text:
how to select a collection depending on the material_index
I have a mesh in which each face have a material assigned.
There is a list of collections that the geometry node takes as input.
I want to transform faces to points, and instantiate randomly elements of a collection.
The collection is chosen depending on the material (index) the face has.
The problem I have is the switch node.

I suppose the reason is that "Material index" is a field, and the switch node does not accept it. No idea why, whether it is a bug or a feature for the future.
The question is, how to select this or that collection depending on the material index?
Using "Collection Info" node to "convert" the collection into a Geometry makes no difference.
Thanks in advance!

This is no bug or a future feature, the switch only accepts single values as input depending on what kind of type you choose - some accept fields, but some don't. For example Geometry. The Geometry inputs and output take a geometry in its entirety, so you cannot switch multiple times for parts of the geometry. To put it simple, this is the Geometry Nodes equivalent of Object Mode, not Edit Mode. You can only get one boolean value and that switches the geometry as a whole.

@GordonBrinkmann I am not intending to switch between parts of a Geometry. Simply choose Geometry A (False field) or Geometry B (True field) depending on the Switch condition. Following your analogy, it is like if I select one object or another. I still see no reason why it does not work. It probably has to do with the guts of Blender and how things are coded. I can imagine a couple of design scenarios where it would have the current behaviour.

As I have understood the question the Material Index puts out a field of values. Now if you enter the index 0, let's say the the switch chooses Geometry A and sends it to the output. Now comes index 1, and maybe this selects Geometry B. But where to go with B? The output already has A assigned. As I said, it puts out a geometry entirely, not parts. So you cannot have A here, B there because it's all one complete geometry and it gets A and B as complete geometries. So the output can only be one of them.

@GordonBrinkmann Thank you. I think I did understand now how the geometry nodes works. I was thinking in declarative paradigm rather than imperative.

If you want to instantiate different objects from different collections depending on the "material_index", then you would have to solve this as follows:

First you capture the "material_index" with Capture Attribute, and choose this value as Selection during instantiation.
Since a collection cannot be resolved recursively, but always offers only the first children below it as individual objects, you would have to perform the instantiation in parallel.
Unfortunately, there is currently no other option, because nested collections are not supported in Geometry Nodes.
(Blender 3.2+)


text:
Field at index seems not to work for vertices count
I have a simple mesh of 3 vertices: A - B - C. I want to store the Vertex count in each vertex of itself and neighbour one's.
I compare the result of Vertices Count and it is different. As there are two switch nodes with inverted true-false values, it does not matter which path you follow, at least one value (v1_deg or v2_deg) should match v1_deg_ok (the correct value for the given vertex). Connecting the field at index node output to the store named attribute node shows that field at index always return 1, which is wrong.

In case anyone wants to dig into the problem, here is the file
Any hint about why Field at Index seems not to be working is very welcome.
Thanks in advance!

What's a vertex supposed to store as 'Neighbour's Vertex Count' when a vertex has more than one neighbour?  Could you share the problem you're addressing this way?

Apologies, I explained myself badly. I do "split edges" of a mesh. Per each edge, I want to know Vertex Count of its 2 vertices in the original mesh. Reading your question made me think that I should store the vertices count in each vertex and extract the information after the split edges. But I still think the nodes should work.

This may not strike you as very helpful... :) but depending on the problem you're trying to solve, the new Mesh Topology nodes in  3.4 may give you a cleaner way through.

(They solve the 'one-to-many' problem by letting the user sort the 'many' on a chosen criterion)

Are you telling me that it is not possible with blender 3.3? :(

No.. it may be possible to extract the 'special case' as we did before..  so you want the vertex-neighbour-counts of each vertex of an edge, stored on the edges?

I have tried to store (named attribute "v1_deg") "Vertices Count" in the vertex and use the same logic of the graph: if vertice_index_1 == index then field_at_index( vertice_index_2, named_attribute( "v1_def" )  ) else field_at_index( vertice_index_1, named_attribute( "v2_def" ) ). Guess... no success!!! I am run out of ideas.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

Summarising chat discussion: I need the number of neighbours of each vertex in a split edge node before they were split

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Is there an automatic way to clean up a mesh that was modeled with the subdivision modifier?
Basically as part of my workflow, to "clean-up" the mesh, that I've been modeling while the subdiv modifier is active is to periodically apply it, then delete all the edges that were added in to get a cleaner version of the base mesh. This provides excellent results but is very time consuming.
I've tried options like the decimate modifier with the un-subdivide option, but it doesn't do a very good job and I'm left with an unusable mesh. I've also tried the smooth modifiers, but again, it doesn't provide a nice clean mesh that retains the same structure as the original vs if I had manually applied the subdiv, then deleted the added edges.
Is there some option I'm missing that could eliminate the time consuming nature of this workflow?

There are additional Remesh options (voxel and quad) under the Object Data Properties tab. Try seeing if one of those suits your purpose (I suggest starting with Quadriflow, choosing the same relative number of faces as your mesh already has, or slightly fewer). Remember, you can do this after a "messy" decimate operation to change the topology back to quads. - just don't go too crazy with how many faces you try to remove.

Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately I just tested those out and they appear to change the edge flow substantially, which is one thing I'm trying to avoid. Basically I want to keep the edges the same, just "move" them into the place they would be if the subdivision was applied, but without having to add new edges (almost as if i was applying a subdivision level 0 where it applies, then unapplies, but keeps the updated positions)

How about this: duplicate the object. Then make sure only the duplicated object has a Subdivision Surface modifier, and remove it from the original object. Now, add a Shrinkwrap modifier to the original object and use the duplicate as the target for this modifier. Finally, apply the Shrinkwrap modifier and delete the duplicated object. That's it. No need to apply a Subdivision Surface modifier and clean up the mesh.

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


text:
In python, how to construct a line in a plane parallel to the XZ plane, at a particular angle to the XY plane, and a particular length
For example, let's say I want to construct a line from (0,0,0), to a point within the XZ plane, at an angle of 23 degrees, and with a length of 10. The endpoint would then be (10cos(23deg),0,10sin(23deg)) or something like that.

Is there a way to construct a line given these endpoints?

More convenient would be a way to construct a line given the origin point and an XZ vector, is that possible?

Use Vectors.
The mathutils module has a number of  classes and methods to deal with linear algebra requirements. See mathutils.geometry for methods to find intersections and closest points of points, lines and planes. (Maybe handy re other question)
Blender comes with a python console,  used below to demonstrate one way to construct the  vector  in question,
Start with  the X axis as a basis vector
>>> x_axis = Vector((1, 0, 0))

Next make a matrix to  rotate it around the Y axis to obtain any vector on XY plane, going thru (0, 0, 0).
>>> R = Matrix.Rotation(radians(23), 4, 'Y')
>>> v  = (R @ x_axis).normalized()
>>> v
Vector((0.9205049276351929, 0.0, -0.39073100686073303))

No need to normalize since the rotated unit vector will maintain its unit length.
Testing result with simple trig
>>> degrees(acos(v.x))
22.99998912203489

Notice that rotating around Y axis (looking down the axis) rotates clockwise and moves into negative quadrant.  Negate either angle or axis  ((0, -1, 0)) when constructing rotation matrix to screw the other way.
>>> degrees(asin(v.z))
-22.999992429369787

Angle between x axis and v
>>> degrees(x_axis.angle(v))
22.999989256384694

Note can get a signed angle using 2D vectors. eg only the XZ components
>>> degrees(v.xz.angle_signed(x_axis.xz))
-22.999992671479276

To make the vector length d multiply it by the scalar
v *= d

Make a line.
To make an edge from origin to v, it would have vert coordinates
verts = (
    (0, 0, 0),
    v,
    )

And edges (indexing verts)
edges = (
    (0, 1),
    )

which can be fed into bpy.types.Mesh.from_pydata(verts, edges, faces)  Eg make a new single edge mesh named "Line"
>>> me = D.meshes.new("Line")
>>> me.from_pydata(verts, edges, [])

Thanks for that, it's all understandable! But, I entered it all into the console and no errors came back, but no object was created on my screen, either. Then I tried entering the first line into the text editor (after import bpy and import mathutils), and got the error, "python script failed..." when I ran it. No message appeared in the system console.

It's a mesh datablock, not an object. Make an object and  Link the mesh to an object.  ob = D.objects.new("Line", me)

Still no line on the screen, no object in the scene collection.

C'mon mate, then link the object to a scene collection. https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/159185/15543

"C'mon mate" sounds like maybe I'm being impossibly dense. I should probably read a good book on python in blender before trying any of this stuff. I just figured 40 plus years of programming in various languages might help. Guess not. Here's my trouble what's a scene? a collection? a mesh (it's really a datablock, right?) a datablock--specifically? a context? What's an object (I know what it is in C++, but that's not it, is it)? Can you recommend a good, terse, complete, explanatory reference, something akin to The Waite Group's C Bible? PS I'm using Blender 2.83 for the stability.

PS With help from your last hint, I got my line on the screen -- thanks!


text:
Ghost Hit - ray_cast() returns a hit, but not on the (only) object in my drawing
My Blender file has only one object, a sort of quanset hut looking mesh sitting on and above the XY plane, with its local origin at the world origin, (0,0,0). It is centered over the Y axis and extends into positive and negative Y territory.
I'm trying to use ray_cast to measure the distance of points on my mesh from the Y axis, so I have written this test to start at (0,0,0), and shoot a ray up at a 45 degree angle (1,0,1), which should intersect with my mesh.
When I ran this program, I got a hit, but it was way too close to the origin to be my mesh, which has a diameter of about 2". The hit was at  (0.0182, 0.0000, 0.0182), which is the right direction all right, but way too close. When I scaled my mesh, the hit distance did not change, which meant that it was not "hitting" my mesh.
So what IS it hitting? There is no other object.
I tried moving up the Y axis to (0,1,0), no hit. Then I tried some other starting positions:
origin at (0,0,0) produced a hit at (0.0182, 0.0000, 0.0182)
origin at (0,.1,0) produced a hit at (0.0171, 0.1000, 0.0171)
origin at (0,.2,0) produced a hit at (0.0161, 0.2000, 0.0161)
origin at (0,.21,0) produced a hit at (0.0160, 0.2100, 0.0160)
origin at (0,.22,0) produced a hit at (0.0159, 0.2200, 0.0159)
origin at (0,.23,0) produced no hit
Could I be hitting the 3D cursor or something? That would be weird
Here's the code:
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector

ob = bpy.data.objects['Brep.010']
origin = Vector((0,.23,0))
direction = Vector((1,0,1))
hit, loc, norm, face = ob.ray_cast(origin, direction)

if hit:
    print("Hit at ", loc, " (local)")
else:
    print("No HIT")

PS - since my only object has its local origin at the world origin, (0,0,0), I assumed I did not need to do any conversion of origin or direction parameters to ray_cast().

I thought of all those things, so I moved my mesh far away, and got the exact same results.   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yO5FrcP5nxwxOQxDZE4HEjAcXdjN1hBZ/view?usp=sharing

Move it far away in edit mode ie change local coordinates and will get a different result.

You gave me a profound insight by pointing out that moving an object in edit mode is not the same as moving in object mode. Now to figure out how to get my units to agree...  THANKS

Working correctly.... No Ghosts, an Empty Proof
Object raycast is in local space. Unapplied object transforms do not effect local coordinates. The location of the object origin (aka the orange dot) is the local coordinate (0, 0, 0). The result obtained will be in blender units.  If you are using imperial units there will be a conversion between native value and converted result in UI. (Much the same as native unit of rotation is radians, default display is degrees)

Scene units changed to None, showing dimensions in blender units, and empty placed at hit result.
Hit at  <Vector (0.0182, 0.0000, 0.0182)>  (local)

And again in imperial (yuck) units.  1 BU is one meter, or just over 3 feet. The result is in blender units, the UI is showing feet.
Blender Python convert units to imperial

Test script with empty parented to object at local hit location, to get a visual on result.
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector
context = bpy.context

ob = bpy.data.objects['Brep.010']
origin = Vector((0, 0, 0))
direction = Vector((1, 0, 1))
hit, loc, norm, face = ob.ray_cast(origin, direction)

if hit:
    print("Hit at ", loc, " (local)")
    bpy.ops.object.empty_add(location=loc)
    context.object.parent = ob
else:
    print("No HIT")

But the units are still a bit off, which is one reason I didn't think of it. The hit at .0182 in blender units measures 1.00xx inches on the screen, but it should measure .0254 Inches.

Huh???? you appear to have this A about T.  surely it's (as shown in link)  12 * 0.0182 / 0.304 = 0.7165   which is also the empty X & Z coordinate when displayed in inches.  The length of vector from origin to empty coordinate in blender units is 0.025 which converted to inches is approx 1.

Oh, sorry, I'm stupid. And thanks a million. Is the preferred thing to do to use "Unit Scale" to make my units match?

Or, will I need to convert to and from meters in every statement in my code (which must now be expanded).


text:
Find an intersection (point) given a line (or Vector) and a mesh, in python
In the mathutils.geometry, I have found a few functions that return intersections of spheres, planes, etc., but none for a line (or Vector) and a mesh. Is there a way to do this?
The mesh in question is actually constructed of several meshes, and I suppose I would have to check each individual mesh for intersection with my line in Python. Perhaps I can combine them.
I know in advance there will be only one point of intersection with only one of the meshes due to the design of the meshes and the orientation of the lines involved.

I'm pretty sure that you need Ray cast:

ray_cast(origin, direction, distance=1.70141e+38, depsgraph=None)
Cast
a ray onto evaluated geometry, in object space (using context’s or
provided depsgraph to get evaluated mesh if needed)

https://docs.blender.org/api/current/bpy.types.Object.html?highlight=ray%20cast#bpy.types.Object.ray_cast
https://docs.blender.org/api/current/bpy.types.Scene.html?highlight=ray%20cast#bpy.types.Scene.ray_cast

YES! That sounds perfect.

Can you tell me anything about the differences between the two versions? One seems to require a "depsgraph" parameter, for the other it's optional. But what is a "depsgraph"? My ultimate goal is to convert a Blender drawing to a proprietary file format, and I need this to take measurements. The drawing is made up of about a dozen meshes, but I assume I could "unify" them somehow if necessary.


text:
In python, how can I enumerate (and modify) every point in a complex object?
In python, how can I enumerate (and modify) every point in a complex object? I want to write some functions to perform certain "warping" operations on objects.
Will moving the points in objects be all that is required to perform changes on them, or are there other data structures or references that would need to be modified as well?

You can directly edit a vertex of the active object like this:
bpy.context.active_object.data.vertices[0].co=Vector( (2,2,2) )

This requires you to be in OBJECT mode.
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector

# Make sure we have a mesh object
if bpy.context.active_object.type != 'MESH':
    raise ValueError('Active object not a mesh')

# save a handy pointer
obj=bpy.context.active_object
# must be in object mode
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT')

# loop through the verts and change some
for vert in obj.data.vertices:
     if vert.co[0] > 0.5 and vert.co[1] > 0.5:
         vert.co = Vector( (0,0,0) )
         print('Setting vertex')

There is some benefit to be had by using the bmesh library to access mesh data,
import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import Vector

# Make sure we have a mesh object
if bpy.context.active_object.type != 'MESH':
    raise ValueError('Active object not a mesh')

# save some handy pointers
obj=bpy.context.active_object
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')
me = obj.data
# instanciate the bmesh
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

# loop through the verts and change some
for vert in bm.verts:
     if vert.co[0] > 0.5 and vert.co[1] > 0.5:
         vert.co = Vector( (0,0,0) )
         print('Setting vertex')

# write the changes back to the mesh
bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT')

Also if you're batch editing a big number of vertices, and it takes a lot of time, consider looking up numpy arrays


text:
Why does my volumetric atmosphere not have an orange sunset region?
So this is the effect I'm looking for:

This orange glow in an atmosphere, right where the shadowy and the light side meet. However, my material (which should be pretty physically accurate as far as I can tell) doesn't have it:

If I really up the density of my atmosphere, I can get a sunset effect, when viewing from some specific viewpoints:

However, looking at the planet straight on, there still isn't any hint of orange, not to mention that the density completely ruins the other areas on the planet:

The material I used for the atmosphere is this:

Does anyone have any ideas why the orange glow isn't there?


text:
Bisect Tool Distorting Mesh
I'm trying to paint striping around this .stp locomotive model. I've previously done color separations using either the bisect or knife tools to define the boundary, but on this rounded surface it's completely distorting and "denting" the curves. is there another way to apply the striping without the warping?

Thank you.

Hello, instead of changing the topology you could simply use a black and white image as a mask between 2 colors?

The Bisect seems to be interacting unfavourably with heavily triangulated topology, disrupting the interpolation of normals. If you wanted to cut the model cleanly, its topology would have to follow the contours in the surface it represents more closely.
In any case, it would be more typical, and more flexible, to apply your stripes using a material. Here's a shot at a reasonable interface to a 'Z Stripes' procedural mask (which assumes your model is Z-up):

Which can be used to mix your paint:

Thus:

But if you wanted other livery, including, say, logos or labels, it would probably be better to include the stripes in a more broadly detailed UV map (or maps) of the surface, suitably projected.


text:
Filling Thousands of Closed Loops at once
I have a huge set of building plan outlines exported from QGis (as curves) they are all closed polygons (imports as a curve) and are set to the right height, but I need to fill and extrude them all (thousands). I tried converting it to a mesh and selecting one linked loop at a time and filling, extruding but it’ll take me forever… is there a better way to fill thousands of connected loops/curves at once?

Yes: Geometry Nodes. ...would that be an option for you? Or you use the modifier Solidify.

If you have just building as outlines - Convert to Mesh, Extrude and Fill (F) ... in these three clicks for all of them. If you want to stay with Curve check Curve's Properties if Shape is set as 2D (not 3D) with Fill mode > Front. If curves are not position at the same level, you would have to separate them and Set Origin to Geometry.

If I understand it well you can go in edit mode, make sure to be in edge selection mode

Open the search bar with F3 and type non manifold

Press F to fill

Warning: in my exemple the outer edge was selected as well so I it created a huge face and I have to delete it (you can see some Z-fighting in the picture bellow as I didn't deleted it yet)


text:
Flipped bones with IK is not working or something wrong with armatures
I'm rigging the compressor machine with 2 cylinders.
3 armatures are used:
Armature 1 has bones parented to piston, rod.
Armature 2 parented to crankshaft.
Armature 3 is the parent bone for armature 2 for better controll the rotation.
Armature 1~3 work well. Even duplicated them along Y axis, the duplicated one also work well. HOWEVER, duplicated another armatures from 1~3 then flip them to another side (around Y axis) one joint can not work.

From the front view. The joint is not working.

The expected result should be:

Here is the Blender file。
https://drive.google.com/file/d/142eS4wmDgmHCCVksqCghFNHMTYANyqcq/view?usp=sharing

We're comparing the behavior of your file's Armature_001 and Armature_001.001.
These are not the same armature.  Armature_001 has IK locks on bones that are not present in the other armature, so it's not a straight duplicate.  These IK locks are what keep the first two bones in the IK chains straight, so their absence is why your "duplicate" is rotating those two bones.

We're looking at piston in Armature_001.  Notice the IK locks on the properties viewport.  Piston in the other armature has no locks.
I can't quite keep my mouth shut regarding some other things here.  I would very strongly recommend working with armatures with applied rotation, and against dividing your bones into so many armatures.  Spreading out all your bones into multiple armatures like this makes it hard to edit, hard to use, and (most importantly for me right now) hard to troubleshoot.  If you ever find yourself using an armature containing only a single bone, you're not doing it right.

Thank you Nathan. I tried to set IK Lock on piston_scratch and piston bones of Armature_001.001 in Bone Properties -> Inverse Kinematics -> Lock IK Y and Lock IK Z. But the locks are useless. It should be lock the direction Y and Z. Any comments?

It works for me when I lock axes.  You should probably sniff around a little further.  After that, if you can't figure it out, edit your question or ask a new question focused on why your IK locks aren't working.  Provide a file with keyframes demonstrating them not working.  Simplify the file to the only bits relevant.  Specify the version you're using if not up-to-date.

Oh I see-- the second armature has different axes for bones as well.  Just lock all axes.  You don't want them rotating at all.  Or if you do, lock the axes you don't want rotating, which depends on the axes of those bones.  Enable display of axes in properties/armature/viewport display to see them.

Fixed. Thank you Nathan. The problem is caused by IK locks on the properties viewport. After 'Flip', the axis of bones are 'fliped' too. As a result, the correct Lock IK should be X and Z.


text:
Light doesn't show in viewport
I followed a YouTube tutorial and now have problem with lighting.
I can't see it on my model. Dimension on Z axis is 0.75, so model isn't big. I've tried to increase intensity, it didn't help.
Nodes in shading:

Without light

With light

To see your lights while in Material Preview mode, you need to tick the Scene Lights checkbox. Otherwise, while in Material Preview mode, they will have no effect.

Thanks a lot!:)

No problem! I often forget to toggle that too. :)


text:
Why is my mesh showing these splits when changing pose?

As you can see in the image, when I move the mesh, it shows these splits. The rig is made with rigify. I'm quite a newbie to Blender rigging.

It looks as if the mesh is made from lots of seperate disconnected parts or objects. We'd need to see your Blend file to find out what's going on. You can share it via https://blend-exchange.com/ if it's smaller than 30Meg following the instructions there to copy the link on that page. Then edit your question here and paste the link into it.

Switch your mesh to Edit mode, select all and try a M > Merge by Distance, if it doesn't work please share your file

@moonboots this solved the problem. It still doesn't look very realistic, but it doesn't have to be. Thanks!

Switch your mesh to Edit mode, select all and press M > Merge by Distance.


text:
keyframes saves but bones and object just change position without animation
Why when I change the cat's paw position Blender loses the previous one?

Keyframe at 0 made

Keyframe at 40 made

At 0 position lost

cat is here

first problem: you write something, which doesn't fit to your image. So what did u do now? you write: frame 0 -> images shows: frame 1. Please edit your question so that we don't get confused and that it is really crystal clear what you did.

he means that if he comes back to frame 0 the pose that he keyframed for this frame is no longer here

exactly, thank you for this clarification

that's weird, I wonder what's the problem


text:
Geometry Node Curve to Mesh is not working
I'm currently modelling a bridge. I drew a bezier curve then tried to use the Curve to Mesh geometry node to make a rectangular beam out of it.
It didn't work both with curve primitives nodes nor with object info nodes referencing curves placed in my scene. I know that I can achieve the same result by going in the Object Data Properties > Geometry > Bevel then using a curve object as my profile, but I'd like to make it with geo nodes.
I would then simply have a panel of options that I can tweak every time I have to make a beam.

Here's my scene
Any idea what the problem is?

You still have to bevel it even in geometry nodes.

You have a another modifier before geometry nodes in your curve object, in this case a Mirror modifier.
Most modifiers operate only on mesh data. Even though you can use them on curve objects they actually operate on the mesh derived from the bezier curve, rather than the bezier data itself, and as such output mesh data, rather than a curve.
In your case the input on the Curve to Mesh node is already a mesh (that the mirror modifier is producing), rendering it unable to operate, as notified by the info bubble in the top right corner of the note.

If you add a Mesh to Curve node you will see that the result is as expected.

That's it ! Thank you very much, I understand now better how some modifiers works.


text:
Eevee Render goes almost all white. Cycles is fine
Just starting to learn Blender.
I needed an animated camera moving through a cave for the end of a music video. So I bought a cave model.
Am going through beginner tutorials as fast as possible.
But, for now, I've got the camera animation the way I want it.
Here's the problem. When I Render in Cycles, it looks great.
When I switch to Eevee it's washed out.
I'm going to have a render farm do the rendering since it'll take forever to do on my 11 year old Mac Pro.
Basically, I just need some verification that it'll come out alright with the render farm.
I'm assuming they'll use Cycles to render it.
Thanks.
Here's a frame of a cycles and an eevee render:

I am guessing that you have a bright world background. Since EEVEE fakes environment lighting and does not cast shadows from it, the world will illuminate the inside of the cave in EEVEE. Cycles does not fake that and thus the world does not illuminate the inside of the cave in cycles except in the entrance.

I was just looking for how to find the world background. Didn't find that yet, but just for the hell of it I changed the Materials setting from "F Baked Material" to "F Real Material" and it's now displaying correctly.
I see the difference between the baked and real, but now which ever one I choose I'm getting the right render.
Have no clue why, but it's working now.
EDIT.....
Never mind.
I hit Render Animation and it's back to the wrong setting.
What I was looking at when it seemed right was "material  view" not render view.
So I'll try to find the world setting you talked about.

Aha!
Found the world Background strength. Put it down to zero and it's working now.
Thanks.


text:
Animating Chess Pieces
I'm trying to animate a chess game and I'm struggling to make them collide. I'm animating each piece then trying to make them a rigid body so that they collide when taking a piece. But instead they just go right through each other with no simulation.

I'm new to this so I didn't know how to add a video.
Please help.

hello, could you please share your file (just the two pieces and the board): https://pasteall.org/blend/

https://pasteall.org/blend/b76716e54f5749f79e31430de12b0251

UPDATE:
ok, you did all the changes i proposed.
Here are the next steps:

change all sensitivity margins to 0 (active + passive rigid bodies)

apply scale to the board

increase the speed of the bumping man so that it hits the other one with more power and he should beat him up more

it's just physics, the harder/quicker you push, the more likely it will fall. And if you hit it more up, it will fall easier.

first - it is always helpful for us if you tell us what kind of experience you have with Blender. So we know how to answer you.
I would really recommend you to watch some beginner tutorials, there are tons of free tutorials out there, maybe begin with the "official Blender tutorials": https://www.blender.org/support/tutorials/.
And i would recommend to start with little easy projects (like the one i show you at the end) so that you don't get frustrated because you don't get the result you want. Blender is really amazing - but complicated - as the real world is ;)
Why do i recommend this to you? Because your file consists of so much beginner mistakes (which everybody did, but maybe you would do less if you watch some tutorials to get a basic understanding of Blender).
I name just a few mistakes, this will NOT solve your problem, but lead you in the right direction.

you meshes had partially wrong face direction. You can check face direction here if you check "face direction". Everything which is red is "normally" bad and a mistake (if it is not inside).

if you don't have "easy" geometry like cubes and spheres, the convex hull will not work right with rigid bodies, you have to change the shape to "mesh"

only objects with rigid bodies will be part of rigid bodies world and can act as rigid bodies. If you don't give rigid body to them, they just do...nothing. (exceptions are soft bodies etc...but the theme here is rigid bodies so i stick to it)

Your white "man" doesn't even have rigid body.

a simulation cache where the start frame is bigger than the end frame does not make sense

rigid body type: passive objects normally don't move. That's why they are called passive. Like walls, floors...active objets are supposed to be moved/animated.
BUT...an active body at one frame can either be animated (you can keyframe values - animated checkbox is on) or you let Blender let calculate the physics - animated checkbox is off). You can change this of course. e.g. you can animated a cube (fly a bit), then turn off animation and let Blender do physics like this:

maybe try to rebuild my cube animation. If this works, go ahead!
My plane has rigid body passive.
my cube has rigid body active.
I checked "animated flag" for my cube.
I keyframed 2 locations for my cube.
on the last location i keyframed my "animated" checkbox.
on the next keyframe i keyframed my unchecked animated checkbox.

That helped a lot, Thanks.
But now it is acting a bit wired. The white Pawn is moving on its own before I want it to.
I want it moving once the black Pawn hits it, but I don't want it to hit too hard, just enough to make it fall over.
https://pasteall.org/blend/007e88dc96874193b85d56e7e8303d87
Help would be great thanks.

you are welcome. If it did, please select the checkmark left of my answer. Thank you.

Sorry, I just edited the comment. Don't know if you've seen it or not.

i updated my answer


text:
Using Array modifier to follow curve but without rotating
a bit noob here and still learning. I am trying to make a waterslider spiral in Blender 2.92. And my initially thought was to make an array modifier follow a curve (spiral). I want some details on the top half of my cylinder, but when i am applying the array modifier, the object is also rotating, which means that the top half would eventually follow the curves rotating. Right now i am empty for ideas, i have tried adding an empty and playing with the object offset. Is there a way to lock the rotating axis or something, or some other ideas on how to make such an effect? . Thanks a lot

maybe select the curve and try Object Data > Shape > Twist Method > Z-Up?

Have you tried screw modifier?

I have not tried the screw modifier yet, because then i would end up with one big object, and some tedious copy paste work when i want to add some detail to the object.

Thanks alot @moonboots the solution with object data -> shape -> twist method -> Z-up was exactly what i needed!

You can manually tilt the curve. But...this is very tedious.

Thanks a lot, i also have looked into that, but it was very tedious indeed, and very hard to get a uniform result


text:
How do I fix mesh shortening/scaling incorrectly when moved by an Armature
When I move the part with pose mode, it shortens. I have an object with multiple disconnected parts. My hierarchy doesn't have any parts that are scaled.

My object looks like this:

My object looks like this (in the moved state):

Everything has a scale of 1, 1, 1.

hello please share your file: https://pasteall.org/blend/

Here: https://pasteall.org/blend/c359385dab96486b9674c90823a04a64. I should have thought of that, but whatever.

As you can see if you select a vertex then open the N panel > Item > Vertex Weights, the vertices of this mesh are also assigned to the Root bone. Just select all these vertices and remove them from this group in the Object Data panel > Vertex Groups > Remove.

Thanks! So, does the root bone automatically control everything? I don't have to make a vertex group of all the parts, it already does that?

no it doesn't automatically control everything, it depends on how you've parented, for this kind of object parent With Empty Groups (which will create vertex groups but won't assign any vertex to them) then assign the vertices to the vertex group they are supposed to be part of


text:
Animation rotate is diiferent from operation in Blender
I'm modeling the machine which has crosshead, piston, piston rod and crankshaft.
I followed the youtube tutorial to make animation for these parts.
Some objects were parented to one empty object like a piston in tutorial. The armature were added with bones:

Scratch bone
Piston bone
Rod bone
Crankshaft bone
Crankshaft controller bone

The crankshaft controller bone could be rotated round Y axis in Blender during modeling.
Crankshaft, rod and piston animated well.
However, the crankshaft rotation became abnormal when added key frames: first key frame was set at 1 frame with Z rotation 0 value; last key frame was set at 60 frame with Z rotation 360 value.

The abnormal offset was found during the animation was played. The crankshaft was rotated with axis offset. The offset could not be found when selecting controller bone then press R and press Y, then moving the mouse arrow in blender.

Could you please help to fix the problem? It seems the rotations are hard to master in Blender.
The original blender file can be found at Google Drive. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IJA6VThYaxLCrik5f0GzDvcy_AW2wbFn/view?usp=sharing

The logic behind your rig is correct, and it should work fine.
The Reason of the error is a lack of precision in the modelling stage: in my example the object named SOLID.006 should be centered on the same X and Z coordinates along its Y axis but it isn't: I've put three empties centered in 3 different edge loops, and in the 2nd image it's shown that they are misaligned.
The problem is present even without keyframing, when pressing R, Y to rotate the rod.004 bone manually.

Thank you. You're right. The model precision is terrible. It's downloaded from Internet. I'm going to modeling new one by myself.


text:
Scattered Objects not visible in final render / Grasswald GScatter
Got a quite big blender scene with scattered Objects. Everything correct an visible in the Viewport but the output render is missing most of the scattered objects. Some are visible, most not. Its not the camera icon in the outliner, something else.
Got the scene here, feel free to try.
https://we.tl/t-iHSWBh6OyI
Thanks!

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

As DFR said, add screenshots. But also, please use blend-exchange.com to transfer blend files. I don’t recognize the name We.tl, and I don’t immediately trust a company with such an odd and abbreviated name.

I agree to add a few screenshots that show the problem. We.tl is https://www.WeTransfer.com. It's a file hoster for (large) files. That's fine. But not everyone can download a 512 MB blend file to have a look and help you or to check if the question is relevant for them.

I don't know the Grasswald addon but do you really need 24000(!) objects in the scene? It's too many for my computer. For performance, it would be better to use instances with the particle system or Geometry Nodes.


text:
How can I design a coffee cup with a specific handle?
I'm designing a coffee espresso cup.
I can manage it except for the handle.
What is the more precise process to design the handle (like the one in the photo)?
Thank you

Maybe this video can help you my friend ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBtDix7xGOg

Use your image as reference, create a cylinder, create some vertical edge loops:

Extrude 3 faces:

Extrude one face along the shape of the handle:

At the end select the 2 opposite faces and press CtrlE > Bridge Edge Loops:

Give it a Subdivision Surface modifier, bevel some edges, move some vertices until it looks like your cup:


text:
How to export .x3d file(frp, paraView) as FBX with colour?
I am trying to export my .x3d model to FBX with the ultimate goal of importing to unity. The model has colours stored as vertex paint, so initially the model is white. When I add a colour attribute to the material, the proper coloured model is visible in the render mode but not in the layout mode. Also when I export it to FBX, I do not get any colour information.
There are several blogs on the internet but either are for older blender versions or do not work for me.
What would be the ideal pipeline for me to use?


text:
Difference between two different objects in ThreeJS
first of all thanks a lot to help me out with this little problem.
I am trying to load a 3D map in ThreeJS and everything works fine except 2 objects. Here is the problem: When I add material to my objects, they all work as expected, but two of them they just disappear when I apply material.

As you can see in the image, there two different kind of objects, one is the "soccer court limits", they are an object without material where you can perfectly see the shape. But as you can also see in the picture, there is another kind of object which are the trees. As you can see they both should be the same kind of object, but one has a perfect shape and the other has many many many lines. The one with all the lines are the objects that disappear when I apply the material.
Any idea why? What's the difference between both objects? In Blender I see them with the same proprieties, I don't know if I am doing something wrong when I export the 3D map into an .obj file.
Thanks,
Oriol López

Looks like inverted normals problem. Try to recalculate normals and apply scale to be sure that models haven't negative scale

@Crantisz I just tried and it doesn't seem to fix it.

It is hard to guess from just a screenshot, but if those are lines then you may need to use LineMaterial instead of the mesh materials? It is not possible to turn lines into a mesh just by changing the material, if the geometry does not contain proper triangles.
Can you share the .blend? Something there may explain why those export as lines...

Vertices were not right connected.


text:
Reducing polygon count but only in a selection of larger mesh
So I've got a model that I'd like to reduce the polygon count of (target: 20k, don't worry I'm fine with the massive loss of detail required). It was created in Daz3d Studio using one of their templated characters, resulting in a pretty high polygon count. (Here's a link to .obj file generated by Daz3d)
Part 1:
I want to decimate the model (ratio of something like 0.05 seems to work, or a bunch of un-subdivides), however I would like to decimate the less important parts first (clothing and hair, especially hair) before losing details on mouth and eyes. So just applying a decimate modifier to the entire object won't work.
I've tried going into edit mode, separating the meshes (by material), manually applying decimate modifiers to the various objects, and then merging them back into one object. This doesn't work out, however, as upon joining the meshes back, the modifiers are reset, or something, and I've lost all my decimating progress.
So advice I'm looking for is if there's a way to apply the individual decimator modifiers to separate meshes, before remerging them.
In particular, the hair in my model appears to have a huge polygon count, and I'm not sure what the best way to tackle this is. I'm okay with losing detail, but I'm just not sure what the approach to take is. Decimate seems to cause it to go all wiry and weird.
Part 2:
So I plan on importing the model as a custom model in a game I'm playing. Due to the game's requirements (although it uses unity), for the surfaces of my model to render I've had to apply a solidify modifier to the post-decimated model, only then does rending it work in the game. Unfortunately applying solidify causes havoc with the polygon count, I believe it's because of the hair mesh (since it is so complicated). I'm not sure what the best approach here is, either.
Thanks for any help anyone here can provide, it's much appreciated!

https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/142983/15543

You should ask separate questions in separate questions, both to be more likely to get answers, and cuz rules.  Decimate sucks, but if you like it, moonboots is right.  If solidify works, it's probably because your normals are backwards, which should be enough to search for to get you on the right track.  If not, try adding "backface culling" to search terms.

you can try that: Select a part of your mesh, then CtrlE > Un-Subdivide.
You can also switch to Sculpt mode, put the brush Strength at 0, enable Dyntopo, set the dyntopo Detail Size at the ratio you want (bigger than your current faces size) and paint.


text:
Animation keyframes from file
I'm trying to do an animation starting from some data I collected. The data is stored in a single txt file which looks like pretty much as
o1 x y t
o1 x y t
...
o2 x y t
...

where o1 and o2 are two object identifiers, x and y are cartesian coordinates on the ground plane, and t is the timestamp of the observations.
My aim is to render the movement of the two objects while preserving time information.
I already know how to read in the text file and create the paths. I'm using this function
def create_curve(coords_list, name):
    crv = bpy.data.curves.new('crv', 'CURVE')
    crv.dimensions = '3D'
    spline = crv.splines.new(type='NURBS')
    spline.points.add(len(coords_list) - 1)
    for p, new_co in zip(spline.points, coords_list):
        p.co = (new_co + [1.0])
    obj = bpy.data.objects.new(f'path_{name}', crv)
    bpy.data.scenes[0].collection.objects.link(obj)

At this point I import the two object models and follow this answer to make them follow the paths.
My problem is that I cannot find an automatic way to link timestamps from the file to the animation keyframes. Is there a way to synchronise the two?

This will be a lot easier if you simply keyframe location values to define the motion path. eg set the location ob1.location = (x, y, 0) and keyframe it ob1.keyframe_insert('location', frame=f(t))  where f converts t to frames.  (or build animation fcurve directly from data)

thanks for the suggestion @batFINGER, I'll give it a try.
My problem though is that I then have to adjust the paths (scale, location) as the data from file is not perfect. By assigning keyframes directly to the objects this is not possible anymore


text:
How could one replicate this three.js effect in Blender - wave texture?
Is there any tutorial on how I could replicate such an image texture as seen on this website in Blender? I would love to embed it as a .glb file on my website.
Any tips on how I could go on about this would be greatly appreciated!

you can use this shader node setup:

for a subdivided plane:

with this wave modifier:

result:

The fiddly part might be getting the animation to loop. Maybe Geometry Nodes makes that more intuitive.. you can ensure there are an exact number of waves per loop-cycle more easily?

Here, the animation is 100 frames long. This GN group puts the sum of 2 radial waves through the Z offset of the vertices in a subdivided plane. The highlighted nodes ensure that the period of the waves divides 100 exactly.. the top one is 2PI/50, the bottom one 2PI/100. The last multiply in each branch sets the amplitude of the waves.
This is the sort of shading set-up.. yours will be different, I'm sure, I had to convert my logo to B/W.

The animated plane, shot against a white World..

Fine adjustments to the apparent depth of the distortion can be made using the focal-length of the camera lens.


text:
Adding 4-dimensional vector that can be used in Nodes [bpy]
Is it possible to create a data type such that I can create custom nodes that take it as input/output? What I'm specifically trying to create is a 4-dimensional vector since that will make a lot of the math and data management easier for me.
Alternatively, is there a way I can edit the default vector type to have 4 dimensions rather then 3?

You can create your own node system, like the Animation Nodes add-on, and there you'd have a complete freedom on the types of sockets. There's a Custom Nodes template in the scripting tab, that will get you started:

However, if by a Custom Node you mean a node group, or if you mean a custom node but one that is able to operate inside a geo-nodes, compositor or shader node tree, then what you're asking for is impossible, because those systems are programmed in C and the implementation doesn't support custom types.
In all three default node systems, whenever there's a need for an array of 4 values, be it an RGBA color, or 4d vector, the array is simply split into a color/vector, and a separate fourth value (alpha / W):

So this is what I recommend that you do... Just split your input sockets and output sockets into Vector + W scalar.
You could perhaps hack the node trees to display a single vector socket, and yet behind the scenes create an additional hidden link with the fourth value, but that would be misleading to the users...

Thanks for the response! I'll look into making custom node groups with split sockets like you mentioned, since I'm trying to make this work in the Shader Editor currently.


text:
Extrude Region offset on meshes reaching impractical values
I have a .blend file that I transferred from my office laptop to my personal PC. I have only started tinkering with Blender so I should have downloaded the same version of Blender altogether (3.3.0).

The issue is that on my personal PC, the 'Extrude Faces Along Normal' function jumps to an offset much larger than the size of the mesh itself.

How should I fix it so I can measure against a proper offset like below?

Not sure of the reason, but your first image shows that the object's scale is set to a very small value (0.006) so I'd apply that via Ctrl-A > Scale in Object mode first and then try extruding your cylinder in case that's affecting things.

Is there a shortcut to this Scale? Mildly confused as to how I had not the need to do this on my other workstation.

As I said, Ctrl-A > Scale is the shortcut. No idea why you didn't need to do it on your other machine, but it's always something you should check, especially for things like bevelling, etc.

Thanks Eason, doing Ctrl+A > Scale and normalizing the XYZ scale to $1.0$ is the solution to the issue.


text:
Animation and shading
Can any one make or reffer to a video tutorial wich can give the same result of the animation of the flag featured in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vDjlrlA0IM at 0:13 ?

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

Hi. Requests for tutorials are considered off topic here. If it requires a full tutorial the question is either too broad and needs to be narrowed down to a more specific issue; or it can be solved with a simple web search, which you can easily do yourself. Please don't post another question. If you could you rephrase the current one to read more like a direct inquiry about your issue, rather than pointing you to a link, you can [edit] it so it can be reopened.

The video is a laundry liquid TV commercial. Which flag do you mean at 0:13? To me, it's unclear what you're asking for.

@Blunder I think he's talking about the flag that is rolling down on the top right of the screen with the Unilever log

@user154959 Please edit your question and show an animated gif of the flag so that question is made more clear


text:
How to Make a Mirror that Bounces / Reflects Spot Light as a Projector Would?
Playing around and enjoying this method to simulate an image projection as a video projector would in Blender. Using this tutorial.
I am now trying to see how it might be possible to simulate "bouncing" this image off of a mirror type surface or material in Blender?
The idea being it would act as a real life projector beam bouncing off of a mirror would such that the reflected image is still in focus.
So far I have only been able to get the image to be a very diffuse reflection. See screen shot.
Is this simply a setting in the material portion of the mirror or is it deeper than that?
Thank you for any tips!

Is this perhaps a limitation of Cycles as per this Reddit post?
"Turns out its a cycles limitation, something about tracing rays backwards from the camera instead of from the light source."
https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/del389/light_not_bouncing_realistically_off_mirror/

Without looking at the blend file, my immediate thought is that if the surface of the “mirror” is smooth, this should work right off the bat. Otherwise, you may have to do some trickery.

Light reflected with a mirror is called caustics in CG. Cycles is sadly not capable to render reflective caustics well even with recent improvements in caustics rendering. You could look into other render engines like LuxCoreRender.

Thank you for the heads up I will definitely look into that render engine you mentioned. Thank you!


text:
how to change the color of single object separately
I tried to change the color of a selected sphere.But for some reason when I select it and change the color, the other spheres change the color. How can I change the color of the chosen sphere only?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/185371/why-does-editing-a-material-on-one-object-change-lots-of-other-objects-material/185428#185428

That's because all those speheres probably share the same material.
If you go to the material and click on the number, then it will make a copy of the material and assign it to the object, thus seperating it from all the other objects.


text:
Turn audio into binary for simple lip syncing
I'm trying out some very basic lip syncing (just two states: mouth open, mouth closed) and followed some tutorials to try and automate it. Using 'Bake Sound to F-Curves' I'm getting real close, but I can't seem to get the thresholds right or something. A seemingly simple solution seems - to me -  to be trying to fix it on the audio side.
My idea was to take an audio file and make it so that any sound above a certain volume threshold turns into a beep, and anything else becomes silent. My Google mojo has run out though and I can't seem to think of the right search terms to find my solution. Does anybody know how to do this in either Audacity or Adobe Audition? It seems so simple but I can't figure it out!
Also if this is a dumb idea and there's way easier solutions I'd gladly hear it too ;)

@josh sanfelici 's answer sums it up.  As you've been searcing for lip synching without success for your particular project, you might like to take a look here -
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/145105/voice-over-in-blender/145346#145346

In an audio software also you will have to deal with a thresold and the workflow will end up with a trial and error system, so I think it would be better to stay into Blender (you would have to create an oscillator, add a noise gate and feed its side chain input with your audio file, setting a thresold where the noise gate would open and let the sine wave pass, setting also timing for opening and closing).
So instead, select the F-curve animated object or bone and in the 3D view go to Menu Animation > Bake action.
In this way the curve becomes editable and you can adjust it for your needs (try to simplify the curve, so that open and close states don't happen too fast).


text:
Hair dynamics loop
Im trying to create an idle animation for a character with a hair dynamics/particle effect and I keep uncovering different ways a loop does not work. The model animation loops fine, but the hair resets & makes a terrible loop.
I have looked at particle loop videos & gathered that the loop uses 2 particle systems ending and starting on sequential fames, however none of them provide enough info about translating it to hair.
Hair is always settling in the first few frames. A section of the frames are perfect, that's all I would like to use. In the cache, I've tried baking the sim with 'start' and 'end' but it starts the sim at that fame, not the bake. I thought about baking a frame range & then running it forward then backward sequentially, but I cant seem to find an option to 1) bake specific frames & 2) import the bake, 3) run it backwards to make a loop.
I have fought with this hair for a few days now & finally managed the hair to be chill and normal for 30 frames that I could bake. I managed an un-synced loop by having the start/end frames not equaling my timeline frames.
Its the only work around I have found in this time, there has to be a better way to do this. I cant imagine this much work for an idle animation.
There are lots of scenes in the blend file  I am working between the "Kinidle" scene and the "KinTroub" scene. Feel free to grab any materials out of the texture scene. additionally ignore the cloth simulation issues I have going on.... that's a different post.
Thanks in advance

The idea of using dynamics for hair is precisely to let it do its thing at runtime and not caring about it fitting whatever the animation does. There shouldn't be a need to make it cyclic. What is your end goal here?

Thanks for the extra info. The end goal was to make a loop idle animation. Should I use a different set up for hair then?

where is that animation used?


text:
Blender - 40 mins to export a 30 second fbx. Takes less than 1 second in Maya? What am I doing wrong?
I am working with mocap data.
The software I'm using exports a .blend file, of a skeleton rig, based on the rigify rig, with the mocap animation recorded onto lots of empties.
I want to bake keys onto the joints and export the animation as fbx, I am using the following process:
I select the metarig
Go to "pose" mode
Choose "animation > bake keys"
I turn on "visual keying" and press bake
This then bakes keys on every frame (takes about 5-10 mins)
Then,
I go "export fbx"
I turn on "selected objects"
Turn off "leaf bones"
Turn off "NLA strips" and "start/end keys"
Then I press "export"
The export process takes FOREVER.... like 30-40 mins to export a 30 second clip
I have a good computer/Ram/graphics card. In Maya, with the animation keys already baked onto a joints, exporting an fbx would take about 1 second.
What I am doing wrong?? Is there any way I can speed this up?
Thanks!

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/79859/blender-stops-responding-when-trying-to-export-fbx-with-empties-but-doesnt-with

FBX is Autodesk's format so it makes sense that Autodesk software should work well with it. Blender does not work well with FBX. If possible, I would recommend exploring other format options like Collada or Alembic. They should work better with Blender and still work with most other software.

I would suggest adding necessary animation strips into NLA editor, and disabling  all animation data except "NLA strips" from export. In this case, only necessary animation will be exported, instead of default all objects x all animations.


text:
Geo Nodes : Randomize object input
I have an empty where I would like geo nodes to place a random object at the empty's position from a selection of meshes in a Collection. I'd like just a random exposed Seed to decide which object is placed. Is this possible?

In the Point Instance Node you have the option to instance a Collection.

Thanks for the answer! That was easy! ;D


text:
How do I make my fluid thinner?
I am using the fluid sim in Blender 3.1.2 and it works great except my fluid is thick. How do I make it thinner?
When I attempt to reduce the thickness of my cube (that has fluid) the fluid sim stops baking anything. It only bakes if the cube is thick enough.
What it looks like at frame 0:

At frame 10:

Ideally I want something like this dripping water on a cube:

My fluid cube settings:

My domain settings:

Well, first of all the viscosity is way too high from my experience... way too high. And of course it stops baking if you make the cube too thin if the resolution in the domain is so low that a voxel won't fit inside the cube anymore... The dripping water on the cube is hard to achieve I guess, since in reality water molecules are coming together by cohesion until the resulting drop is so large that its weight pulled by gravity overcomes the adhesion, spoken amateurishly. Don't think Mantaflow is simulating realistically enough, and presumably you don't have a real world scale on your sim?

You're right about viscosity - I think I was just testing and I am currently using 0.0005 which is much better. I got way better results by splitting my cube into smaller cubes (still with the same thickness). Might post it as my answer. Thanks for your comment :)

You're welcome. Some time ago I was experimenting with viscosity, too... but I got a little frustrated because it was either much too thick or it somehow messed up the simulation so that I gave up - hence I'm not giving an answer to this. So you're good to go ;)


text:
How can I export with texture properties
How can I export with texture properties
For example:
Object in blender:

I set texture sphere property:

Object exported:

That is going to depend on what you are exporting to.  There are several export formats that allow you to export textures, and each does it differently.  Can you tell us what application you're going to use with the exported data?

I exported it with .glb format. I open it with Microsoft 3D Viewer and I try to import it to Blender. I think the problem happen when I exporting it.

You need to bake the texture


text:
How to remove scene world colour completely?
I've been struggling to remove this pink overlay, I'm not sure what I've clicked for it to be this way and I've tried everything, Please help.

open your Shader Editor, switch it to World instead of Object, and see what is your node setup, does it have an Environment Texture plugged into the Background node?

If you only want to remove it from the Viewport rendered mode display, simply deselect the Scene World Check box.

Thank you so much , I realised I didn't install my hdri's . Thanks for the help, truly appreciate it.


text:
matrix_world is transposed silently under the hood? Why?
I'm setting the matrix_world property of an object (from a numpy array) and I discovered that:

The last column (translation) is not set.
The matrix appears transposed

This is my pose matrix
array([[-0.02274943, -0.15741606,  0.9872703 , -5.47117027],
       [-0.90303298, -0.42049152, -0.08785396, -0.4303874 ],
       [ 0.42896842, -0.89353627, -0.13258596, -5.05977056],
       [ 0.        ,  0.        ,  0.        ,  1.        ]])

This is my output. Note that the translation component is not set, and that the rotation components are transposed.
>>> sel.matrix_world = pose
>>> bpy.context.view_layer.update()
>>> sel.matrix_world
Matrix(((-0.022749630734324455, -0.9030333161354065, 0.4289677143096924, 0.0),
        (-0.15741603076457977, -0.4204908013343811, -0.8935366272926331, 0.0),
        (0.9872702956199646, -0.08785402029752731, -0.13258591294288635, 0.0),
        (0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)))

Is this intended behaviour or a bug??? I could not find any documentation on the topic.

Use mathutils.Matrix to create matrix properly:
import bpy
from mathutils import Matrix

pose = Matrix([[-0.02274943, -0.15741606,  0.9872703 , -5.47117027],
       [-0.90303298, -0.42049152, -0.08785396, -0.4303874 ],
       [ 0.42896842, -0.89353627, -0.13258596, -5.05977056],
       [ 0.        ,  0.        ,  0.        ,  1.        ]])

sel = bpy.context.object

sel.matrix_world = pose
bpy.context.view_layer.update()
print(sel.matrix_world)

Thank you for your answer. If it's not possible to set the matrix from an ndarray, I still think an error should be thrown, instead of it being allowed with the transposition under the hood. Also, note that numpy is the de-facto standard for scientific computing and linear algebra library for python. Compatibility with Blender makes sense. Numpy comes bundled-in with Blender's python for a reason. I still think a few lines documenting this behaviour would be nice.

@Sergio  I think this has to do with implicit type conversion. You have to be prepared for "1"+"1" to equal "11", not 2


text:
Sculpting problems: sculpt.brush_stroke invert doesn't work when assigning to Alt key. Can't assign Ctrl to mask brush. Anyone know why? Thanks!
Like the title say. I'm trying to replicate the zbrush way in blender, but when assigning Alt key to sculpt.brush_stroke it doesnt work. The interface still move when pressing Alt and doesnt carve/invert my brush stroke.
Also, I don't know why I cannot assign the Ctrl key to the mask brush. It just doesnt work. Anyone know some workaround or is it just impossible? Thanks!

If you want to use the Alt key for something other than emulating a three button mouse but with three button mouse emulation still turned on, you need to assign a different key to that first.

Yes, it's probably the case that the key that the keymap for ALT is set at like 3D View (Global) or something and that is overriding whatever changes you're making in the Sculpt Mode keymap.

Having worked between Blender and ZBrush i have found it easier to modify ZBrush/ My Tablet settings to work like Blender rather than the other way around.

hey thanks for the answer! Where do you go to make the change? I use blender 3.3 and and I don't know where to go to change the button. In some thread I saw people who had a dropbown menu to change the key that was assigned to their <<emulate 3 mouse buttons>> but in my interface this option isnt here.


text:
clipping two objects
I would like to know what's the best way to model complex objects in Blender when i need to clip to objects together. Should I alter the mesh or just let them clip?
Examples
Altered mesh

Clipping

You can make them clip if the render doesn't make any difference

If you clip two objects, their border will have a sharp edge in any case, if you alter them, you can use smooth shading, but most of the cases it doesn't matter.

@FFeller but whiich is better for game assets ?

@LuizCarlos The one requiring less geometry, therefore not modelling the intersection. If both objects are static meshes and its meant for a game, then you really do not need to model it (or only in circumstances where it allows to use fewer polygons).


text:
random change of position or scale in the collection using geometry nodes
I have candles arranged in three curves and I need to be able to make an animation of the appearance by position or scale randomly for each candle

did you try to plugin random value node into rotation? did you try plugin random value node in offset of set position node?

yes, it didn’t help, it separates the collection separately, candle, fire, wick, and I need to shift the whole candle randomly

Did u uncheck separate children?

To be honest, might sound hard: u should watch a beginner tutorial for geometry nodes. This is an absolute basic question and not so hard to solve.

I have been looking for solutions for a long time, but I did not find anything similar. I suspect that it is necessary to somehow change the position of each point using the index, but it does not work.


text:
Bones move from their initial position after adding IK elbow pole
after adding an elbow IK pole to the arm it shifts from its original position i wonder what the cause of this issue is
i also made sure to clear parent and disconnect the elbow bone too
i also deleted the pole bone and readded it again and same issue

This is the expected behaviour: the angle of the IK chain always points at the pole bone.
To solve, trim the pole angle value in the IK constraint panel and/or pole bone location (in edit mode) so that the shift between edit mode and pose mode is minimum or null.


text:
curve to dome,?

how to:
Draw a line down middle to split halves
Make faces and 'rotate extrude' into a dome?
How to cut out and hollow the dome?
How to offset by X thickness to define shell i.e. add X thickness everywhere
is very new to this
Know a channel covering basic geometry tutorials like this?
Thankyou if you can help :~)

If you want more than basic curves go to Edit -> preferences -> Addons and find Extra: Curves(or something like that) I will give you more options, even to make dome with simple curve... Also does it need to be curve? You can simply do it with sphere

The 'Rotate Extrude' (Lathe) tool in Blender is the Screw modifier, which is available for curves, as well as meshes:

(The yellow curve is a copy, bevelled for visibility in the illustration.)
Depending on your resolution settings, etc. in the curve, (maybe have a play with those, to get the hang of them) if / when it's converted to a mesh, the result is something like this:

You can then add thickness with a Solidify modifier.
There's no doubt, curve editing is not Blender's strongest point; it requires a few learned tricks to be reasonably fluent.
For the dome as shown, X across, Z up:

The origin of the curve is at World 0
The type of the 2 control points is 'Aligned'
With 3D Cursor at World 0, and set to be the Pivot Point, the control points are SY0 flattened to the XZ plane
With the Pivot set to 'Median Point' the peak control point has been selected, and SZ0 made horizontal. The rim control point has been SX0 made vertical.

Then the Screw modifier has been assigned:

Here's a Blend File:

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.. this is closest I can get
with screw modifier
https://imgur.com/S3pscmc

4 minutes in Robin's time is equivalent to days in mine. Still cannot model a dome :/ please walk me through it sir

@absolute_schmuck .. see edit. ( BTW, thanks, but no need to 'sir' me of all people :D)

... Brave Sir Robin

@batFINGER ..8D ... always did like a bit of Men in Tights....

another Robin , Oh Errol, I would give anything, just to be like you

A dome can also be constructed from a primative if you don't NEED to use a curve. Create a cylinder with appropriate number of sides, in edit mode select the end that you want to dome-ify. Hit ctrl-B to bevel, give it a good number of segments, enable clamping with "c" and then bevel it down until you get the curve. Make sure to merge duplicates with m->by distance.
To make it hollow, delete the non-beveled end and add a solidify modifier.
Same effect could be done non-destructively (I think) with a modifier stack of bevel (set to weight and the edges weighted), weld, and then solidify, but I don't know how you'd hollow it out.


text:
How to pin 1 corner of image to rotate around that pin?
One vertex is correct. How to use that as a pivot point to Square image to XY plane?

You should post an image describing what you want to do. Try snapping the 2D cursor to the vertex and then setting the translation to 2D cursor.

.. or, if you want to do it in Edit Mode, maybe the  '.' (period) shortcut to set the pivot.. > 'Active Element'

Robin tyty solved. Ron, being so new, I'm unsure how to recreate these steps

IMO this question could do with some clarity. There is every chance that editing vert locations of a plane in edit mode will skew its local axes, and could be the case that setting rotation on the object has the desired effect.


text:
Snapping two objects together via vertex selection
I'm a game developer and I'm using the Christmas break as an excuse to finally learn blender. The 2.8 update is fantastic and I'm enjoying it so far.
However I have a question and I want to know if there is an easier way to do snap two objects together.

In the image above, I want to know if there is an easier way to snap these objects, aligning by the vertices I have highlighted. I was able to use the vertex snap by closest to achieve this, I'm concerned that repeating this process with a more complicated model will be more difficult. (See image below)

The best way I could find of doing this is going into edit mode, selecting all verts, then deselecting and reselecting the vert I want to use to snap and then changing the vert snapping parameters to 'active'. This does do what I want (see image below), but it's a lot of steps.

I'm most familiar with 3DS Max as a modelling tool, and it's fairly simple to mouse over a vert, allowing it to become the 'active' and then dragging to snap to another vert. Is there a similar methodology to this in blender or am I coming at this problem from the wrong angle?

If you use the 'Active' 'Vertex' option, all selected vertices will transform in such a way as to snap the active vertex to your selected target. I wish that 'Target' sub-panel had been re-labelled 'Source' .. it refers to the component in motion.

My issue is more complicated than you. I don't even know a way to snap the objects using vertex not even the "not better way"  that you are doing and didn't even understand how you are doing it.

Did you ever figure this out?  I also learned to Snap in 3DS Max and I'm having a hell of a time figuring this out in blender?  The only way that I can figure out how to do it is through a very convoluted set of operations with Shift-S.  I can go to edit mode and select a vertex, snap the 3D cursor to the vertex, exit edit mode, select the 2nd object, go into pivot editing mode, select a vertex, snap the pivot to the vertex, exit pivot editing mode, and then snap the 2nd object to the cursor...phew. There's got to be an easier way.

It's easiest done with QuickSnap addon

.. and soon to be standard in 4.0.. 'B' will locate the source (moving) snap feature in Object Mode.


text:
Anyone know what this roof material can be made in blender 3d

This roof is bit confusing I don't understand whether it's a fabric or plastic or any other translucent material.

I am going to say not translucent because of the lack of change where the building is behind the end of it. But the shape and struts does indicate a non rigid material. Are you sure you want to use Blender-Render and not Cycles?

Actually I am new here so I don't know much about tags and I was not able to find blender cycles. Here I will use cycles. So please tell how make this material.

Depending on the level of detail required you should get away with the standard BSDF Diffuse and just playing with the Colour and Roughness. The difficult with recreating this scene will be the lighting. Investigate HDRI images that could provide what you need.


text:
how will you model a cityscape at night?

I am really not able to imagine the backside of this picture i modelled the railings but cant move further so please help me by telling me what approach should i take to model this.

I'd recommend modeling the fence, vegetation and other props in the foreground.
Don't forget to get the grungy texturing right.
And the camera perspective, which can be captured easily using Fspy* and its official importer add-on for Blender. It is not the only software camera matching software, but it is widely used.
Then, render it with alpha background, by ticking Transparent under Film settings.
After, choose the right background and just plug it in Photoshop or Gimp.
Then it's just post processing: Desaturation (Black and white) with high contrast. I'd further recommend going to blenderartists "work in progress" and let your peer artists guide you through the rest to get a more accurate result.

*Note: The now standalone app Fspy was previously BLAM.

BLAM is an outdated version(used in old blender). He can use Fspy...

@Nxdhin2005 Good call-out. I've edited that part of the answer to reflect current software.

A search on Pixabay for city skyline night should provide some usable results for anyone looking to do this. If this needs to be animated in such a way that a simple image backdrop will not suffice, but actual modeling of a city is required, check out Gleb Alexandrov's tutorial How to Create a City, Covered with Fog.


text:
How can I achieve this lighting in blender..?

I am really curious how can I achieve this lighting in blender

Well I need to know about that bluish light


text:
How to achieve multiple emission color on one mesh..?
I tried a color ramp node but its not working i also tried to mix two emission shader with mix node but result is not desired..
Like in the image

do you mean with a gradient effect?

Yes Sir Just like gradient with emission..

create different material slots and materials (emission shader) for the same mesh
go to edit mode, select some faces
select a material slot and press "assign" button
(this will assign the material only to selected faces)
(eevee/cycles)


text:
Shift + Midddle Mouse (Pan) and Numpad Not Working in 2.8
I am using Windows 10 an downloaded Blender 2.8.
The Shift + Middle Mouse does not pan and the Number Pad does not work.
I have tried all the proposed solutions here: Panning with Shift + middle mouse button stopped working
My Middle Mouse works fine for Rotate and Zoom.
I have tried replacing the keyboard and mouse, but no luck!
I have uninstalled and reinstalled Blender 2.8 twice, but no luck!
Thank you in advance....I can't wait to start using 2.8!

Same behaviour in Ubuntu 18.04; works in 2.79 though.

Just found solution that works for me: go to Preferences > Input and tick Emulate Numpad.


text:
Run python script after transforms
I almost always forget to do the ctrl+a scale&rotation.  So, I don't know if I have really jacked up my scene :(
I was wondering if I could tie a python script to the actions of scaling/rotating an object. Such as when I'm done scaling or rotating an object the python script applies it in the background for me.

I doubt that it is useful for you to be so concerned about your topic.  Non unit scale and non zero rotation exists because they are useful.  You might consider making changes in EDIT mode. There are some circumstances where applying rotation and scaling are important.  I cannot provide the complete list and that is acceptable.  When you have a concrete problem please show your particular work as a screen capture and others will help you.  I would encourage you to see a tutorial series. Observe that while you need to be careful ..... non unit scale and non zero rotation are quite common.

I do not apply scale and rotation all the time.  There is also the delta scale and delta rotation.

Ahh okay.  That was all very informative.  I do check out tutorials and enjoy watching them.  I'll keep an eye on that.  I thought that was just universally needed, but I guess not :) .  Thank you for your time and information!

you could use a python script that runs through all your objects and checks if their scale is 1,1,1 and rotation is 0°,0°,0°. if not it applies rotation&scale
import bpy

for obj in  bpy.context.scene.objects:
    if obj.scale!=[1,1,1] or obj.rotation_euler!=[0,0,0] :
        bpy.context.scene.objects.active=obj
        bpy.ops.object.transform_apply(location=False, rotation=True, scale=True)


text:
When I parent an object with a bone the object moves its place
I went to the object tab and parented with a bone. but when I did this, the object rotated and moved. what should I do to fix this? (weirdly when the object moves its place the location which is displayed on the tab that appears when you click 'n' is the same)

You must have parented the object with a bone that is not in Rest pose, so first select your bone in Pose mode and altG, altR, altS to reset its location, rotation and scale.

this is usual if you parent an object to another object in the relations parent field.  (their xyz coordinates are placing the object in parents coordinatesystem.)
usually you can use ctrl+P to parent objects without switching places. shift+P automatically rewrites the location, so that the object wont move.
Just select the childmesh, then the armatures bone (in posemode), hit ctrl+P and select "Bone".


text:
An equilateral triangular pyramid from four equilateral triangles - Using Snap
An equilateral triangular pyramid from four equilateral triangles.
How to model this type of object using the snap function in Blender?
Please, share your expertise regarding this type of modeling. How to do that?

The following solution is if you just want to get a tetrahedron object. To create one from scratch it's not so easy to do it with rotating and snapping, because you have to set the rotation axes correctly and let's say you have the base triangle and add another one to rotate upwards - there's nothing to snap to. You can just rotate it by be the correct angle of 70.53° and do the same with the others. But than there's no need to do it manually. For getting a regular tetrahedron easier do the following:
Go into the 3D Viewport to add a new object: Shift+A > Mesh > Geodesic Dome. There are different presets to choose from, the shape that comes by default is a tetrahedron, exactly what you want to create.
If you don't have Geodesic Dome as option in the Mesh menu, go into top menu Edit > Preferences > Add-ons and typ "geo" in the search field. Enable the add-on "Add Mesh: Geodesic Domes".


text:
Applying Remesh modifier deletes most of the model
I've been attempting to use a tutorial that uses the Remesh modifier to smooth the intersecting regions of joined objects to help with scuplting (in layman's terms: smoothing things to connect to others better).
The unapplied remesh appeared fine in solid view, and with a bit of processing load in edit or wireframe, but that was to be expected. There wasn't as much difference between the original head and the remeshed one, but I disregarded that as my computer could barely handle any lower of a voxel level, and assumed that the cause of the definition, or lack thereof.
When I went to apply the Remesh, however, it removed almost all of the mesh, save for the intersect points and the ears.
Head with unapplied remesh modifier:

Head after applying remesh

I have tried unwrapping the UV again and raising the voxel count to no avail, and am unsure on how to proceed. When peering inside the mesh, the modifier appears to be working fine, but not so much on the outside.
I have no clue what is causing this. I would preferably like to test with lower voxel sizes to see if that is the issue, but I'm pretty sure that would melt my laptop's CPU (it apparently hit 114% by reducing the voxel size from 0.03 to 0.02) Help will be greatly appreciated, .blend file below.
.blend file, Google Drive

You have scaled-down your mesh but have not applied the transformation. You can see it in the first screenshot. The Remesh modifier uses the original dimension of the mesh and the Voxel Size value to calculate the number of vertices. It's 3.3 million for your CUPKiller Head. Yes, that's a lot.
The fix is easy:

apply All Transformations with Ctrl+A in Object mode. The head will go very low-poly because of the Remesh modifier. But don't worry.
apply the Mirror modifier
set the Voxel Size of the Remesh modifier to 0.005. This creates about 17,000 verts.
if you need more halve the value (0.0025) and you will get about 70,000 verts
apply the Remesh modifier ;-)


text:
Subdivision Surface Being Pulled Toward Vertices
I'm working on the torso of a character model, and I added a subdivision surface modifier to get a rough idea of the smoothed final product. Not soon after, I noticed that there were some holes in my geometry, and I quickly filled them. Once the mesh had been fixed, however, there were a few areas where the subdivision surface mod would be pulled to a vertex of the mesh.
The model with subdivision and mesh analysis (sharp). Those red bits are where the subdivision is being pulled.

Better angle with Mirror mod on.

There don't seem to be any N-gons, and the triangle that was originally there from filling the mesh has been turned into a quad. It is possible that there are some doubled vertices, but I doubt that that's the problem. Recalculating the normals didn't help much either.
I feel it has something to do with me filling faces connected to those points, though I am still unsure of the cause. The Blend file should be below. Help is appreciated.
Blend File, Google Drive

You have 2 faces overlapping, you must have missed it because the vertex is hidden in Edit mode, unhide it with AltH then delete it:


text:
Move object in the same direction
I have a problem with movement. I would like to move all the objects in the same way.
In the original file the movement is correct in this file the movement is strange.
How can I solve it?
I have upload the file.

You've switched the Transform Orientations to Local, which means that the objects will move along their local axis. For some of them these axis are not aligned with the global axis, so you either need to switch to Global, or apply the rotation of these objects:


text:
I want to know why Blender 3.2.2 on my laptop seemingly crashes when a custom shader is used, when other PC set ups were tried and worked fine
My specs are a laptop with 16 GB of ram, an 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 processor (2.40 GHz, up to 4.20 GHz, 8M Cache), and Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics. Only Blender itself seems to crash, and it usually gets a couple colors on the model before becoming frozen and unresponsive. I am using EEVEE render engine, and am relatively new to Blender.

Have you submitted a bug/crash report? The devs are usually pretty responsive with issues. Have you tried making sure your video drivers are up to date?

https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/troubleshooting/crash.html

Jakemoyo, about to do that now, if I can figure out where and how to do that.
and Harry, thank you for the link, about to check it out.


text:
Inconsistent order of vertices/faces in obj files animation
I'm creating old-school renderer, where I'm trying to interpolate between obj file frames.
After exporting skeletal animation to multiple obj files I see that order of vertices/faces is not exactly the same in every obj frame file.
Visual representation of 2 obj keyframes with 3 bones animated:

What can I do in Blender to fix this issue?
Or maybe there is better way to do it?
I already tried to:

Check Keep vertex order during export
Add Triangulate modifier in object modifiers (to keep consistent triangulation)
Experimenting with Sort elements

but with no success..
blend and objs files attached.
Thanks.


text:
Is it possible to use .trc, .trb or .cap files in blender?
I've recently recovered some mocap data files, but I do not have access to MoBu currently and was hoping to use Blender to display my data and attach to a rig to add to my portfolio. Unfortunately, I have not found a way to do this with just .TRC, .TRB, or .CAP data. I know Blender can technically read the data because TRC data when I import my FBX files I see it in the item list, however I cannot see it displayed. Even just being able to see the markers displayed would be a huge step forward. Thanks.

by trc do you mean this format.  It looks like it would be easy to convert but there doesn't appear to currently be a blender converter. You might want to check with the OpenSim Project to see if they have a converter to a format blender can handle such as BVH

I do not, I meant tracking data recorded in Cortex. I've seen this come up a lot it has made my search quite difficult lol

I stumbled upon this tool. Here is a link to 2015 Free Motion Capture Tool that reads cd3 files. It also shows trc, cap and tom files too.
https://www.mocap.me/mocap_free_tool.html
I am trying to convert c3d files to bvh or fbx, I have found a c3d converter for blender, but it does not work properly.


text:
Is it possible to automate Extrude in Blender?
I'm a beginner Blender user and I've been extruding some logos, but as time went on, they've become too many logos for me to extrude them by hand. I wonder if it is possible to extrude them automatically, probably by the use of coding (python maybe?). Does anyone have an answer to this task?

Can you post screenshots of what you're doing/what you want to accomplish? This question is a bit unclear at the moment.

https://prnt.sc/34mdF7JKdZLO Usually I just import the SVG file and extrude it in the Curve properties, geometry tab. What I want to do is to automate that in some way, as the process is always the same.

This script should do the trick:
import bpy
from pathlib import Path

root = Path("/your/folder/with/svgs-in-it/")

for file in root.glob('*.svg'):
    fp = str(file.resolve())
    bpy.ops.import_curve.svg(filepath=fp)

for curve in bpy.data.curves[:]:
    curve.extrude = .001 # the thickness that you want

I ran the code into Blender and it did nothing. Probably because I've never used Scripting before. You just need to copy and paste the script and that's it or am I missing something?

I can't put the file path where all of your svgs in my script. I don't know where that is on your computer. That's why my script says "/your/folder/with/svgs-in-it/".


text:
Retro sega saturn's "Gouraud shading"

I've been trying to replicate this for myself for a while now and I can't seem to get through...
I'm a blender beginner btw, 2nd week user.
Is there some way to replicate gouraud shading like in this game here?:
https://youtu.be/60F44ec-VjM
Yes I know that that I'm supposed to use "smooth shading" and that one "N64 shading" thread that gets referenced to me a lot but I have trouble replicating how they do it anyways, is there some way to replicate this type of shading? Please lemme know, thanks.

The only way I know to do this without modifying the blender source code would be to write an OpenGL Shader Language (GLSL) shader as described in this webpage .

Hi, @MartyFouts that series of articles appears to use the game engine? Is it possible to write GLSL shaders straight into the viewport?

@RobinBetts Oops.  I confused myself.  You can create Open Shader Language (OSL) as shader nodes; but I was wrong in believing you could also create GLSL nodes.

@MartyFouts ahh, shame. I can't think of a way of doing this other than baking  into vertex-colors.. that's not to say there isn't one. It's an interesting problem. After all, I've seen an entire renderer written in OSL, somewhere. Maybe you have to make your own in-scene screen.


text:
how to stop Procedural clouds wobbling when animated
total newbie question here. made procedural clouds (eevee) for a camera fly-through animation following cgmatter's tutorial.
when animated their surface is wobbling like ocean waves.
can anyone point me towards how to make the cloud surface steady?

if you provide your blend file we can check it out...

unfortunately am so new a newbie that am unable to get the file to be smaller than 51mb ... even after deleting objects down to the bare minimum etc ... sorry, don't want to waste anyone's time, just can't figure it out atm. will update once have learned more and actually know what i'm doing

you can also share via dropbox or google drive...or whatever...

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/16YN0_5h5iO6mdYEGTGgtdyPtHL6wWo-W/view?usp=sharing]
this is the reduced blend file. appreciate the assistance

i download your "reduced" file and let the animation play...and see...nearly nothing. Did you test your reduced file?

yeah, it should have 1 cloud & a camera flying past it ... was showing ok here ...  here another version with more objects ...: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14ODOEzZKtVvH0hL85PPL33XDN0bspTIQ/view?usp=sharing
(maybe was a bit too reduced ...)

I have had some experiences where the NOISE is automatically animated. A new random seed generated every frame (if not update). When Cloud is available I've used that. Otherwise experiment with some others like Magic, Voronoi, or Musgrave.

thx, tried replacing noise texture node with said options. musgrave looks nice, but still flickering. the texture clearly moves from frame to frame.
it's not urgent for this animation (was able to use image planes for now), but would still like to find out for future uses.


text:
Fluid Simulation has Blue Dots around the Edges of Baked Mesh
I've searched for an answer and can't find out why my blender is acting up like this and i've messed up everything i can think of: Upres Factor, Resolution Divsions and Substeps Sampling and to no avail but i'm sure the solution is in my face. My image below shows the issue i'm having, it shows in every viewport mode.

If you've already baked the mesh component of your fluid, un-check (disable) the Liquid simulation "balls" in the Physics Properties of your Domain object:

Or alternatively, go into the particle settings tab, open liquid, and make the scale slightly lower,  in case you still want to see the particles in wireframe mode.


text:
I'm having trouble unwrapping my mug for Blender Guru's tutorial
I'm trying to follow this tutorial here, and have gotten around to the 8:30 mark. Compared to how it's unwrapped in the tutorial, mine is completely off. How do I fix this, what's causing it to look so different?

You seem to have missed a step in the tutorial.  Go back to the start of the tutorial and pay careful attention to the parts about marking seams.  You don't appear to have any seams on your cup, or at the minimum, they're not in the most useful places.

I got it, I needed to apply the scale. Thanks for the help


text:
Make balconys in organic shape skyscraper
**Hi, as you can see on my sketch, i want to design that skyscraper's balconys, as you can see in the sketch each balcony goes outside of the main shape. I manage to model the main shape of the building and what i was trying to do now is to model only one balcony ( with railing and small details ) and then duplicate many times and finally putting all of them it on that main shape. But i don't know how to do it. As you can see in 3D screenshot i managed to do stripes around the shape with Shrinkwrap,add a solidify and that's it. Nothing fancy. If i want to make a unique balcony with many details and then duplicate it and apply all of them to the shape i don't know how to do it. Any help or advice? I attached sketch, 3d screenshot and the 3D file i cannot upload it. But like i said, is basically putting many balconys into a organic shape.
THANKS**

enter image description here

I would take the stripes as mesh lines, convert them to a curve and make the railing and small details by arraying along the curves and using a profile along the curve for the shape of the balcony.

Thanks it worked!


text:
array chain around complex curve
I am trying to array the chain around those curves but i don't know how to it, everytime i do it is completely deformed and doesn't follow the curve ( you can see the images in the links below ) and also the blender file below. Please help, thank you!
Link to images are here
https://ibb.co/Ph4Dyvs
https://ibb.co/4RD8zvH
BLENDER file here
https://file.io/mEwGrABWYgvv

Apply chain rotation and use Y as axis. But as the curve is made of several parts, I don't think that can do it.

Please add any images directly into your question instead of posting links to them on external sites. See How to upload an image to a post. Also use Blender's built-in screenshot facility via the Window > Save Screenshot menu rather than taking photos of your screen. Your Blend file has already been deleted from that external site. Use https://blend-exchange.com/ where the file will remain available for people viewing your question in future.

your blend file link doesn't work


text:
How to make my "Simple Deform" mesh bend the other way

i'm trying to make this selected mesh bend along the face horizontally instead of vertically, something similar to image 3 but sideways, how can i do it?
It looks like a sad worm here, lol

There's a complete tutorial on all the settings for that modifier here. There's also this posting here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/143190/why-the-simple-deform-modifier-bending-my-object-on-the-wrong-axis?rq=1

The sad worm... heartbreaking +1

Sad worm indeed, lol. Also tnx for the link

The deformation is calculated in the local coordinate space. Please note that an object's local axes may differ from the global axes. By default, objects bend along their Z-axis. If your object is rotated in any way, make sure that the Z-axis is pointing up. You can apply the rotation by pressing CTRL A on your keyboard.
Alternatively, you can check the direction of your object's local Z-axis. To do this, select your object and in the upper-right corner select Transform > Affect only > Origins.

Then, rotate the origin so that the Z axis points upwards and aligns with the global Z axis. Make sure to deactivate the Transform>Affect only>Origins option once you're finished.

Here is the Blend file:

Ah! Thank you so much dude! It works and I got through! :D


text:
All objects are black in the render view port
The objects are black in render view port but when I render it I can see the color in the image.
Can anyone please help.
computer info:
iMac
garphic: Radeon Pro 580 8 GB
memory 32 GB DDR4
processor: inter core i7

can you share your blend file https://blend-exchange.com

Apple computer with an AMD graphics card and an Intel processor... there's your problem - they're having a war! All kidding aside, I can't see your full outliner, but it looks like the lights in your scene are hidden - hidden things will still appear in renders even though they are not visible in the viewport. Click the "closed eye" to the right of to the lights name in the outliner to unhide it, or press Alt+H in the viewport to unhide everything.

There is a white arrow already pointing at the problem in your screenshot... disabled lights.

Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer.

Enable the Lights collection(on the Eye icon) to see them in the rendered view.


text:
Video sequence editor won't place media files at the playhead position when they're dragged and dropped
Since Blender 3.2.0 when a media file is dragged and dropped from the OS's file manager (I'm on Linux, so it's Gnome) to the Blender's video sequencer, it won't be positioned where the playhead currently is, instead it's placed at the very first frame. This problem is absent when the file is chosen from Blender's add menu (file browser). Any suggestions on how to fix this problem, or how it can be addressed to the devs?

It's not going to the first frame, it's just going to the last frame it remembers you using for that operator. Blender has a built-in file browser in the default Video Editing layout, why not just use that?

It goes to the frame 1 of the track 1 every time. I'm dealing with this issue on a daily basis. If the first track is occupied with other strip, a dragged and dropped file goes either before or right after it (shuffle mode). It doesn't remember position of the playhead: if media file was added through build-in file browser, drag and drop right after that again positions new strip to the first frame of the track #1. Build-in file browser doesn't support audio preview, it's impossible for me to chose correct sfx file out of hundreds of others with similar names without hearing it first.

Once again: everything was working just fine prior to the Blender 3.2.0 release.