for some minutes, it likes to stop responding. But this time, the console was open and I got this message:
AL lib: (EE) ALCmmdevPlayback_mixerProc: WaitForSingleObjectEx error: 0x102

Can you tell me what that means? Googling it only brings up Minecraft Stuff
My Specs:

Win 10 x64
Blender v2.78 using Blender Render
AMD Radeon™ RX 460
8 GB RAM

What OS are you on? What version of Blender do you have? Which render engine are you using at the time? Do you have Blender running anything in the background?

Sounds like some sort of audio issue, AL lib is related to sound I think. Either there is a bug in Blender, or an issue with your computer.

@ScottMilner Sometimes I let it render in the background, but this time it was actually doing NOTHING

it happened again. I tabbed out for like 5 seconds and booom - no response. Console shows absolutely nothing. Weirdly the music from the sequence editor was still running...


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How can I push down an action with only modifiers
https://www.file-upload.net/download-12536795/push.blend.html
In this file (on the camera) I have an action with only modifiers (in this case noise). But I can't push that track down in the NLA Editor, if I click the button, nothing happens. When I try the same thing with python it says "action has no data".
How can I do this then?

Bake the curve.
At least in this case, the modifier replaces it,
but the Editor won't grumble about no data being present.


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Camera move in and out
With the reference image im tracing an image. And when im in camera view i can see the image and my model perfect. When i just pan and it out from the camera view im much far from the model. Always i have to click the . key and come near and when i have to go in camera view it right direction but when out from the camera view same im away from the mesh. My camera is set to orthographic view.

Any suggestion why im always away from the model and not the same distance when press . key.

The default behavior when exiting camera view with Numpad 0 is to restore the previous view position. If you middle click in camera view, that should exit camera view without actually altering the view angle. Just be careful not to drag; lifting the mouse when clicking can help avoid that.

That said, you can use background images outside of camera view, in case that helps. Set the axis for the given background image in the N region. Image empties might also be useful.


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How to flip or mirror pose animation
With the small animation my character bending to the right side and stand straight. I want after he stand straight should bend in the left side same as it was in the right hand as if its walking on the rope.

Any suggestion or help how to flip my animation and make similar from right to left. Thanks

How about flipping the pose? Ctrl-C + Ctrl-Shift-V

@quiliup sorry did not work

It only works if the bones have the correct names, i.e. ending with .l/.r or _l/_r or similar for left and right. Are the bones names correct?

@quiliup ctl-c + ctl-shift-v did not work but it work this way. 1st Ctl+c copy 2nd ctl+v paste 3rd ctl+shift+v (paste the stored pose on the current pose)

@quiliup This is the final result https://imgur.com/gallery/4cvHkaP

So thats it? The problem is solved? May I write an answer?

You can also flip a pose by doing Ctrl+M then press X, Y, or Z, accordingly. Remember to save it as a new keyframe if you want it to save.


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How to set texture with camera view
With add image as plane i have add an image and in the texture coordinates i have set to camera. I want my image to be set in camera. In the view port it look set but when preview render the image gets smaller. How to set a background image with the camera. Any other alternative or something going wrong with my nodes. I dont want to scale or rate with the texture coordinates. as in the 3d view i can see it. Any suggestion or help how it works

When i rotate the camera with the background set. It small and get bigger and disappear. But not in the camera view.
https://i.sstatic.net/6tUNi.jpg

Have considered the Compositor? You render your foreground with transparency then overlay the result on to your image.

the textured view ignores texture coordinates. just set the first node back to UV and it should work just fine.

Plz check the question section below part.


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How to make bump with Displacement Modifier
I have a world map image and a sphere with subdivided. I tried all the setting to get that world map on that sphere clean and clear way but did not get. This is my result

What else setting are missing to get a clean world map bump effect with displacement modifier. Can i achieve it with nodes and how.  Any suggestion or help. Thanks

imho it's just that to use a detailed map to create a detailed displacement, you need a very detailed mesh...

@m.ardito any other method which the map can be displaced like bump with nodes can it be possible

If using Cycles then you could use the ‘experimental’ true displacement and connect the inage to the Displacement socket of the Material output node. You’ll still need a high level of subdivision - as mentioned by @m.ardito - but can produce reasonable effects without extreme subdivision as it will use the texture to generate normals as well as the actual displacement.

Possible duplicate of Getting "experimental" true displacement to work


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How to align particles
I have a mesh street and i want to align the lamp on the street. Some or few are align and almost all the lamp are distributed here and there. I have added the particles as a street lamp.

I have made the street with the OSM addon. Any help or suggestion to align the street light.


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Should I animate with skeleton or separate objects?
When animating a robot or other mechanical object, should I merge merge all objects into one, rig it with a skeleton and animate the skeleton. Or should I keep limbs separate, parent them to each other and animate them.
The robot will be very stiff. No bending limbs or cartoony squash and stretch. If I would use bones, each bone would have a very strict vertex group, exactly one limb of the robot. Limbs will rotate in sockets of their parents.
This is for creating animated movies, not for game animations.
Also, the robot has some symmetrical parts so it would be nice to copy and mirror keyframes between the sides.
I will probably want Inverse kinematics.

you can use both methods, either join all the objects into one, in that case you'll parent With Empty Groups, or keep them separate, in that case parent each object to each bone. I think the first method is more convenient, as it makes a single object, but I guess it depends on a lot of things

You definitely need a skeleton, maybe a Rigify rig, in order to have IK/FK switch, symmetrize pose, copy and mirror keyframes, and other valuable stuff.
The decision if to join into a single object or keep the parts separated is not crucial, but having a single object has no drawbacks and it's a cleaner solution: it's easier to manipulate and import/export into different files and/or applications.
In this case, as Moonboots said, you can parent the mesh to the rig using Ctrl P "with empty groups"; then select all vertices of a piece (shortcut L and Ctrl L), select the relevant vertex group and click the "Assign" button in the vertex groups properties panel; repeat for all pieces of the robot.
In the Rigify rig the limbs are controlled by 4 bones each (i.e. DEF-upper_arm.L, DEF-upper_arm.L.001, DEF-forearm.L, DEF-forearm.L.001). You may want to select all undesired bones (all thoose with .001 suffix, plus breast and pelvis additional bones) and uncheck their "Deform" option before parenting.
You can find all deforming bones on bone layer 29 (counting from 00 to 31).


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Texture Paint: Pixelated after texture paint
When i paint some textures on my UV-Texture, the image is sometimes pixelated. I don't know how i can adjust the best zoom size of the stencil texture. How can i ensure best quality?

Try to fill as much space as possible with the UVs. It looks to me like you're using way too few of the available pixels. Also see Leon Cheung's answer.

Generally, you should be aware of two things:

The resolution of the background image.
The level of detail of the paint texture.

In your case, I'm not sure how big you build the background image, but if it's 2048 x 2048 px, then, in the current zoom level, the stencil texture may probably covers about 10% of the whole area, which means 648 x 648 px around, far from enough, isn't it?
Besides, your stencil texture seems sort of a gravel texture, which means the detail unit is quite small. Obviously, you need enough pixels on the background image to at least cover the detail of the a unit gravel, in order to preserve the original detail as you want.
My suggestion is: try not to have the background image over zoomed in while painting.


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Keep losing "sub" pose library after re-openning the file
I am trying to categorizing my pose library into many "sub-libraries" such as mouth, eye, expression.  However, blender only keeps the last sub-library selected before closing the file, and loses all the other when the file reopened.
Currently, 2.79
What do I need to do?
Is there anything else I have to do to keep other sub-library before closing the file?
Will move to 2.8 after this project.  Hopefully, the principal can be transferred.
Thank you very much for your kind help.

See the zero next to the name of the new pose library in the first screenshot? That means it has no objects using it and so blender will thing this is unnecessary data and clean it up when the file is saved.
You can fix this by adding a 'fake user' to each pose library you want to keep using the button with a big F on it next to the pose library name when you have it selected.
This is very counter intuitive behavior.

Thank you very much, I ll try it out.  You are right about the intuitive thing.  The reason for this eludes me...


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How can I preview all of my video strips?
I have pressed something, not sure what... and now I cannot preview all of the strips in my video, eg; I can preview sound, but not image. If I add a new clip, then this previews fine.
The strips I can't preview seem to be faded out in the video sequence editor, how do I get it back? see image!
Thank you in advance for your help :)

Can we get full interface in image?

[H] to hide selected clips. [Alt H] to unhide selected clips.

Select your transparent strips and unhide them. Alt+H.

Just select the faded strips and press Alt+H and the hidden strips i.e your transparent strips, will be unhidden. You probably pressed H which is used to hide.

The screenshot looks just like he hid all his strips, so your answer won't help. He has to just select his movie strips and unhide (ALT+H)...

@Samooth thanks for letting me know, should I edit my answer with yours or you are answering?

You can answer that, that's fine for me ;-)

@Samooth I have edited my answer, but if I missed something you can edit further!


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Subdivision problem during modeling
I'm a beginner at Blender. I'm trying to model a wrench, which looks like this without applying the subdivision modifier:
And like this after using the subdivision modifier:
A closer look of the end:

There are no doubles and I think I have enough tightening loops here. Really can't figure out what's wrong, any suggestions?

Blender can't figure out what to do with that big, oddly-shaped face on top.  You can see that even with a simple cylinder:

A few extra cuts on that face will make it smaller and convex, and it solves the problem:

That said, you should try to avoid large faces with more than 3-5 edges (preferably 4 edged quadrilaterals), which will give you the best results for subdivision.
Also, your initial model is very high-poly for a model you intend to subdivide.  Your UN-subdivided model is high-poly enough that it'd probably already work for most uses.
For subdivision modelling, I always try to economize the amount of quads before subdividing. Here's a quick wrench I did that uses a pretty small number of vertices:

...but it still subdivides quite nicely:

Hope this is helpful!

Thank you very much!!!


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Animation Nodes - curve and objects
How can I distribute objects along a curve with animation nodes?
AN 2.1
Blender 2.8
Thanks!

Welcome to StackExchange! Did you check the documentation on the Get Spline Samples node?

Thank you! Yes but there is no, get spline samples node with the version im using

The Get Spline Samples node was replaced by the Evaluate Range option in the Evaluate Spline. This option can be enabled by pressing the button next to the parameter type menu.


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What is the purpose and idea behind baking in Blender?
I have an interest in the main idea of "baking" and how it plays a role in rendering an image or an animation. Can someone recommend a tutorial on this matter?
Thanks.

Just found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r-cGjVKvGw from Blender Guru, and it looks like a good start. But as I have no overview, there might be more to it.

In computer graphics, baking generally refers recording calculated information in some kind of cache, to avoid the need to keep recomputing it.
For materials and rendering specifically, it refers to recording various kinds of surface information (e.g. colour, lighting, normals) into image file(s), which are then used as textures of various kinds.
It can be done for a many different reasons, some of the more common uses are:

Transfer surface geometry information (e.g. normals, curvature, ambient occlusion) from one (usually more complex) mesh to another
Transfer textures form one UV layout (possibly generated) to another.
Record procedurally generated textures either for export to another program or for performance reasons.
Save lighting information on static parts of the scene to speed up rendering.


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Internal script modification
I would like to modify an internal file but I don't know how to replace it.
Indeed, I want to modify a script in Templates>Python>Operator File Import but I don't find a way to do it in the text editor. Maybe it's obvious, in fact I also don't find my answer in the existing questions.
Thank you in advance.

I think that template files cant be modified, what you may do instead is to copy the content of the template file in a new text block and tweak it there

You think I can keep the main part of the template in a new text block (or in an extern script I guess ?) and make them both run will not be a problem ? Thank you for your answer

It appears this is in relation to  https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/146160/15543 which is a case of, quoting @Sambler, using it as a "starting point"  when creating another script. The template isn't modified, the script is a modified version of it.  Save the modified script, with .py extension and install as addon, or simply save in blend file and  run the script from the text editor.

The templates files are only meant to be used as starting points, you don't need to replace any of them.
In blenders text editor choose the Templates->Python->Operator File Import, modify the contents in the text editor and save it to a file using Text->Save As. The best place to save the file would be in your config folder. You could save it to your desktop and use the Install Addon From File button.
Once you have saved it into your configs addon folder, you can enable the addon in your preferences and use your import addon.


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How to change camera from perspective to orthographic?
I can't find any property that does this.
I'd also like to change from one to the other with an animation setting halfway through my video, but not sure how I'd do that either.

Update: the animation question is answered here: Is it possible, without knowing Python, to animate between orthographic and perspective camera view?

you can switch from a camera to another but it's another question

Go to the Properties panel > Data > Lens, press the Orthographic button, and choose the Focal Length to zoom in/zoom out.

Ah, I was looking on the Object tab, didn't see Camera. Thanks.


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Why does rendering nothing take 45 seconds?
I've disabled all objects except the camera and hit F12 to do a quick render.
Blender takes 45 seconds just to draw a blue screen.
In my user preferences my 2011 GeForce card is enabled.
Why so long?  How do I improve this please?

If this information helps, maybe some other setting is wrong, because my Cycles Renderer looks fine in the 3D window:

but my Blender Renderer looks completely wrong, turning my green hairy plane orange. And when trying to F12 with it it just draws a grey screen instantly with no world background color.

--
UPDATE:
I've done all these tips to bring down render speed:

in render options - light paths set bounces from 0 to 4
change dimension - resolution - to 50%
performance - change tile size to 256
shading - disable ray tracing
world - disable ambient occlusion
light paths - disable shadows
render - sampling - reduce to 8 from 128

That takes rendering nothing from 45 seconds to 5 seconds.  But I want it to be almost instant. I have to render an animation that's thousands of frames long and it's just a simple cube moving across the screen.
I tried making a similar animation in three.js and it draws things pretty much instantly in real time in my web browser. I don't understand why Blender is being so slow :(

Interesting question, a few seconds would be OK but 45 sec. is way too much. Do you mind to share your Blender file in order to take a look on it?

Thanks!  Here: https://we.tl/t-aq9ZzayleM  (I'm not sure why the file is 30 MB either, I just have a couple primitive objects in my scene)

Thanks for the file. I did some tests and checked your render settings - nothing seems wrong. A the first try, I got some issues for rendering the scene and the render took a lot of time. But after reopening the file everything was fine (the "empty" render takes ~4s on my computer using a GTX 1070). Try to change some settings such as the "Tile size" in Render>Performance to see if things come back to normal. Let me know!

I guess this answers my question somewhat: https://www.quora.com/Why-does-a-blender-render-an-animation-slower-than-a-PC-game

Render nothing always takes a bit of time and it's never equal to 0s, especially using cycle. Three,js displays graphics in real-time like your Blender 3D viewport..

The Cycles renderer does ray tracing and thus takes ages to calculate every frame. See here: https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/136757/how-do-modern-game-engines-achieve-real-time-rendering-vs-blenders-slow-rende#answer-136776
If you're using Blender before 2.8 then use the Internal Render engine, it's MUCH faster than the Cycles Render engine.
If you're using Blender 2.8 or after then use the EEVEE Render engine.
This alone should fix the problem, reducing your renders to near instant.
You're getting funny colors on your objects because when you switch between Cycles and Internal you have to reassign all your materials - each engine has different materials that aren't compatible with the other renderer.
If you want to use Cycles for some reason then you can improve render times a bit by trying:

in render options - light paths set bounces from 0 to 4
change dimension - resolution - to 50%
performance - change tile size to 256 (16 for cpu only with no gpu)
shading - disable ray tracing
world - disable ambient occlusion
scene - simplify
light paths - disable shadows
render - sampling - reduce to 8 from 128

It is not a big surprise.
This is the time it takes to render nothing on an old i7 2600K processor:

And this is the time it takes to render the same nothing on the same old i7 2600K processor 2048 times(2048 samples):

Cycles is not very adaptive. It does not care much that it is the same plain color you ask to be sampled 128 times. It will do precisely that. This is pretty normal. The GPU you are using might not be a very powerfull solution for rendering. You could try CPU rendering as well see if that is any better with the CPU you have.
If you need simple results, you could also look into OpenGL rendering. That will render whatever you see in the viewport. It has a few settings so you could use better antialiasing as well.

Thanks. And any idea why the Blender Renderer is drawing things orange? I've read it's more simple and fast so I might want to try rendering with that if I can fix it.

I do not use Blender Render myself so I cannot provide detailed help with it, however I assume you just need to set up the materials and light for it correctly.

Great answer, you captured it perfectly. Richard you might want to keep in mind that with Eevvee and Blender 2.8 releasing soon, that will lighten the load a lot, especially for long animations imo

Yep. EEVEE will be great for that. Not only that, but it will be a lot easier to render with OpenGL in 2.8.  It is still quite unstable and full of bugs at the moment however.


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Render quality falls blurry and blocky with longer lens length
I'm using EEVEE. When I change the lens length of my camera from, say, 28mm to 200mm, most of the scene becomes blocky and blurry — not in a photographic way, but in a low-resolution way. Some of the scene is still sharp with high-resolution textures and edges, but much of it is unusable.
If I switch the camera to a shorter lens length, everything renders beautifully, but I need the optical behavior of a longer lens.
I'm assuming there is something basic I'm overlooking that addresses this.
Edited to add:

The only thing that's changed is the camera lens length (and the position of the camera, which had to be pushed forward for the 28mm lens).

Pics or it didn't happen. :) Seriously, though, please post a picture of good vs. bad so we can get a better idea of the issue(s) you're facing.

Oops, sorry. Literally the last thing that went through my head was that I have to take some screenshots before I post this...right before I posted without screenshots.

My first guess would be Z-fighting because of floating-point error: the clipping-range not accommodating the distance-range comfortably? Try adjusting the near and far clip of the camera to whatever is suitable for the 200mm distance.


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Object not appearing in object fields? [SOLVED]
I've modeled a Revolver and I'm adding an armature modifier to it.
But in the Object selection area it isn't there so I can't do anything

Is there an armature in your scene?

you need to create an armature, have you?

Duarte no, and
moonboots no.
So what do i do exactly

You have to have an armature in your scene before adding an armature modifier.
You add an armature to your scene the same way as adding other types of objects, with Shift-a, for add.
Once your armature exists, then when you try to create the armature modifier, you will find that your armature is available for selection in the field that requires an armature to be specified.
Note that directly creating an armature modifier isn't strictly necessary, because there is an alternative means available for creating the needed connections. You could get the same results by simply selecting your mesh, shift + selecting your armature (to add this armature to the same selection), then parent (with Ctrl-p) the mesh to the armature. Choose Armature Deform from the drop-down, and finally, choose a bind method, such as Automatic Weights or Envelope Weights. Following these steps will create an armature modifier automatically.

oh thanks, I was following a tutorial and already had an armature made but the tutorial did it differently, and for some reason I switched to that one

If you find an answer helpful, consider marking it as the preferred answer.

oh thanks i'm new to this stuff


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How can I export a video of a wind-blown object shot by a moving camera?
How can I export a video of a wind-blown object shot by a moving camera?
The objects I prepared is several papers looking objects. They are inside the square wire frame and constantly blown by a wind and turbulence (Force Field)
I made them by referencing this nice tutorial on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nx38iwliZI
I also prepared a camera which moves around the objects. And I wanted to make a short movie clip. But when I rendered this scene as a movie (H264), the camera follows the pass but the papers are not moving. And the image I get is just like the camera moving around the papers that frozen in the air.
Could you please advice me what I missed?
Is there any other step I need to do before rendering movie?
Thank you.

Screenshot
I'm hiding extra objects that doesn't related to my question. All the paper objects are inside of the wire frame. If I play the animation, they move. But they don't move once I render it as a movie clip. Only the camera does move.
Image 01: looking down the whole situation (at the point of frame "0")

Image 02: get closer (at the point of frame "500")

Image 03: Paper objects at frame "0"

Image 04: Paper objects at frame "500"

Please add screenshots from your own file. We have no idea what you missed

Thanks for your comment. I've added some screenshot here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/233006/how-can-i-export-a-video-of-a-wind-blown-object-shot-by-a-moving-camera-2

no need to repost. You can edit your question (and should in this case)

Meanwhile, looking at the screenshots (but with a sleepy mind), I am wondering if there is a modifier/constraint that has different render settings than viewport settings, or render display is turned off.

Is it possible that you need to bake the simulation before you render it?

I would like to thank the two respondents. I'll reaffirm the rendering settings and the need for bake. I don't fully understand what specifically I should do yet. But somehow I can imagine what I should do. Thanks for your kind help. (Accurate guess even with a sleepy mind!)


text:
Why is my fps suddenly running really low? ~4/5 fps
Yesterday my animation playback was running at a grand speed in solid mode - think it was  at the 24fps. Today, its around 4fps. I didn't actually change anything as far as I'm aware.
I tried opening it up on a stronger computer - now it's running at like 8fps.
Does anyone know why this might be?
Blender File:

"I didn't actually change anything as far as I'm aware." Pretty sure you did, otherwise there wouldn't have been such a drastic change. So you have to tell us what changed between today and yesterday so we can help you. Try hiding individual parts of your scene to diagnose which objects are causing it

You must have changed something... modifiers are lowering your fps very much, do you use modifiers? subdivision modifier on your objects that are moving? Did you make objects more dense with vertices?

Hi Duarte. Unless I pressed a certain key by mistake, I simply saved and shut down my computer last night with the animation running fine. Opened it today and the playback much slower. There is only one character in my scene.

@MikoCG yes, I have a subdivision modifier and an armature modifier. Is there a way to disable these? They were enabled yesterday when it was working fine however!

One can accidentally click on something and not notice - in Playback settings for example, the default is No Sync, which means, play every frame. Could you have had it on Frame Dropping before and accidentally changed it back to No Sync?

provide your blend file and we can help you. But the infos you gave us are not enough to help you efficiently...

Added to the main question there @Chris

@Susan it seems to be the same speed for both - but thank you!

I started your animation and got 6 fps on my computer.
If you select your body, go to modifiers tab and lower your "levels viewport" to 1 -> i got 24 fps on my computer which is 4 times faster and pretty good for a 3 seconds change, i think ;) You should keep the viewport levels low (for faster working/animating) and increase the render levels (because then you need the good quality, you don't really need the good quality for working in viewport).

@EmmaCulhane As Chris said, you don't need the high level in your viewport. Of course, there might be occasions where you need a high resolution in the viewport to see exactly what you are doing etc., but it makes no sense if the render resolution is much lower - because then you'll get in the final animation what you saw in the viewport. So generally speaking you should usually go for a lower resolution in viewport than in render - or t least they should match if you want to know how the render will turn out. But low render with high viewport only slows down your workflow for no use at all.


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Why can't I fix this deformation with weight painting?
My model's tongue / teeth seem to be deforming and sticking when I move my character. I've tried to fix this problem with weight paints, which helped to a certain extent.
I'm still having issues with it however! I don't think I connected the tongue correctly.
Note: the teeth, tongue and body are all part of one object, not separate items.
Any advice on what I can do to eradicate this issue would me much appreciated!

Also, this is what it looks like with a rotated head:

The Blender file is here for reference:

select the tongue vertices, remove them from all groups, them parent them to the group they are supposed to be part of

Thank you moonboots. Even if they are all part of the same object?

yes, just make sure that you've selected the good vertices, but it would make the things simpler if the tongue is a separate mesh (not separate object)

I'm still not sure what you mean by "parent them to the group they are supposed to be part of"? I'm quite new to Blender so if you could elaborate on that it would be great!

when you parent With Automatic Weight, it creates a series of vertex groups in the mesh (Properties panel > Object Data > Vertex Groups). These vertex groups will have the same name as the bones and all the vertices will be part of one or another vertex group. Sometimes some vertices are not assigned to the righ vertex group, so select these vertices and in the dropdown menu on the right of the Vertex Groups list (click on the down arrow) choose Remove from All Groups, then select the right vertex group and press Assign

Thank you so much! This worked perfectly - legend. :D

One more thing - when I now move the hand his entire chest and mouth deform after these changes. Do you know why this is? I've added the picture to the main question.

you need to make sure that the parenting is correct in Weight Paint mode. Also put the Armature modifier above the Subdivision, it will give better result (I don't know if it will fix your problem though)

When you parent With Automatic Weight, it creates a series of vertex groups in the mesh (Properties panel > Object Data > Vertex Groups). These vertex groups will have the same name as the bones and all the vertices will be part of one or another vertex group. Sometimes some vertices are not assigned to the righ vertex group, so select these vertices and in the dropdown menu on the right of the Vertex Groups list (click on the down arrow) choose Remove from All Groups, then select the right vertex group and press Assign.


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Why does the iris vanish when I set the origin of the outer sphere (cornea) to geometry?

I'm trying to parent the iris to the cornea - but when I set the origin of the cornea (outer sphere) to geometry, the transparency disappears and so the iris is hidden. See below. Please help!
Blend file:

Unfortunately the screenshot doesn't show the node setup completely how the Texture Coordinate node is used... I guess the texture mapping is in some way dependant on the object's geometry related to its origin.

The change of the origin point has re-centered the object's Texture Coordinate normals, and the material for the cornea used these to determine where it should be transparent. The iris hasn't disappeared, it's just the eyeball that became opaque.
To restore it I did the following: select the cornea object (no matter which, since they use the same material), go to the Shader Editor to edit the material "Cornea".
In the Mapping node, set the Location for X to 0.5 m, leave Y and Z at 0 m. This should already make the iris visible but still the transparency is a little misplaced. So I repositioned the Color Ramp sliders as well, I've set the white one to 0.572 and the black one to 0.574, leave the interpolation at "Ease".

Worked perfectly! Thank you so much Gordon - you made my day!! :D

@EmmaCulhane You're welcome. I've had a chat started in the other comments section, since longer discussions are advised to be avoided, just in case you needed more information.

Although your screenshot doesn't show which output of the Texture Coordinate node is used, I guess it could be Object. If you use Object, the center point of the coordinates is at the object's origin point. In your first screenshot, the origin is seemingly outside the viewport and not visible (maybe that's why you want to center it to the Geometry).
But the position of the iris was adjusted to this (incorrect) origin point. If you now re-center it, the iris will change its position according to the new origin point.
Like in this example: I have a sphere with the origin point at the center by default. I use the Texture Coordinate > Object and separate the X, Y and Z values to display just the Z. The black color shows 0 at the center then changing to 1 at the top and at the bottom (this would normally be -1 but I've set it to absolute values).

If I now set the origin point to the 3D cursor which is above the center, then the  center or 0 of the Z coordinate moves up there as well. This is the reason why your iris disappears - you have it just the other way around. The misplaced origin holds the correct iris position, so switching to a centered origin removes the iris from the correct position.

Thank you Gordon! That makes sense, and yes, the output of the texture coordinate is set to object. Is there any way to rectify this do you know?
I'm trying to rig the eye you see, and it won't rotate with the origin set to the cross axis.

@EmmaCulhane I guess the face has a second eye? If there the origin point is correct I would duplicate it and put it in place of the incorrect one. Otherwise you have to reposition the iris after recentering. I just can't see in the screenshot how the iris is positioned right now... because Mapping node values are all at 0, which should place everything in the center of the object if the origin is there. So I can only imagine that the way the iris is created puts it outside the center so it works with the incorrect origin. Could you upload your file here: https://blend-exchange.com/

Thanks Gordon, I will  try this :D.  I have uploaded the file now - called human_iris.blend

See file here:

@EmmaCulhane Oh, that's completely different as I understood it. I misread your question - the iris is a separate object, not part of the eye mesh. So actually the iris is where it should be, it's just the transparent part of the eyeball has moved away because of changing the origin point. It would have been great to have the eye with the incorrect origin to better retrace where it is now, but of course you can completely build it new. I'll have a look.

@EmmaCulhane I've created a new answer, now it should work. I'll leave the other answer as example how the object's origin can influence the position of the Texture Coordinate node.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


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Why can't I move second camera permanently?
I'm trying to add a second camera to my scene, but when I move it to a different angle, it reverts back to the original position when I press play.
I added markers and binded cameras to each marker too.
See before and after pics:

Here is my blend file:

have you created a keyframe for it?

hi @moonboots, no I haven't. I'm following a tutorial, which didn't demonstrate adding any frames! Should I be?

There are definitely keyframes on the timeline : Look for the rotated white squares. You can delete them by clicking on it and right click > Delete keyframes

yet we can see some keyframes, what are they for? maybe share your file: https://pasteall.org/blend/

I have added my file to my question there. Yes, there are some keyframes, not sure why they are there to be honest - think they are for the floor object, which expands at the inserted keyframes. Really new to blender so bear with me!

Keep your camera selected, open a Dope Sheet window, enable the Only Show Selected option in order to see only the keyframes of the selected object, as you can see you've created a keyframe for your camera, select it and delete with X:

Thank you, I will try this! Do I add keyframes for the cameras then after?

yes it's a good idea if you want to make sure that it won't move accidentally

Thanks again! :D


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How do I ungroup the children from parents
I am a beginner at blender, and I've been trying to separate the Children from the parents

You can clear parent/child relationships by selecting both objects and pressing Alt+P

There's not enough information to help you with the "where some of the shape meshes I've inserted" part. You might do better to edit this one to just clearing parents, and create a separate question for the second part, they don't seem to be related.

Thanks for telling me by doing Alt+P.

Select the child object and hit Alt +  P, then Clear Parent (also available from the Object menu.
Documentation is here: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/scene_layout/object/editing/parent.html#clear-parent


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Can't see anything when the project gets rendered
I have the following problem. I' new in Blender and have made a project for my twitch channel. It work's fine and through the camera I can see everthing perfect but when I start rendering it I can't see anything. I'm rendering in EVEE as an FFmpeg Video with WEBM / VP9 (Video Codec) and select RGBA because I want it to be with a transparent backroung. I will send you my project so you maybe can look this up and find the fault. :D
So sad. This took me 3.5 hours and now it doesn't work.
Link (ask for access if necessary):
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14IWzrFGePLAuzwzPrGDhRGjTpPdnbW2E?usp=sharing
Greetings
Tim Finmans

your link asks for an authorization. Are you sure there is not an object that is invisible in preview but visible in render? (check the Outliner)

Yes, please allow all to access the file in some way

You have the Output > Post Processing > Sequencer option enabled, therefore it will take the strip that you have in your video sequencer into account. So either delete the strip or disable the option:

Thanks a lot. That worked finde for me :D I'm happy :)

Do you maybe also have a tip how I can render this with transparent backround. I have selected FFmpeg Video and Quicktime with WEBM / VP9. I want to use the file in OBS as a video when it#S finished. Would be very kind. :D

Quicktime should have an alpha option, maybe check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJCsLBGByI


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How to rig a cartoon-style hose limb? (cartoon arm)
I was wondering if anyone knows how to set up a hose-like, cartoon-type limb like in this picture?

My current setup for my model's limbs uses Inverse Kinematics and actually works quite well for the moving whole arm around, although I do get some really nasty-looking deformations I get when I try to bend the limb, but this isn't my primary concern right now.

My main concern is that while I can manipulate the arm as a whole without trouble, trying to get the arm to bend like in the first picture is an extremely frustrating and finicky affair.  Basically, I need some method of being able to improve control over how the arm bends in order make more manageable for posing the model.

My first solution was to try and add a second IK controller to the arm that could be used as a bend point to create a curvature in the arm.  Unfortunately, trying to manipulate this second controller doesn't seem to do anything at all, and I'm not too sure whether or not I screwed something up in setting up the IK controller or if you simply cannot attach another IK controller to another IK chain (I assume the answer is the latter, although me screwing up in setting up something is also quite plausible).
Another potential solution I saw on various tutorial videos was using a Bezier Curve to control the overall curvature, but I'm not too sure whether or not I can attach a Bezier Curve to only part of a model rather the whole thing.
I tried looking for a solution by searching YouTube for a tutorial on how to rig cartoony hose limbs, but instead I was surprised by the dearth of materials on the subject, especially since its been a staple of animation since pretty much the very beginning of the medium.  I mean, I get that the standard skeleton armature is a lot easier to setup than the classic hose-style limb, but it is simply not the look that I want for this particular model.
One final thing to keep in mind is that I've been making this model for a game project that I've been working on, and thus any potential solutions for this problem must be compatible with game engines like Unreal Engine or Unity.
I hope that what I'm not asking for too much, and that I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could offer any potential help with this endeavor.

Sorry for not responding earlier, but thanks a lot for going to the effort of responding to my question, although it would appear that it wasn't needed to begin with.  After going back and playing with the armature some more, it turns out that Inverse Kinematic chains that I set up for the arms actually do work for posing, I guess I just didn't have a very good grasp of how to properly control them.
It's probably for the best that I use Inverse Kinematics anyway because I am trying to make a model that can be imported into Unreal Engine 4 and my understanding is that game engines like Unreal and Unity are incompatible with Bendy Bones.  At least that's what I have read in the past, I'm not sure if that has changed recently, but my recent attempts at trying to look into the matter has mostly come up with older information, so I have to assume that nothing has changed so far.
However, despite the fact that I won't be using your solution, I still think it was worth posting anyways because while I might not use it, there's always the possibility that it might help someone else out.  There is after all, a distinct lack of info out there on how to do cartoon-style hose limbs and having this information out there means that others can now find it and use it to help themselves out.  Its because of this I decided to go back and add some additional tags to my original post to make it easier for others to find this info.
Regardless of everything, thanks again for the help!

Maybe bendy bones could help?

I think you could test at least 3 solutions, the classic rigging with bendy bones playing with Easing In and Out, the Stretch To constraint solution, will allow you to stretch the arm, and the Spline IK constraint solution, which is a bit more complicated but will deform more nicely.
1) CLASSIC RIGGING

Create a chain of bones: upper arm, lower arm, hand, etc. Flex the elbow a bit so that Blender will know how it will have to bend.
Create a controller bone at the wrist position, deparent it and unclick the Deform option in the Properties > Bone panel.
Parent the hand to this controller with ctrl P > Make Parent > Keep Offset.
Create a Pole Target bone from the elbow, deparent it and move it a bit backward, unclick the Deform option in the Properties > Bone panel.
In the Properties > Data > Display panel, choose B-Bone instead of Octahedral. Give your upper and lower arms several Segments (for example 6). You'll see later that the Easing options will allow you to bend the arm in a rounder way. Maybe you'll have to correct the rotation of some bones with ctrl R so that they all follow the same axis.
In Pose mode, give your lower arm bone an IK Constraint, choose the controller as the Target, choose the Pole Target, and choose 2 for Chain. You can also give it a Copy Rotation constraint with the hand as the target, so that when you rotate the hand, the lower arm will follow.
Parent your mesh to the armature.
Don't forget to put the Armature modifier of your mesh above the Subdivision Surface modifier otherwise your mesh could be weirdly deformed (maybe it's the problem in your screenshot). Also, click Preserve Volume in the Armature modifier.
Now you can control the arm with the controller.
Sometimes it will go crazy because the Pole Target is not enough to show how to rotate, in that case select your arm, go in Pose mode, then in Properties > Bone > Inverse Kinematics, limit the rotation on the axis you want.

2) STRETCH TO CONSTRAINT
If you want your arm to be more free and elastic you could also try the Stretch To constraint:

Create a chain of bones with shoulder / upper arm / elbow / lower arm / hand / hand controller.
In the Properties > Data > Display panel, choose B-Bone instead of Octahedral. Give your upper and lower arms several Segments (for example 6). You'll see later that the Easing options will allow you to bend the arm in a rounder way. Maybe you'll have to correct the rotation of some bones with ctrl R so that they all follow the same axis.
The hand controller needs to be deparented, the hand is parented to the controller, the elbow must be deparented, the shoulder is parented to the torso of course. For the controller, unclick the Deform option in the Properties > Bone panel.
In Pose mode, give the upper arm and lower arm a Stretch To constraint.
In the lower arm constraint, select the hand as the Target. In the Properties > Bone > Bendy Bones panel, click the Use Custom Handle References and choose In > elbow and Out > hand.
In the upper arm constraint, select the elbow as the Target. In the Properties > Bone > Bendy Bones panel, click the Use Custom Handle References and choose In > shoulder and Out > elbow.
To test the arm, move the hand controller and the elbow, there are independent.
Parent you mesh to your armature.
Don't forget to put the Armature modifier of your mesh above the Subdivision Surface modifier otherwise your mesh could be weirdly deformed (maybe it's the problem in your screenshot). Also, click Preserve Volume in the Armature modifier.

3) SPLINE IK CONSTRAINT
Third method is Spline IK, a bit more difficult to set but very flexible and will probably preserve the volume better:

Create an armature as long as the arm, subdivide it for example 7 times, with one bone for the hand, deparent this hand bone
Create a curve as long as the arm (until the wrist), subdivide it once (so it has now 3 vertices), align it to the bones of the armature. In Edit mode make sure its direction is good, if not press W > Switch Direction.
Switch the armature to Pose mode, give the 6th bone a Spline IK constraint with the curve as Target and a Chain Length of 6 if you have chosen 6 bones for the arm. Now your curve controls your bones.
Choose the B-Bone display type for your armature, and segment your arm bones, for example 3 times.
Create a second armature, with one bone for each curve vertex.
Switch this armature to Pose mode, select one bone, shift select the curve, go in Edit mode, select the corresponding vertex, press ctrlH > Hooked To Selected Object Bone. Do it for the 3 vertices. Now the 2nd armature controls the vertices position. It allows you to come back to a rest position whenever you want.
Parent the 7th bone (hand) of the first armature to the 3rd bone of the second armature with a Child Of constraint so that this 3rd bone control the hand position and rotation. In the constraint, press the Set Inverse button so that the bone stays at its place.
Now parent the mesh to the first armature With Automatic Weight. Put the Armature modifier above the Subsurf modifier, enable the Preserve Volume option.


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Weird Render transparency artifact
As you can see in the picture below, I have just rendered a frame of an animation and a triangular piece is missing. You can download the .blend and try it for yourself - it happens on some frames(like 24 in the example) and on others it doesn't, from what I've seen about every 4th frame.
Interesting to note is the fact that the fog, which I have strengthened to see the effect, still renders correctly, so it's only the plane with the image

EDIT: It went away after moving the image about 25 more units away from the camera - no idea why, and I would still highly appreciate suggestions.

I'm going to suggest you submit this as a bug report. I see both planes breaking and separating allowing the background through, each frame produces the glitch with different values, adjusting the camera clip_start by 0.1 shows or hides the result at different values, similar with the focal length at 0.01 steps, cutting another edge through the image plane the opposite way to the break hides it while cutting it the same way as the break leaves it there.

which OS and graphics card are you using? So that I can write a more specific bug report

This is in fact a very old known issue with Blender Internal renderer (caused by numerical imprecision), see e.g. this nine years old report.
Workaround of triangulating the buggy mesh (using e.g. the relevant modifier) seems to be working quite nicely, when that issue shows up.


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Can I reuse a plane with an image sequence
I have a plane with an image sequence on it, which works fine on itself.
During my animation, I'd like to play that image sequence at multiple completely different frames, so I was wondering if there was any other way than duplicating the plane?

but I don't want them do be directly following each other, edited to make this clear

no I can't, these values are, except for the offset, not keyframeable

Animating the offset should work.  Make sure your interpolation mode is set to constant in your graph editor and then keyframe the offset right before you want the image sequence to repeat.


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Meshes won't go away
In this project: https://www.file-upload.net/download-12514827/broken.blend.html

there are a lot of meshes which won't go away by selecting them and pressing X, aren't selected after selecting by Type and don't even get removed by my program. Why? My only bet atm is to manually rightclick them and delete them one by one, but that can't be the only way, right?
Btw this was the program which hadn't worked:
for ob in scene.objects:
    ob.select = ob.name.startswith("VBar")
bpy.ops.object.delete()

"don't even get removed by my program" What does this mean, what program? Is this a question about scripting or Python API? I just selected them here, both by type or Select All operator and successfully deleted them. The are single edge meshes placed along the Global X axis of the scene, apparently that makes them unselectable by regular mouse click.

I added my program to the question, but it got resolved already - it was the layers. Btw I didn't want to select them by mouseclick, but because they somehow went into another layer, I couldn't even select them by type.

Your meshes are on different Layer. Select it or add it (the Layer)
by Shift+MouseClick and you will be able to select them.
If you don't see them - as they are just simple lines; press Z to go to Wireframe Mode.
For Python solution go here: Get the list of objects on a layer in python

thanks! I failed to realise that they are on another layer, even though they shouldn't have been...


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How to select the fcurve of a material
I have a fcurve assigned to a material, but for some reason it neither influences the Offset, which it should be, nor shows up in the Dope Sheet or NLA Editor. And actually, the X-Offset is only greeen because I readded a keyframe - it was somehow gone. Now what I want is to simply select the action. But it never shows up ANYWHERE...
Edit: I can select it in the NLA Editor now, but I need it to show up in the graph editor, which it doesn't, neither is it present in the Dope Sheet

In the Dope Sheet editor choose Dope Sheet from the dropdown in the header, Action Editor is chosen in your screenshot.

still not working as it should be - see my edit

Hard to tell from screenshots as you cut them off; if animation is present in NLA editor then probably you pushed down action from the Action Editor to NLA editor

but on the top you see the NLA Editor and AFAIK it doesn't look like this when pushed down

The action editor that you are using only shows a subset of keyframed values, to see all available keyed data you need to use the full dopesheet or the graph editor.

If the values you are looking for are still not visible then check the options in the header that filter the displayed items.

EDIT:
An action is basically a container for animation data that can be turned into an NLA strip. One active action is associated with an object for editing and is cleared when added to the NLA, it can manually be activated again in the action editor if further editing is needed. The dopesheet and graph editor only show animation data that is in the current action for an object.
A materials animation data is stored in it's own action, but this action is not shown in the action editor and only material animation data that is associated with a material in a selected object is shown in the dopesheet and graph editor. Once a materials action is turned into an NLA strip blender does't provided a simple way to re-activate it for further editing. You need to use python to re-activeate a materials action so that it can be edited.
In blender's python console enter the following (adjusting the names) -
bpy.data.materials['Material'].animation_data.action = bpy.data.actions['Material.action']

Then the material animation data can be edited in the dopesheet or graph editor.

ok you already helped me by pointing to that bottom bar. the mistake was that the object was not visible so the items were only visible when I enabled that ghost on the bottom - it shows up in the NLA editor now, but still not in the Dope Sheet or the graph editor - I'll edit my post

@Xerus Seems material action data is separate, see the edit.


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Add pre-rendered fire to scene
Situation
I am working on a visualiser that sprays fire at the start of the drop

In my Scene there is a 2D animated background, multiple thousand frames long
I have two fire fountains which spray two times for about 80 frames within the former animation time
This fire fountains takes about 2 hours to render each time these frames are hit, and the fountains are always the same
The camera constantly shakes

The scene from the side (ignore the overlap of the fire with the other stuff, it doesn't matter)

From the camera (beware that it shakes, so it won't stay exactly the same)

Rendered

Goal
I want to pre-render the fire and then somehow insert it to drastically reduce render time, and I can't simply layer it because the fire is 3D and the camera moves.
I have no idea how this can be achieved and would appreciate any suggestions :)
Progress
I now have this node setup, but I don't know how to get rid of the black background. Everything I found was for cycles.

You can pre-render only the particle effects, then add a frame of the animation using Add Images as Planes (enable the add-on).
Then parent the image plane to the backdrop and change the source from a still image to a video sequence.
You can separate them out into different layers and then composite them together in the Compositor.
If you render with alpha, use the Alpha Over node. If you render against a black background use a MixRGB node set to "add".
The Compositor will also allow you to add things like glow effects if you want by using a Blur node.
Probably worth testing your workflow on a small number of frames first to make sure everything's working before rendering the whole thing.

I have never used nodes yet. Could you provide me with a screenshot and explain the purpose of "backdrop"?

By "backdrop" I just meant your 2D animated background, as you call it. Whatever is to be separate from the fire.

OK, I made an edit, please help me to complete what I have. I rendered a video with black background and can't get that to be transparent.

btw would it make sense to turn off anti-aliasing when rendering the fire itself?

Don't worry about the anti-aliasing; you can leave it on for everything you're doing. There is a setting for background transparency in your Render context tab. The location and naming of the setting are different in Cycles and Blender Render, but you can look it up easily online. I don't have a computer in front of me now to check your .blend (only iPhone), but hopefully this helps.


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How to add a shortcut key (solved)
I want to add a short key to mark seam.
So I selected the edge and press ctrl+E and with the mark seam I right click on it and selected Add shortcut and press the key that is dot beside shift in the pc keyboard.
When I start to press it works awesome. But the problem is when I open a new file there is no shortcut key to mark seam.
Then I tried again same way and save with the save startup file. But same after open a new file the shortcut key disappear.
How can I fix or keep permanently my shortcut key? And how to know which key is available in blender that can I put on that shortcut? Any suggestion or help?

Answer : After adding the shortcut i have to save user settings in user preferences.

You need to save preferences, not startup file. Use the bottom left button in user preferences window...

@m.ardito That i miss i think so. Thanks for reminder it work


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Color ramp node resets one color when rendering
I am using a color ramp node to set the base colors for a vertex group. It works fine, but I have one problem with the selected colors.
As you can see in my screenshot, I have selected purple, blue, pink and white colors in my color ramp, but as soon as I press render image, the first color suddenly changes to black.
Here is the color ramp node before I start rendering:

As soon as I start rendering it changes to this:

I am using the cycles rendering engine.
Question: Why does this happen? Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks for the help in advance!

You put a keyframe on the color, that's why it has that yellow frame. Click on it with right mouse button and choose "Clear Keyframes".

@FFeller's comment was completely right!
Somehow, a key frame was created on that first color. After deleting it (right mouse button click on the color), the original color is used and it doesn't turn black on rendering.