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How can I select part of a mesh and make it seperate?
I want to make the teeth a separate child object from the mouth. I want to know the best way to do this.
I have tried going into edit mode with Tab and trying to select all the vertices but that doesn't move the teeth. Is there an easy way to select just that part and make it a separate child mesh to the rest of the mouth?

Splitting your mesh in to separate pieces is easy, just two steps.
First you have to select the part you want to separate.
There are many ways to select part of your mesh. Depending on how you modeled it, assigned materials, the way the geometry flows, and other factors will determine how you best select the part of the mesh.

Select Linked
Hover over the part and press L. Or select any part in the desired portion and press CtrlL. Both shortcuts are Select Linked, it selects all the connected geometry. Meaning if you have separate pieces (the teeth are not connected to the mouth) it will select that part.
Here in this gif I demonstrate the select linked tool. First by pressing L with mouse over the part I want to select, then withCtrlL.

Select by material
If you have more then one material on your mesh, you can select by material. Head over to the Material tab of the Properties window and with the correct material active (highlighted in blue) press the Select button.

"Normal" selection tools
Sometimes there will be no quick and easy way to select the part you need, then you are going to have to do it my hand. Good thing is blender has a bunch of great selection tools.
AltRMB  will select loops, edge, vertex, or face loops depending on what selection mode you are in.
CtrlAltRMB  will select rings, again edge, vertex, or face rings depending on what selection mode you are in.
A select, or deselect everything. (Sometimes it is faster to start at the opposite and work backwards.)
B Border select, draw a box around what you want selected (or deselected). Useful to be in wireframe or have Limit selection to visible turned off.
C Circle select "paint" what you want selected. Do note that you can not rotate the view while using this tool.
With one point selected, Ctrl on a second. Or with two points selected, go to the 3D view header click on Select > Shortest Path. Both will select the shortest line connecting the two points.

After you have your part selected simply press P > Selection. That will brake the selection out of the current mesh and put it in a new object (with its origin at the same location as the original's).


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Output render looks grainy and pixely even though samples are high
The samples in the rendered picture are set to 12, I tried setting them to 20 and it made no difference. I don't understand why, but this is the only object in my scene that has this weird lighting (the actual room itself).

20 samples is not very high. Make sure you dont have square samples check on. Then push the samples to maybe a couple hundred. Make sure your light source is large enough. I would need to see your render settings to know for sure.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Why is my object disappearing unless is close?
I don't know why, its been a while since I've been on blender but I've opened my project and everything in rendered is blue unless this object (that gray guy, he shouldnt be gray) is close I can not see it and it sinks behind the blue. I might just have a box checked somewhere or it might be something dumb. I am using version 2.7.7

That looks like the default world background color for Blender internal in the older 2.4# and 2.5# versions. When was the last time you used Blender?

"unless its really close"? what does this mean?

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


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Blender cycles smoke shader, lighting and shadows
I was trying to produce a result as shown below using Cycles (youtube clip can be found here ...edit: cant post youtube link as it need more reputation...can search for "Smoke Compilation Blender 2.69 {Experiments & Ideas}" at the 1:39 mark by BeauDG if you are interested).  I recommend watching the clip as one image doesn't really do it justice:

My attempt is, and as you can see mine looks less natural and more crappy:

I can only post 2 links so can't show my node setup.  I used one from another tutorial.  My smoke domain settings are (things which I have changed from default):
divisions = 200,
time scale = 0.4,
vorticity = 4,
dissolve time = 100,
high resolution smoke divisions = 2,
noise method = FFT with a strength = 2
My questions are:

What settings/node setup do I need to change to get the smoke looking more smooth and realistic as shown in the first image?
How do I light it so that I get the defined shadows?  I tried using a Sun lamp, point lamp and area lamp none of which seem to cut the mustard.  At the moment I am back to using a point lamp which I've animated to move through the smoke but it doesn't generate the right shadows.  Interestingly the viewport seems to do it reasonably well but the render turns out quite different.

According to 2. Use HDR Environment map.

I'm not a blender expert but isn't a HDR Environment map a static light source?  In the animation it looks like a torch is being moved through the smoke

For moving light you can use sphere with emission shader. But to have more realistic smoke hdr should help. Also, could you provide your blend file?

Thanks for the tip on HDR lighting I will give that a spin.  Good point on the moving sphere with emission shader I didn't think of that one.  The blend file can be found here:
http://www.filedropper.com/untitled6
Let me know if you have trouble accessing

You can increase Light Path > Volume to something about 10 to improve lightning inside smoke. Also check my profile for my answers about smoke, there are some good informations.

I can't call the result from the first image as really realistic.. at least not really worth to be reproduced. You could start from some tuts like "Blender Cycles smoke". To make smoke thicker multiply its density, see feature overview. To lighten it up several lamps (as only one lamp is not good lighting) should do the trick.

Thanks Luke, increasing the Volume light paths to 10 helped a bit.  I'll check out your profile too


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Object with transparency makes the object behind it transparent
I have an object that consists of two layers, one of which is transparent, the other is opaque. However when viewing the opaque object through the transparent one the opaque material has some transparency and you can see objects that are behind it. Can anyone let me know why this is happening?
The screenshot below shows the issue along with the node structure of the transparent layer.

Can you please add another screenshot so that we can see the hidden objects please?

I don't think you are supposed to connect surface shaders to the volume socket of the material.

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos You aren't, but I don't think that it would cause the problem.

Can you post a .blend?

@pycoder Yeah, just pointing that out as a possible source of problems. There is probably something similar wrong with the other material, just impossible to know with the available info


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Glossy render works in 2.8, but not in 3.2.2
A year or two ago I made a setup where I can make whatever scene I want, which will be rendered like an environment map onto a texture, by rendering the gloss of a mesh.
The reason I did it this way was because I wanted to decide myself what orientation the render result has, it's easier for me.
This still works perfectly fine in 2.8. No problemo, everithing's awesome.

However, opening the exact same blend file in 3.2.2 and rendering it gives me a black render.

I do know you can render an environment texture onto a model, as described here
, but that is just a texture. I want the entire scene with all objects and lights and stuff.
Is there anything I am missing, or is this just straight up impossible now?

I understand it's the same file, but could you make sure the sphere is correctly unwrapped ?

Are you implying that all of a sudden the uvmap is changed just by opening it in another version of blender? The UVmap is correct. Nothing is outside the image boundary.

hehe no, I'm explicitely trying to find out what might have gone wrong in your file :)

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


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Human legs clip through pants
Im making a avatar for vrchat and when I check pose mode the legs clip through the pants, and when I try to combine the vertex group with the body there is no apply button when I try to change the vertex data.

Can you find the assign button in the triangle tab?

you could mask some parts of your leg mesh with the Mask modifier

I fixed the issue by changing the current blender with a older version and it seemed to work

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


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how to combine two Maximo animation without repeating from origin
im trying to combine two animation (to make it simple i duplicate the same animation three times). However, when the second and third animation started , it reset the position of the armature to the original position where the first animation started.
here is a video to explain :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TH4uucxAoxsmUTQiNhzZG6HIR5F1ozhH/view
any help please ?

Modifying via the graph editor
If you open the graph editor, you'll probably see something like this:

where the crenelated parts are the character translation along time.
You can select it and translate it along the Y axis of the editor windows GY:

Shifting the armature (or a parent of it)
You can also keyframe the armature (or a parent of it) position and set its curve to "constant".
But this is a bit harder to adjust because curves scales and orientation are not necessarily the same.

Repeat with offset
You can also use a "cycles" modifier. Though, as there are probably many curves, you'll need to set it a lot of times. And practically, this may be painful.

thank so much for your help, i have one question remains , how do i parent an object to the pose position (not the armature )

Your other question? You can enter edit mode for the armature, select a bone that will be parent. Back in object mode, select the object and shift select the armature. Ctrl+P and choose "bone".

thanks a lot! worked for me


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Audio sync issues with speed control, pitch and keyframes
I have a video which I want to fast-forward during some sections. I can accomplish this by adding speed control, keyframing the speed factor, and for audio keyframing the pitch. This works well if I just render the video as is after that, making no more edits. It seems to render correctly, but problems arise when editing.
If I start playing the video from any other point but from before the first keyframe, the audio is way out of sync with the video which makes it impossible to do smaller edits in the video editor, like for instance add subtitles or restore the playback speed.
Why is it doing this and is there an way around it? Is this even the way to go for fast-forwarding?

I think , it's the correct way but maybe you can supply a few more details (blender-version, type of video, ...). However, I can't reproduce your problem with Blender 2.92. I follow the steps as explained by Michael Chu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67lnjV6SrFw), using a countdown strip from the internet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67lnjV6SrFw). This is a constant framerate video. Maybe, it has something to do with that?

I have tried it in both 2.83 and 2.90. The input video is a matroska with a h264 60 fps video stram and a vorbis 48 kHz audio stream. I render in 60 fps. I think you unintentionally sent the same link twice. I can try following those steps if you update the link.

Sorry. The first link is from Michael Chu's channel. He has a couple of videos about the speed ramp. The most recent is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49lDOqfxVTk. Can you check also if your video is constant or variable framerate? You can do this with a program like Mediainfo; see https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo). If it is variable frame rate, maybe you have to convert it first to constant framerate. You can use Handbrake (https://handbrake.fr/) for that.

I checked out the video. I think I'm doing it pretty much like he does. Also the frame rate is constant according to MediaInfo, so I don't think that's the issue.

This issue is very real, and it's quite frustrating, as blender seems to be the only open source video editor for Linux that is currently capable of smooth speed ramping. You can easily test it by looking at the audio waveform. If you keyframe the Speed Factor, the playback will be out of sync with the waveform, but in sync with a video having a Speed modifier strip with the same keyframes, but if you start playback from after the keyframe, it will again be in sync with the waveform instead of the video. (Also, keyframing the Speed Factor of a video strip does something very different.)

The following seems to work. I’ve included the blend-file.

The movie is ”Spring”  from the Open Movie project of Blender. You can download it here.
Let’s say you want to speed up the movie from time 16+23 (frame 407); just after the falling waterdrop with distinct sound until the dog chasing  after the wood stick (time: 42+23 or frame1031).

Add the movie. The frame rate is 25 f/s.
Add speed Control effect strip
Disable stretch to input Strip Length. Set the speed factor to 1.
Place timeline cursor at position frame 406. Keyframe the speed factor to 1.
Select the sound strip and keyframe the pitch to value 1.
Select the speed Control strip
Move to frame 407. Keyframe the speed factor to 3 (triple the speed)
Select the sound strip and keyframe the pitch to value 3.

So, you create a very abrupt speed up from frame 407 (see the block profile in graph editor in figure 1). Now comes the tricky part. You want to triple the speed until the original time 42+23 or frame 1030. But the actual frame 1030 (after the speed up) is now way further in the timeline. You can see this happening, if you select the actual frame 1030 and disable the speed control (shortcut: H).
So, until which frame or time do we have to speed up? You want to play the original time period of 26 s (42+23 s – 16+23 s) with 3x speed. So, it will only take 26s/3 = 8+16 s. So, the speed control should be reset to one after 8+16 s or at time 25+14s or about  614. The calculation in terms of frames is the same. The original range of 1030 – 407= 623 frames is played at 3x. So, they will take only about 623/3 or about 207  frames  of time. The speed control should be reset at 407 + 207 = 614.

Select the speed Control strip. Move to time 25+14 or frame 614.
Keyframe the speed factor to 1.
Select the sound strip and keyframe the pitch to value 1.

Don’t forget to View > Refresh All (Ctrl+R) to remove the eventual cache. The indicated period will be played at 3x no matter from where you start.

Not sure what you mean by that I can download the movie from YouTube. I ripped it with youtube-dl and used it in your in project; Not sure if that's what you wanted me to do. Although, I got an mkv instead of an mp4, but converted it to an mp4 with ffmpeg. However, I still get the same problem. Audio is not in sync with the video. Your project is basically identical to what I already have anyway.

I just discovered that it is out of sync even if I don't keyframe anything, only modify the playback speed. I submitted a bug report here: https://developer.blender.org/T83380.


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Sine wave on the environment texture
I am trying to create a Sine wave that goes around the environment texture (something like what is shown in the attached image)

I have tried to mess up around with the math nodes.
So far I am trying to mess up a bit with the math nodes and I have made this:

Which gives this as a result:

This makes sense, but I cannot figure out a way on how could I do what I want.
How could I create and deal with this kind of issue?
btw: I am quite familiar with trigonometry and mathematical functions as my background is engineering.

That can be this kind of settings:

Base nodes (with X and Y centered from "generated" coordinates, using "vector mapping")

Take the angle through "separate X Y Z" and "artan2" using X and Y.

Get the "sin".

And compare it to Z value.

Tuning (in green above)

Multiply the angle with some value to have the wave amount.

Multiply Z to handle the wave height.

Use some value to tune the wave line height.

here a blend file for 2.8:

I'll take Lemon's excellent answer and modify it to use Blender's built in textures for those of us who don't work so well with math nodes.
We can run a large wave texture through a color ramp to squeeze down and isolate a solid line on the z axis.  (Rough equivalent to running z channel through compare node)

We can create a second wave texture using a radial gradient as the vector to define a period for our sine wave.  (Radial gradient outputs the arctan2 operation mapped from -pi to pi.)

Then we can mix this period mask into our z coordinate, and basically we're telling blender to pull down the z coordinates in the white spaces, and controlling how much with the mix factor.

Finally, if you want to recreate the "drawn" feeling of the reference, you can mix noise into the main texture coordinate.


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Add noise to mask texture
I am trying to recreate in Blender some space scene like the one of this image

So far, I wanted to create some "clouds/nebulae" that they are somehow "circular" in a given region of the space (Environment texture), so I am using a mask for that like this (so the noise texture is only applied here)

However, I would like to add some "noise" to the edge of that texture so its not that sharp and it adds some randomness to it. Basically, I would like to get something like this (done in photoshop)

How could I get something similar using Nodes in Blender?

If as mentioned in the question this is for an environment texture, we need to have a way to tune where the disk/shape will be displayed in the sky:

A possibility is to calculate the length from 2 coordinates (here X and Z), transform it eventually (square root for instance, optional) and filter using a color ramp. The length from (X,Z) is easier to tune/place than a gradient texture.
The shape orientation in the sky can be defined using a mapping node and its rotations.
The perturbation is given by a musgrave/noise combination (for instance) which displaces a bit the input coordinates.

Playing with it a bit (three settings of this kind) and mixing colors (still as world node tree):

You could mix a Gradient (in Spherical mode) and a Noise Texture through a MixRGB (in Multiply mode), add a Musgrave Texture before the Gradient to disturb its roundness a bit:

Oh that's a nice trick using Musgrave to disturb the coordinates :).

thanks, I originally learnt it from this tuto by Gleb Alexandrov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liNGmdXsfbs... allows you to make more natural spots: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/136986/how-do-i-add-random-spotting-to-the-same-face-in-cycles


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Mapping Generated Offset and Size equivalent in Node?
I used the internal Blender renderer (version 2.79) and it was possible to change the size and offset of the texture mapping. Is there an equivalent in the Node editor?

Yes, you should be able to use the mapping node, which has a scale and movement setting inside of it.

Ahh thank you I was able to make it work.


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Block IK bone rotation
I have a problem, I want the hip bone (the upper one) not to rotate in the y axis. I only want the Shin bone to rotate when I move the small IK bone. I already tried with Limit Rotation and Inverse Kinematics but it doesn't work.

Do you want "hip bone" (looks like what I'd call a thigh bone) to not rotate at all, or to only not rotate in the Y axis?

Only not to rotate in the Y axis


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How can I make a glowing or shiny gold material similar to these pictures?
You would really help me.
Thank you in advance.

Part of this would come from the compositor, something like a glare node, and it appears to have a soft-grain effect over the whole frame.

Here is setup that works for both Eevee and Cycles and seems not too far from what you show: Put a Point light into your object, and for your material use a mix between Diffuse, Emission and Translucent node, with an Attibute node as factor that uses the Color Vertex Paint > Dirty Vertex Group in order to keep some parts more opaque:

Here's an easy material that should work for you


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Blender cycles Stuck at initializing when trying to render animation
Problem:
It seems like it gets stuck during the initializing whenever I try to render animation, but render image works fine.
Settings:
I have turned on persistent data, and it's a super heavy scene. It will usually take 3-5min to initialize the first time.
I simplified it to lower the sub count, and the texture limit is 2k.
I use Optix and have an Rtx 3080-ti. I might run out of GPU memory space, but I don't get any warning, so I'm not sure about that... (I also have tried to crank everything to MAX, and I do get a warning)
It probably has something to do with the CPU, because when I try to render it uses 90-95% of CPU...
Something to keep in mind is that:
I have already rendered out 51 frames, before facing this problem. Then I didn't have simplify turned on.
Questions:
What might have caused this sudden change? Nothing in the scene has changed from frame 1 to 52, but for some reason, it can't perform now.
What solutions are there to this problem? Thinking that it has something to do with the CPU, I will try to turn off persistent data next, but if that doesn't work, I'm out of ideas...
Unfortunately, I won't be able to share the project. Thanks for reading and any help will be much appreciated!

Update:
Turning off persistent data did not fix it - but I rendered the image at frame 52, and then began rendering animation a frame 53.
So for some reason, it works perfectly fine if skip frame 52. So frame 52 was just cursed XD


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Precision issues when combining scale instances node with translate instances (or offset instances)
In version 4.2, I have a geonode network that taking data from some csv files, creates a grid of vertical bars.
Problem is that I have to scale those bars (instance is a cube) to get their height correctly. When you do that, the bars get centered vertically around zero, and their height modified and all is correct.
But now I need all the bars to have their base aligned at 0. So I have to either translate them vertically with a translate instances node or offset them vertically with a set position node.
In both cases I get the same problem. Due to apparently some lack of precision, all the bars yes get their bases aligned at 0 more or less, but not exactly. Low bars seem to be ok, but high or very high bars stick their bottom parts a bit below 0. And this "almost" aligned at 0 produces tons of problems for me later.
How can I ensure that translating or offsetting the bars does not introduce precision issues so that they all get correctly and perfectly aligned to 0 in their bases?

You seem to be experiencing issues with geometry nodes but you did not disclose your node tree, show us your scene or illustrate what you are trying to achieve, which makes it impossible for us to help. Please edit your post and provide images or GIFs illustrating the scene, node tree and any relevant settings that helps us diagnose the issue, rather than guess blindly what you are trying to achieve

Scaling geometry is simply multiplying the position components by appropriate scale components (same letter). So in order to not move a vertex vertically by scaling, its Z position has to be zero.
The simplest way to achieve this is to move a cube up by half of its height:

Then all cubes are aligned to the $z=0$ plane and scaling them won't move the bottom away from that plane:

Haha, just the answer I was preparing right now. The old man is too slow, as always :D Just for demonstration purposes I added an Index Switch with different values as a substitute for his CSV file data to scale a row of instances: instances with different heights scaled from Z = 0


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Rendering Question
I'm unsure about something when it comes to rendering and was hoping someone could shed some light and help me understand. I've noticed whenever doing renders in Blender that the frame rate is always low, even if settings have been lowered and the model has no textures, particles, physics etc.
Even using a good graphics card like the GTX 1080, I only get around 20fps in some renders.
I understand the process it has to go through to output a model, so it converts it to a 2D image to be displayed on screen, but why are renders so demanding on hardware?
Yet every highly detailed model that features in a game scene is no problem? I can achieve 60+ fps with settings maxed out etc.

Rendering is all about faking real physics. Cycles tries to do a lot as real as possible, games try to fake as much as possible. Depending on your requirements you can find a happy medium in the settings.

If you have not read up on EEVEE you might wish to do so.  It is an upcoming renderer for Blender that is designed for much better real-time performance.

Please make your title specific to what you are asking, instead of just the general topic.

EEVEE, huh. Cool. I'll have to look into that.

The thing is that games use the Rasterization render engines, while blender Cycles is a Ray Tracing engine. Rasterization basicaly gets 3d vector and convert to pixels, trying to fake light and shadows, which is not very demanding. Raytracing in the other hand needs to process each light path, and thats is something that our computers can't do fast enough to get a perfect performance. Thats why blender has it's viewport "rasterization mode", which is fast enough to work with. If you want to know more search for ray tracing

Ahhh, that makes perfect sense. Thank you. I've recently covered rasterisation and ray tracing for a 3D modelling assignment at college. :) What's Blender's rasterization mode? How's this enabled? Or this going to be a part of EEVEE?


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How do you wrap a plane around an object?
I'm fairly new to Blender and I'm trying to make a teddy model and I want to wrap the arms around the body (Like how when you drop cloth on a ball, it forms to the shape of the ball where it lands)
This is what  I have at the moment:

However, the red arm is a flat plane so when i try to attach it onto the body some of the arm either goes into the body or is too far from it:

So I need it to be curved to the same curve of the body where it joins on.
I've tried using the shrink wrap modifier but that just makes the hand go deformed and when I get it in the right position it doesn't follow the curve of the body anyway.
I've tried making a curve and manually created points following the curve of the body and using the curve modifier on the arm and setting it to the curve.
I've tried using the simple deform modifier on the arm and selecting curve and curving it however, this just sort of twists it in a weird way.
I've also tried creating a uv sphere (thinking it might be the fact that the body is actually a cube would effect it) and trying the shrink wrap modifier for that but it still has the same effect.
In case it's not clear what i'm trying to do here how it is now from a top view:

... and here's what I want to achieve:

The body is a cube that I have used a subdivision modifier on and adjusted (It is not a sphere) and I made the arm by creating a curve, setting the spline type to poly and manually placing each point to form the shape, then converting it too a mesh and filled in the face.
It's probably something really stupid i'm missing but I would be very grateful if you could help.
Thanks,
Saul

Shrinkwrap works best when there is enough geometry both in the target object and the modified object. Try to add more geometry to your arms so that it can bend. In your case you should set the shrinkwrap method to "project" along the X axis.

Create a plane, subdivide it, put it between your sphere and the arm.
Give your plane a Shrinkwrap modifier with the sphere as the Target. Disable the modifier visibility for the moment.
Give your arm a Surface Deform modifier with the plane as the Target. Click on the Bind button.
Enable the plane's Shrinkwrap visibility.

Hi, thanks for your reply. I've used the shrinkwrap modifier on the plane with the sphere as the target and that worked. I've also bound the arm to the sphere using the surface deform modifier but the arm is still flat and hasn't curved. @moonboots

you need to click on Bind with the plane's modifier visibility off (disable the screen icon in the modifier), then turn it on, did you do that?

Thank you, this worked :)


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Blender 2.82a in Texture Paint mode Paint Mask doesn't show wireframe
Hi I am new to blender and really struggling to find answer on this.
I am not able to show wireframe while in Texture Paint mode, supposed to be shown in any tutorial. Turning on Paint Mask is not helping, However WHen I switch to Weight Paint mode toggling on Paint Mask  shows wireframe correctly.

In the Properties Editor under the Object Properties panel, You can turn on the Wireframe and All Edges options there to get wireframe over your texture paint.

Thank you for suggestion, but that solution is for general case, here People are having wireframe even when it is turned off, and you can see I also have wireframe showing without checking the options you mentioned. however that wireframe seems not working in Paint mode. this is not a blocking issue Just want to find a solution,

What tutorial are you following that shows the wireframe while in Texture Paint mode other than when using Face Masking? I haven't seen one yet, and the reason it is no concern for me is that when sampling with the S key, I do not want to sample wire color by accident. I assume there is some workflow issue you find that you need a solution for, but maybe you could explain better what it is you want to achieve then so someone might find an answer for you.

I ment not paint mask off, but the wireframe off from Object properties. in my example I have that wireframe visible in weight paint mode but not in texture paint mode. enabling wireframe from object properties fixes it sure, but that is general solution. want to know what am I missing why in weight paint mode I see wireframe when I turn Paint Mask on and in texture paint no...
but actually I foudn out that it was not very necessary to see wireframes. so even without solution I am fine.

Wireframe was removed from texture paint to avoid confusion with errors on swatch sampling, if I remember correctly. Even in face select masking, they tried to eliminate the internal wireframe of the selection if more than one face.

that makes sense, thank you very much


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Best way to ‘face’ this object
I have this object, what is the best way to get the faces created?
I hope that makes sense.

Fill is the term often used to refer to filling edges with faces.

Yeah, i am struggling to fill in a good way though. The circles are cut-outs. So there is a rectangle with 2 circles in it that need to be 'filled'

One way to do this is with the Boolean Modifier.
First select your cutouts in edit mode and press P.
Choose Separate by Selection. Then Extrude them trough your contour object.

Then Subdivide the edges on both sides of your cutout objects and subdivide then by 2.
(this is optional)

Select the new vertices, press G twice and move them next to your cutout objects. (also optional)

Then Alt select an edge of your contour object and press F (better to press F then to go by the menu; picture a bit misleading)

Now select your contour object (which is now a plane) and add a Boolean Modifier.
Properties window > Modifier Properties tab > Add Modifier. Then choose Boolean.
Then as Object choose your cut out object and click Apply. If you have multiple separate cutout objects repeat it for every one of them.

Then hide or delete your cutout objects. And you're done.

EDIT:
Don't want to use boolean?
Make sure all geometry is part of a single object.
In Edit Mode, use F to create edges between vertices, around your cutout geometry.
Use Subdivide to have the surrounding geometry have an equal number of vertices as the cutout geometry.
Press Ctrl + E (or click the Edge button), and select Bridge Edge Loops.

If not careful, created edges between vertices can cross the cutout geometry area if they happen to be aligned that way.

Also an unequal amount of vertices can cause problems.

Thanks. I was trying not to use Boolean, but the above worked perfectly.  Thanks again


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Finding relative distance of points to each other
I want to get each and every point's distance to every other point. I think the "merge by distance" node does what I want but, I just want to get the results and affect them (not merge) if they fall under a condition, in this case, the condition is distance. In other words, calculate the distances, find local neighbors, and affect them as I pleased.

i think Entagma did a great job explaining this here: https://youtu.be/tj6ZZYO5qPY

Yes, I have watched the video but forgot somehow. Thanks for the reminder.


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Copying Group Instance Computation Expense
I am pushing into the scene around 38k to 50k cube instances using Python, however, I am reasonably expecting to finish the execution of the code within ten minutes or so, I am OK with an hour at most. But it's taking 11h to finish.
Here the code where I placing the cube Instances
for l in localizations:
        i = 0
        buffer = []
        gens = random.randint(6, 16)
        probability = np.random.uniform(.1, .8, 1)
        status = initial_status(gens, probability)

        while np.all((status) == 0) == False:
            status = make(status)
            buffer.append(status)

            if len(buffer) > 5:
                buffer.pop(0)

            for j in range(len(status[0])):
                for k in range(len(status[1])):

                    if status[j, k] == True and len(bpy.context.scene.objects) == 1:
                        bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(size=1,
                                                        location=(l[0]+j, l[1]+k, i),
                                                        scale=(1, 1, 1))
                        mat = bpy.data.materials.get("Material")
                        mat1 = bpy.data.materials.get("Material.001")

                        for ob in bpy.context.scene.objects:
                            if ob.name.startswith("Cube"):
                                ob.data.materials.append(mat)
                            if ob.name.startswith("Plane"):
                                ob.data.materials.append(mat1)

                        bpy.ops.collection.create(name="cubes")

                    if status[j, k] == True and len(bpy.context.scene.objects) > 1:
                        bpy.ops.object.collection_instance_add(collection='cubes',
                                                               location=(l[0]+j, l[1]+k, i),
                                                               scale=(1, 1, 1))
            i+=1

Whether I push mesh.primitive or instance it gets slower exponentially. I couldn't understand this, to be honest.
in the function call 'make' has 2 * np.where, one multiply op. and one sum op. of two arrays. That mean, basically has no mentionable effect on computational cost. In addition all the arrays dims that two nested loop checking element by element are max 16x16, which also as small as not even mention it. One more extra question is: In the "Current file" section in Blender's right panel, there is let say 40k object in objects folder seperately, and also in scene sections; scene collection and object section has 40k element both. Totally there shows 120k but three copy of same elements. Does this make sense?
Thanks in advance, stay positive.

Calling multiple operators per loop how many times? see Issues related to https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/163796/how-can-i-efficiently-duplicate-a-large-amount-of-objects  (particularly part re using operators in a loop Possible dupe) Consider  dupliverts  https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/163796/how-can-i-efficiently-duplicate-a-large-amount-of-objects  or  https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/61254/15543 for making an array (eg make mesh  array and dupli) if result is array.

like I've said; one 'multiply operation' per loop. basically I automated this operation: link, In the code I've just using bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add one times if the all scene has only one object that is the plane itself, I am adding it from out of the loop. rest of the cubes are just copied version of the collection.

To reiterate calling operators many times is going to be slow. How many operators are you calling altogether?   Hard to know given no idea re the unknown variables used but not defined  in question code. bpy.ops.object.collection_instance_add is also an operator (and is  unrequired can all  be done via  API methods)

I am just calling bpy.ops.object.collection_instance_add approx 30k to 50k times, because that much of cubes I need in the scene. rest of the code do not have any effect on the computation as I mentioned it. The make function has just one summation and one multiplication and 2 np.where, which is condition. When you run np.dot(arr(16x16), arr(16x16)) million times it takes 1 sec or so. so no effect. if you must know len(localization) is around 60, while loop continues until all the arrays elements converges to 0, and pushes the cubes at the location where arrays element is grater than 0.

Lol "just"..... To reiterate calling an operate 30K times is going to be slow, try it (numpy-less)  for i in range(30000): bpy.ops.some.operator()  IMO this is a confirming. Python performance with blender operators It pertains to any blender operator

well this is my second day in the school. So, I can call the ops 50k times an I can complain about it, thanks for helping btw, I've solved it I presume. I've couldn't understand the copy idea at first because in the docs refers to it as copying the id, after your insistence on, I finally get the idea.

Quite likely dupliverts is going to be quickest. Make a mesh with verts at locs from code above parent single created group to it.

yep! now I can push 10k in 6 sec so, it is working.


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Hotkeys Swapped Cannot Restore
Suddenly at the node editor left click and the Ctrl+left click (cutting nodes link with little knife shaped cursor) operations swapped. I really do not know how that was happened.
Anyway, I disabled the node wrangler, but nothing is changed.
I tried to change hotkeys as in the image of the UI, again nothing is changed.
All my other little approaches aren't effective so far. (restarting software, computer and so on...) Thanks in advance.

Normally this should work: press these little 3 bars in the lower left corner of your preferences and you get:

Then choose "load factory preferences".

Yep, that is a useful solution but, that didn't worked either.

I found the issue. Animation node cut link tool activated itself, and the toolbar were out of the view. But somehow it is effecting the shader nodes too. And still remain active after disable the add-on. Bugs to report.


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Geometry nodes circle point instance looking towards center
I have this pretty basic setup

And I do want them to look (rotate) towards the center. But I only can get the vertices location at the spreadsheet. Maybe I can figured it out if I get the object indices as attribute, but
since here says these are the attributes, I couldn't find anything useful, and I couldn't create something works either. Thanks in advance.

You can achieve this with this node setup:

Hrm. Those nodes do not appear to exist in Blender 3.0?

That’s right. Geometry nodes is heavily under development and the nodes are changing rapidly. I would suggest opening a new question if you want to know how to do it now in 3.0


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Strange Cycles noise pattern not based on samples or denoiser - bug?

This happens in multiple of my files / completely different renders. V2.83.2, Cycles renderer.
There's a noise to any dark area that isn't sample dependent (looks exactly to-the-pixel same at 500 or 5000 samples) and appears regardless of using the denoiser. What's weird is that if you do use the denoiser it unlocks a pulldown in the render for "noisy image" (which, presumably, is the un-denoised render) and in this case is actually the cleanest render - so I assumed that it was the denoiser itself generating the noise accidentally, but it's also generated when the denoiser is off.
So something is breaking in between the processes of generating the base format image and the final result 'combined' image?
Is this a bug?

It seems like a compression artifact try disabling compression by setting to 0;


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Why is my thin glass dome taking so much light away from what is inside?
I made a rather simple roughed-up gold material which you can see here. It has nice highlights and looks OK on the teapot, it works a lot better with the actual mesh I'm using, which is a scan of a clay sculpture. Overall it gives a nice gold-leaf effect.

Then I made a thin glass display dome taking half of a sphere, extruding the equator down, and applying subdivision and solidify (0.001 thin, IIRC). I used a simple, all-white, all transparent Principled BSDF glass material with enough of a roughened up clearcoat to simulate it being a little greased up. You can find the blend file here.

However, you'll notice that the material under the dome is considerably darker now. It seems like less light is getting through the glass material. I mean, that's OK, I was expecting some light to get lost in the process, but this looks a bit much compared to some of the references I've been staring at for hours: the following, for example, is surprisingly similar to what I'm trying to achieve.

I tried fidgeting with the light settings, and the glass settings, and the light paths, I even tried to increase the max bounces, and change pretty much any number that seemed correlated to light but I couldn't get any closer to the effect I want. Increasing the intensity of the light is not a solution because it affects the rest of the scene. I thought of adding fake lights on the inside of the dome but that opened a whole different set of can of worms so I quickly retreated.
I can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something obvious. I've seen very similar scenes done so I'm confident this can be done. See this post for example, though I couldn't figure out exactly how to apply their advice to my scene.
Hints? Pointers to RTFM?

Notice in your reference image that there are multiple light sources clearly visible through the reflection on the gold egg. With any type of reflective/metallic object, having objects/lamps to reflect is important when trying to make the object not look flat.
I made a few changes to your scene to fix up the lighting:

I enabled smooth shading and auto-smooth normals on the glass dome, which also allowed me to reduce the number of subdivision surface iterations down to 2. That helped reduce render times a bit.
You should also consider moving the subsurf modifier on the glass dome before the
solidify modifier. When you apply the subsurf after the solidify
modifier, you end up flattening the solidify modifier by quite a bit.
I increased the size of the lamp from 0.1m to 0.44m. Glass refracts/and reflects light, so some of the light rays that would have struck the teapot without the glass would be refracted away from those points on the teapot as demonstrated by the shadow on the ground. That contributes to the perception of the gold being flat/dark. It also lets the light comes in from more angles, so more rays can strike the glass at points that make
them refract onto the teapot.

Hey, thanks! This helped a lot! Obviously I'm not getting the same effect as without the dome but I guess that's to be expected. It's a lot closer now and I'm happy with it! The auto-smoothing of normals being disabled is the reason I ended up turning up subsurfs so much: with smooth shading on, the dome produced a pretty dramatic lens-like distortion at the bottom. I guess that's what it's like to be a noob :)

I was careful with the size of the lamp as the original idea was to have the dome illuminated by one of those tiny super-bright spotlights, and have a few extra softer lights around the scene: I have light coming through a portal to the right, and an HDRI panel behind the camera to reflect on a few other objects on the scene.


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How do I make my mesh at joints bend smoothly?
I am trying to rig a model here. I have a ripped model from a game here that I've downloaded from the Internet. All the bones deform the mesh smoothly. Here is an example of the shoulder joint here:

I decided to edit the model's clothes. I have assigned the extra meshes onto the model as vertex groups. However, When I move the same bones again, this happens:

The weird thing that when I reviewed the original model's weights, it was all zero (blue all over). This made me confused. Now I have edited the mesh, how do I achieve the same quality as the original model?
Please note that the arm/shoulder mesh is still the same just I recolored it, added extra meshes on top (like armor) and reassigned it to the bones. Also that my edited model also has no weights.Corrective smooth modifier and smooth modifier also does not work for me.
Please is there a way to do this without going through all the weight painting? I need help as soon as possible.

depending on how you've edited the cloth, the vertices may have inherited some weights got. Blue doesn't mean your vertex is not assigned, it may be 0.1 or 0.01, enable the Zero Weight option (in Viewport Overlays, when in Weight Paint mode), or check each vertex weight in the N panel > Item > Vertex Weights to make sur that they are not part of any vertex group. They are probably part of a group so you need to make some correction, you can paint them or the right of the Vertex Groups list, dropdown menu > Remove from All Groups then reassign correctly, either manually or with Assign

@moonboots I tried reassigning but ended up the same. I found out if I assign the arm of the original model again it will be the same as my edited model. Does this info help you? When I enabled Zero Weight option, it was all black. I even used the dropper and detected all the meshes but it was all zero. What do I do?

maybe share your file if this is possible? https://pasteall.org/blend/

@moonboots maybe it is possible to copy weights from a model to another? Please answer here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/238773/is-there-a-way-to-transfer-armature-weights-from-one-model-to-another

I edited the weights for the shoulder and arm bones so it matches the original model as closed as possible. Then, fixed.


text:
Why is my mesh deforming like this?
Okay, I have a downloaded model here. I’ve decided to let the model wear a suit (like almost full body one). So, I decided to edit the model’s clothes. However, the original model was wearing long baggy trousers. I removed it and remodeled the leg (the original mesh has no thigh, only have hips, shin and feet. It was covered by the trousers).
I tried joining the hips with the shin by making a new mesh in between. I made the leg as close to the other models that work perfectly and made sure they have the same structure and the edges in the right place. Since the most parts of the leg is a new mesh, I assigned it manually as vertex groups to the bones, using other model’s vertex groups as reference (because somehow automatic weights don’t work).
When I tested it out, it was like this…

Here is an example of the way it is supposed to deform. Below is the legs of the model I used as a reference to build the legs and assign vertex groups with:

Is this because I assigned the vertex groups wrongly? I couldn’t find any errors in the vertex groups so far. Or is ti something else? If you need more info, please tell me and I’ll show you if possible.

Yes. You have a weight painting error.  The vertices that are moving wrong are either not in any group or are weighted in groups they don't belong in.

Ok, I'll try to assign the meshes again. If I've got any more problems I'll comment again.

If you have more problems, edit your question, because comments get lost.  It would help if you included screenshots showing the weights of the areas that aren't working.

Want to improve this post? Provide detailed answers to this question, including citations and an explanation of why your answer is correct. Answers without enough detail may be edited or deleted.
This post is hidden. It was deleted 7 hours ago by Duarte Farrajota Ramos♦.
I've did bone weight painting again and I've got it fixed. So there.
I've adjusted the weights for the hips, thigh, shin, foot and toe
Hips:
Thigh:
Shin:
Foot:
Toe:


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UV bake creating tearing lines pointing to vertices
I'm getting these odd stretched lines when baking a glowy PBR material to a texture file. As you can see on the render preview, these lines do not exist on the model itself and do not correspond to verts/edges/faces that exist during the bake.
Things I've tried without success: changing UV projection options, adding/subtracting margin on the UVs, adding/removing seams, trying GPU & CPU computation, disabling AO/emit/etc, and changing scale of UV image.
I'm new to UVs and am very much out of ideas on my end.

Do you have any other modifiers on your object, if so make sure the render button is off(camera icon).

Unfortunately, I do not have any modifiers, Zak. Issue seems to stem from curved areas pointing toward one of the corner vertices in every instance. I have tried to merge a significant number of verts on the curves to see if that would affect the issue but the lines remain (sorry, I can't comment now that I've created an account because I lack the required reputation to comment on my own post)

Can you link a file, with the bake settings that you're using?  Like get it ready to bake, then just save the file.

Attaching link to archive including the Blend file and associated UV map. Let me know if there are any issues with the file upload.
Unfortunately, it seems I cannot edit the original post, since connecting to my Gmail account removed access to the guest account I created when I originally posted the question >.>
Link to UV and Blend .rar file


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Can't access vector_normal in Blender 2.93.1 geometry nodes. Is it gone
I don't see vector_normal in attribute math.  It is gone, or am I doing something wrong?

It was renamed. Search for "normal".


text:
how do you make nature disappear from your mesh when you try to make it like glass?
I am following a tutorial on Youtube on how to make a donut and coffee cup on blender, When I lowered the transmission on the coffee cup to make it glass-like, a nature-like reflection was on the cup instead.
https://gm1.ggpht.com/Nxj5tZSjdpvk79q72M73tKROzByWwzni6vFmV9UtU_XU83IjvDWqfFegQOzrFKrmJTVS0hshXmj1lGQqLVIeZmopE3DhHuFssgD30RBBci2lHOw8WbC3LCKEgI8oJN5JT-Rmi7DSdxIXWzu8lpHpjct10SWq9414rJpHBSByz_4YDT8VWKzr48gX78w5S5WPABUdp94C__FVrS6STw5ugoSKCwcQFTfcvrbvG5Ybzifk9aHFW-BwwBcg1oKKpMHa_TCJwr2bBz-fF46LEtre1iZAWRBkXtWmYpp7JZreTZBvm-1D3WE5-SorPpRSD3_052mCrbxu5EOVWcRIH5w_DhlxnIvsbCLNYxDZVS7WrsbUWVih7WXl8ZiPOFOVsUjHFcxvRxVHT8o3YnAmitHAXvfue7JMOZxSSQSqA3dRZ2U96bQEgk1hUhCAg1doUvPRu-LvRPKVDm6GaPZ20tnL5jcBDaxTHDwrQ6HYUu_LSjUAuue3zRr8PKYSHa7H1c7Zvb6L_InXrlaMU0uLX40EnWqLuuvJITk_VRdq7HVljqVrv4MOAsxUAHuZj2V25Bn5C8iTmlaXVpqB5kKGJWCmOV1h6uUhqD7Afjo0udxsVYZ5mJ9ylhAi3cHuNLdCk1gLgrjKEdktNUoMsbonuC186_amFA9IEfMcaDclh--yiX0pBareI37zHtpoLXAixVXvH1djTF-QEhG_IeXve7SqLYAew970j9n-amwgjdtS=s0-l75-ft-l75-ft

Your URL results in a 403 (forbidden) error.  If you're trying to add your blend file, Grab the URL of the question.
Go to https://blend-exchange.com/.
Select the blend file.
Add the url of the question.
Grab the url that results.
Go back to the question and edit it.
Add the new url to the bottom of the post.
If you are trying to add an image, edit the answer and drag the image into it.

What's this crazy long link? It's doesn't work, just gives a 403 forbidden error.

You're probably seeing the reflection of the HDRI background image, but as @Marty Fouts says you'll have to upload the Blend file so that we can check.

I think you are in Material Preview mode. Press Z in the 3D viewport and select "Rendered" from the pie menu.


text:
Alpha reveals some black when scattering with geometry nodes / Overlap
Alpha reveals some black while "scattering" with geometry nodes.
Does anyone know why this is happening?
I guess this is a overlap issue.
Because when I play with lower scale and lower density values it doesn't happen.
The shader is placed in a simple squarish subdivided plane.


text:
Can't get atmosphere working in scene after following a tutorial
https://i.sstatic.net/D3cmw.jpg
Above is an image of what I have set up, I'm also running Eevee. My goal is to get a look like this one: https://i.sstatic.net/IBsym.jpg
For some reason it is waayyyyy to bright and I start getting random artifacts when I render my scenes, on top of that my scenes are always different; as in the artifacts and lighting always change.
Any help would be appreciated.

Please use the built-in image upload system.

Also, please add your blend file to your question.


text:
How to shoot Rays from all 4 corners of Camera
My task is to detect how better a 3d model fits the camera view. The model is always located at he center, while the camera can be placed anywhere.
The model should not be outside the view of camera. For that, I plan to create a Bounding Box across the model, and then shoot rays from Camera's 4 corner points. Wherever the rays collide with the Box, I will note the coordinates and thus, deduce the scaling factor by which the model needs to be scaled down.
I am successful in creating a Bounding Box. Can someone tell me how to shoot rays and find coordinates?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/95989/is-there-a-way-to-get-the-dimensions-of-the-camera

As linked to prior question, it finds the 2D bounding box relative to camera of object of interest https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/214572/constrain-a-camera-to-an-object-while-also-aligning-it-perfectly-to-the-center-o/214597#214597  and shifts the camera to center object, scale instead.


text:
Camera not rotating around y-axis
I want camera to be rotated around y-axis, for an object placed at centre. Its rotating around z and x-axis, but not y-axis.
I am attaching the code snippet.
import bpy
import math

scene = bpy.context.scene
context = bpy.context

cam = scene.objects['Camera']
cam.location = (0, 1, 0.6)
cam.data.lens = 35
cam.data.sensor_width = 32

cam_constraint = cam.constraints.new(type='TRACK_TO')
cam_constraint.track_axis = 'TRACK_NEGATIVE_Z'
cam_constraint.up_axis = 'UP_Y'

cam_empty = bpy.data.objects.new("Empty", None)
cam_empty.location = (0, 0, 0)
cam.parent = cam_empty

scene.collection.objects.link(cam_empty)
context.view_layer.objects.active = cam_empty
cam_constraint.target = cam_empty

stepsize = 30
cam_empty.rotation_euler[2] += math.radians(stepsize)

As per my understanding, "rotation_euler[2]" makes the camera rotate around z-axis. When I replace "[2]" with "[0]", the camera rotates around x-axis. But if I replace it with "[1]", the camera does not rotate.

I don't know what you are trying to do, but I tested it here and the camera did rotate on the Y axis (that I tried to draw on the screenshot).
I changed the code a bit so it doesn't create an empty everytime.
What I can guess is that you're having problems with gimbal lock, which only occurs with Euler angles. But yeah, that's the only clue I can give you. If you tell us what you're trying to do, that would help us to help up better.


text:
Bevel cylinder edges with curved cutout
I created the following simple mesh with a cyclinder and a boolean cut-out (applied):

I'd like to apply a bevel, but the topology makes it a mess on the edges created by the cut-out:

My assumption is that using a boolean to create the cutout is the wrong approach. Is there a better way to go about this?

hello, you can probably avoid your problem with some additional edge loops but please share your file: https://pasteall.org/blend/

Blend file: https://pasteall.org/blend/a0c854a9f473443a90f7e8dac7a3e9af

it's because you have n-gons in the shape. where you've made the boolean cutout you have faces with more than 4 vertices.
right here is a good example
if you spend a little bit of time cleaning up the geometry so that all your faces are quads or tris it should bevel a lot cleaner!

But is there a different way to create this basic shape (i.e. not using a boolean) that doesn't result in a bunch of n-gons in the first place?

you could use the Knife Project tool but the result would be about the same and you'll need to correct afterward in order to avoid ngons. Also, you could do your shape with less faces, it all depends on if you can use a Subdivision Surface or not.

retopology ends up being a necessary step in most modeling processes. I guess the only real alternative would be to make a series of loop cuts along the cylinder and then manually shape the created vertices to the curve you want and delete the faces.
it would probably take way more time.

You can create a cylinder, cut a circle shape with the Knife Project tool:

Delete the faces:

Dissolve useless vertices, fill the inner faces:

Rework the topology a bit so that you can give your object a Subdivision Surface modifier:


text:
Set up isometric view in grease pencil?
Other than adding a background image, how do you add a ismoetric grid to blender?

Can you add a little detail-- maybe some picture examples-- of what you're after?

At the top, enable the Guides and choose isometric. Choose the angle.
For make the guide visible go in overlays (at top rigth) and avtive the canvas, like the image below:

To change the size of these canvas, go on object data proprerties and go on "Viewport Display" (see in the image above at left).


text:
In eevee,I want to connect transparent bsdf and emission to a mix shader and paint by factor, but it doesn't work. How can I do this?
I'm trying to create transparency with toon shader, but I can't paint by factor, even though I can adjust the transparency.
When I connect the texture to the factor, I can paint the image as I intended.

This is the factor.

However, when I connect "shader to RGB" to the factor, for some reason everything becomes transparent.

This is the factor.

I want to render using alpha hashed, so please help me with the solution using alpha hashed.
If anyone knows the solution or the cause, please let me know.
The environment is eevee, SSR in Scene is checked, and blend mode is alpha hashed.
I'm Japanese and my English is hard to read, but I hope you can help me.;)

This is not Shader to RGB problem. If you do this:

as you did, you are basically, making whole cube white, then you use color ramp and make white white again... you are basically coloring whole cube in white color and white color will give whole surface Fac (for example) 1 so your whole cube is transparent... If you want to make your cube checked as you had it, you need to put texture with color ramp in Fac.
If you want to color it somehow, then you need to combine color in one of Shader inputs in Mix Shader and Fac needs to be left for that checker texture...
If this didn't asnwer your question then I don't know what else you needed.

Thank you for your answer.
I don't want to paint with a checkered pattern, I want to make the shadows transparent. I apologize for the confusion.
So I'm using diffuse bsdf to get the shadow information, then converting it to RGB and connecting the values as Fac.
But the whole cube is transparent, not just the shadows, and I want to know why and how to fix it.
If I have misunderstood the content due to my lack of reading comprehension, I apologize.

For any transparency to function in Eevee, you need to set the material's Blender options to anything else than opaque. In your specific case, Alpha Blender seem to be the only one working with that node setup:

Also, maybe a color ramp isn't the best option if all you need is "cutting off" the shadow with pure black/white. A match node in Greater Than mode will do, and is easier to control.


text:
Change modifier key from Alt to Super/windows key
I'm running Blender on a fairly customized linux distribution and Alt is already taken by another program. I therefore wonder if there's an easy way to change to modifier key Alt to Super key globally?

There is! This is for Blender v2.8-rc1.
Open Edit -> Preferences... from the menu bar, select Keymap from the left sidebar, and then Export... in the top right to export your current keymap. In the dialogue that opens, check the Export Key Configuration -> All Keymaps box.
Save the keymap somewhere. In the keymap file, replace every instance of "alt" (including the quotes) with "oskey". Go back to the Keymap pane in the Blender preferences and import your changed keymap. Whenever this keymap is selected, all the shortcuts in your previous keymap that used Alt will now use Super.
Of course, if you're already using OSkey for some shortcuts, this solution may cause collisions. The default keymap for Blender under Linux doesn't use it at all, though, and I assume based on your question that you haven't modified it to.
As a side note, there isn't actually a way to tell Blender to use Super in place of Alt  globally below the keymap level, as far as I can tell, short of patching it to do so. Blender only understands four modifier keys, Shift , Ctrl, Alt , and OSkey. OSkey represents a different key depending on the OS: Super under Linux, ⊞ Win under Windows, and ⌘ Command under macOS.
Shortcuts consist of a single key other than those four plus some combination of them. All keycodes are hardcoded with no way to change them in Blender's configuration; the raw keycodes seem to be in source/blender/windowmanager/wm_event_types.h but I'm not sure how they correspond to keycodes outside of Blender.
However, you might be able to patch source/blender/makesrna/intern/rna_wm.c, changing the item(s) for the key(s) you want to use in place of Alt in rna_enum_event_type_items[] (OSKEY, in this case) to use the values in the items for LEFTALTKEY or RIGHTALTKEY. I haven't actually tried this, so I'm not positive it would work; it would be a hacky solution if it did, but I'm not sure there's a better way without making big changes to Blender.


text:
Referring to Blender 3.1. Why is there now a pie menu in the outliner by default
Why is there now a pie menu in the outliner. Now I cannot select an item in the outliner unless I hold the control key.

A pie menu has been added to the outliner for 3.1 but has to be initiated with the grave/tilde key (between the ESC and TAB keys on a UK/US keyboard).

Suggest you look in Edit > Preferences > Keymap to see how it's been set.


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Blender Not exporting vertex alpha into .glb
Blender Version: 4.1.1
When attempting to export vertex colour alpha for masking, it doesn't get exported at all.
RBG channels export correctly, but alpha is completely missing
This is not an issue on the import side, since reimporting it back into Blender yields identical results

Before and after exporting and importing (greenery visualises vertex alpha)

Have previously exported vertex alpha in 3.x Blender, so wonder what changed to break or make functionality less available

Alpha channel for vertex colors is definitely a part of the glTF 2.0 standard, however it is not supported in Blender's glTF exporter yet. Follow the issue on GitHub for updates.


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Enable lamp 'Use Nodes' from python Console
I am new to both Blender and Python, I am trying to enable Use Nodes of a lamp from Python console.
I tried the tooltip showing on the button bpy.ops.cycles.use_shading_nodes, it did not give me an error, but also did not really enable the nodes(no change in UI), and I cannot change lamp strength using:
C.object.data.node_tree.nodes['Emission'].inputs['Strength'].default_value = 100

You can find the answer here


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Why doesn't Blender 2.83 load?
I have been waiting for 2.83 Blender, but I installed it and try to start it up it doesn't even load. All previous Blender versions worked fine.
What have you changed in  2.83 for this to happen?

Perhaps try the Portable (.zip) version? https://www.blender.org/download/  > macOS, Linux, and other versions > Windows Portable (.zip).

Nope, still same issue. Nothing loads - EXE and then it just doesnt load

I have the same problem, the the 2.83 Windows installer is asking if I want to CHANGE, REPAIR or REMOVE Blender.


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my image texture doesn't apply alpha
I've been using Blender for a while now and recently when I import my logo which has a transparent background in image texture and plug it to my diffused colour, it doesn't overlay my logo on the diffused, rather, it adds my logo and change the whole object material to black.
I.e my alpha logo now appears to have a black background.

Hello and welcome! This is a very vague question which is difficult to answer. For example... "it adds my logo and change the whole object materal to black." Are you saying that the logo appears, but there is no transparency with your logo? To simplify this question, you could say... I have an image with an alpha channel, but the transparency channel shows up black and not transparent. If that is what you mean, it could be the lights in the scene or you're not plugging the alpha channel node from the image into the material node. That is found under nodes. Please post the file or image.

show the node setup screenshot

I had a similar issue.  I had to fix it with nodes.  Here's a screenshot showing how I did it.
After a log of experimenting, I found I had to add in a transparent BSDF into a mix shader with the Fac of the mix shader being the alpha color.
In the pic, the lower texture coordinate group did the trick for me.
If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll be glad to help.


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Eye texture is distorted, iris and pupil are not fully circular

The above image is the eye  I try to create, there i distortion for the iris and pupil.
 from front view
 from side view
the above image are the result I wish to achieve.
Note:

the pupil and iris movement will be created using texture/UV animation.
the shape, rotation and size of model is not allow to be change

Is there still a way to achieve the desire result
Blender file :

Image texture

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

I see no technical problem here that could be solved by an answer about using Blender. Eyeballs are usually round so they can rotate. They should be round so you can animate the rotation. If you want them to be another shape and want to animate the texture instead in a stylised way, then you should accept that it is going to be stylised and not realistic. I don't think this question has anything to do with Blender and usage of it. I think this is off topic.

@MartynasŽiemys .. I don't know about that.. what is sought here is a way of sweeping the texture across the oviod geometry, while keeping it circular, which makes it a mapping problem, possibly solvable in a node-tree  ... or UV Project?

You might be right. One could project the texture based on camera position and move the projection to animate eye movement. Maybe a separate object with its rotation aimed at camera could be used for that projection... But is that really what the question means?.. @Kenny can you clarify and provide more context?

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos thank you and noted, I have edit the title.

You could use the UV Warp modifier as explained here, it will allow you to control the iris position with an empty or bone, you'll have a bit of deformation but you can tweak a bit your UV map to limit it, here is a test:

thank you so much, it is better than the approach I am going,  I never thought of this method before.

This is really just @moonboots' answer, with notes. (I was slower off the mark.) So credit there, not here, please.
If you give your eye a UVProject modifier, aimed at a constrained Empty, you may find you need to scale the texture about an offset center:

From the Empty's point of view, the projected texture will always be undistorted. Here, the Empty is constrained with a Damped Track constraint to aim at the eye-object. So the intersection of the eye-surface and the projection can be adjusted, somewhat, by adjusting the eye's mesh with respect to its object origin.

You can construct the  rig at the origin, if you also parent the Empty to the eye. Here, the Empty also has a Limit Location constraint in its parent's (Local) space above the track, to stop the texture disappearing off the edge of the eye.
The rig can be duplicated, with the second Empty constrained to locally  Copy Transforms from the first:

thank you so much, this is what i needed.

It's very simple. Because eyes must rotate, they are always spherical (or almost) Your 3D eye model looks like a distorted or stretched sphere, that's why you get this result.


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How can I make a peach material similar to this picture?
Do you have any idea how to make a peach material like in the picture? So that it is also a bit shiny and that it also becomes darker at the bottom just as in the picture.

Hello :). The darker gradient is just a shadow. What have you tried so far and where exactly are you stuck? :)

I know but I want to have this shadow as default. I tried to recreate this shadow with layer weight and a coloramp but I never get the right result I want.

Do you want material shadeless - so this shading will be independent on lights and other objects in a scene?

Switch Color Management from Filmic to Standard
The rest seems to get Color Ramp
Colors I grabbed by picker directly from your screen

... or you can let contribute also Ambient Occlusion.


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Are there downsides to increasing viewport samples?
By default the viewport samples are 32 (at least on my machine). This gives me a rough render fairly quickly when the viewport isn't changed. But are there downsides to increasing this number? Obviously when increasing the render samples, it takes longer to render, but gives you a higher quality image. However, in the viewport it renders progressively and I don't see any reduction in performance after increasing it to 256 or 512. The only downside I can think of would be more wear and tear on my GPU, but is there something I'm not thinking about?

No downsides. I personally even set it to 0 all the time (removes the limit) to get the point where the image is completely resolved for rendering.

GPU works best in given range of temperature. If your cooling system can't keep up with the continuous work, you can experience some slowing down in the long run. Other than that, I don't think there are issues.

The only disadvantage I see is that it will take longer (as you said) and your machine might run hotter due to the increased time taken rendering, which could after a while decrease the life of your battery, fan, GPU etc. The rate at which your cooling system(s) is running is a good indicator of how much the rendering may be slowing down and/or decreasing the life of your components. Just make sure the rendering not causing the cooling system to run excessively high for long periods of time.


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Blender Texture Brush Paint Doesn't have Variety/ Falloff
I’m wondering, I have the newest 2.90.1 Blender.  My Texture Paint Brush doesn’t seem to give me any variety of falloff/ strokeà as shown in the owl tutorial. Wondering if this is a GPU issue (I have GTX 970) or possibly just missing an option in Tools Tab?
**Also SHIFT + S does nothing on my end.
*The purple owl is mine, his is the brown in tutorial
Link to Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX3skhOOmco
Thank you for your time, be safe,

In the video there is Size Pressure for the radius activated. You can see it in the screenshot. It's the little icon behind the radius editbox on the top of the screen. Size Pressure only works with drawing tablets where you can control the pressure with the pen.
Shift+S activates Stabilize Stroke under Stroke settings. It adds a delay between the cursor and the stroke shown by a line. Painting with it feels like dragging a plow and you can draw smoother lines.

YES! Thank you very much. This worked! I'll try to look at the little details/ read the interface more thoroughly next time.


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how do you change material during animation
ok so im making something that has an on-off switch and to start the animation i want the switch to move, go from red to green, and then turn. on, i've gotten the movement down pat, but idk how to get it ti change from red to green.

Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/194342/sequential-channeling-in-node-editor-no-pbr-workflow/194386#194386

If you're using Nodes, you could use a Mixshader and animate the Value to change the material: 0 for one material and 1 for the other.


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How do you decimate a photogrammetry model so it compresses the textures like
Hi how would you reduce both the geometry And the texture of a photogrammetry model such that the texture is compressed like such:
I can use the decimate but it keeps the original photo detail. In the above example was the photo courted to something like vertex colors?
Is this possible in Blender? Or should I try MeshLab?
Thanks!!
~be

Same or similar effect for a different use case here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/28981/solid-color-for-each-face-in-cycles-when-using-image-textures

Thanks @numanair, I'll check it out


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Objects reflected in a mirror only
I want to make a mirror and but hide the room around it that it reflects.
But I want this as a 3D model (not for a render or a video)...
Not as easy as it seems. Any ideas?
Thanks
B

What have you tried already?

Like if you have a cube in a middle of a room in front of mirror - so in the mirror is reflected cube but not the room environment. What would be surround instead of a room reflection?

if your using eevee you can use a reflection probe and bake it but do not enable auto bake and then hide the room, not sure if that is what you mean but i think it is

In cycles, this is very easy with object visibility settings.

@R-800 I have been following this thread (and the downloaded Blender file: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/162839/how-to-show-reflection-of-a-different-object-in-cycles )
Which seems to work but when I export it to a .glTF or a .glb 3D file, I see the opposite : The mirror reflects the background HDRI image but not the objects. Where as I want to hide everything but the mirror & its reflections

@J Block, nothing is visible except the mirror (and the objects it reflecting). When you look at it as a 3D model in a .glTf / .glb viewer you can rotate around the mirror and see what the mirror is reflecting

@ZargulTheWizard, Thanks, but I am exporting the model and not rendering the image. Are you suggesting that I could bake a mirror texture in Cycles and then Hide the Objects the Outliner?

Thanks @ZargulTheWizard, it seems like this would be a valuable, I hope to get to the bottom of it...

What are you intending to import to? That might help

@ZargulTheWizard, Thanks. I'm trying to Export to a 3D model (probably .glTF or .glb maybe FBX) so that it can be seen in a Web viewer like Sketchfab

Ahh. Well, i’m not sure if what you’re wanting to do is possible, unfortunately. You might contact the sketchfab team, however. They have pretty good customer service. :-)

@ZargulTheWizard Thanks, I appreciate... Will keep trying.


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realtime window into a scene
I have a realtime view into a room as a mask on a plane. All you can see of the room is through the mask /2D plane that is exported as a 3D model (.GLtf or .glb preferably)
I achieve this effect in Unity with masks, but I cant figure it out Blender...
here is a video:
https://youtu.be/jIz55M0uoqI
I am not rendering but exporting as a model that you rotate around like a 2D/3D playing card.
There is so much work being done now with masks in Blender I was hoping that something would be possible...
The other way to think about this might be to have a mirror that was reflecting a room in realtime but you would be hiding the room.
Any ideas?
Thanks
~be

So would this be like a portal mentioned here? https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/147113/another-world-inside-of-a-portal-issues

@Yohello1 Yes, like this! Do you think it will work as n exported model?
Thanks! I will try to recreate it in Blender 2.8

I don't think it will work in an exported model sadly because of how it works.

Thanks @Yohello I bet this will come soon


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Active Keyframe Panel is not showing in the graph editor
I have selected a keyframe in the graph editor and I want to view it's properties.

I selected keyframes in the graph editor.
Pressed N key and tried pulling out the side arrow.
Instead of getting the "Active Keyframe Panel" I'm getting the "show cursor" option.

Is there something I can do to get the Active Keyframe Panel seen in the link below:
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/editors/graph_editor/fcurves/properties.html#id3
See my attached screen shot of what I get when I press N in the graph editor.

Found the issue.  I was selecting the channel group folder instead of the actual channel itself.


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UV wrap a rectangular texture on a circle mesh
I'm a programmer who's trying to get into modeling, but i'm having a hard time achieving the effect i want, in the way i'd like to.
I have a circular mesh, on this i'd like to project a square texture. Using a custom shader i can easily overwrite the UV values to roughly what i want, namely the length of the local vertex positions xy.

However i'd like to just export the mesh with the correct UV's, but i cant wrap my head around how, what they should be. This is roughly what i got going at the moment:

I think i want the top vertices to have V 1, and the bottom vertices V -1, same with X. But i dont know how to set the correct value for each vertex. How do i know what selection in the UV view corresponds to what vertex in the world? Is there a better way to go about achieving the effect i want? Maybe the mesh should be triangulated differently, with a vertex in the center?

Somewhat related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/30738/how-can-i-morph-a-flat-plane-to-be-a-flat-cirlce/93180#93180   Thats the projection, so similarly to https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/185949/15543 can map the texture space of the circle -> square UV space.

You can use a triangle fan, and simply reset the UV map.

Use a circle with a triangle fan (one vertex in center)
UV > Reset
Rotate and Scale the UV map

Done.

Thank you very kindly, this is exactly what i wanted to achieve! It took me a little while to figure out how to create a triangle fan, but that can be done in version 2.9, in the Modeling tab > Add > Mesh > Circle and then in the menu in the bottom left set the Fill Type to Triangle Fill.

No problem :). If you get stuck anywhere else, feel free to ask. Good luck with your project.

One question, how do you get a live preview of the texture?

Upper right corner of viewport, switch to Material Preview :) https://imgur.com/a/U5pvDE8


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Volume Scatter Works In Eevee But Not Cycles. Am I missing something?
I wanted to try and render a Star Trek borg scene I have in cycles to see if I could bump up the HD-ness of the outputted image file but noticed that when switching the render modes, anything that used Volumetric lighting or volume scattering does not show up, and will result in blocky renders if it does seem to render. Is there something extra you need to add to make it work in cycles? I know in Eevee you need to make sure Volumetric lighting is enabled but there isn't an option for that in Cycles. Any help would be greatly appreciated because I am making this for a gift for someone. Thanks! :)
World(Star & Nebula): https://i.sstatic.net/arU1d.jpg
Nebula(Object): https://i.sstatic.net/kbNMK.jpg

Was able to get the Nebula object fixed by adding an volume absportion but it still fails to render for the world node.

https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/jgdk6m/nebula_world_shader_help_works_in_eevee_but_not/


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Get Rotation of an Edit Bone
How can I get the rotation of an edit bone (or just the raw bone, but not the pose bone)?
Or if it's not directly possible, what's the formula for getting the rotation of a line between two points in 3D space? I know there must be one but I've been banging my head for hours today and didn't get anywhere.


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PointerProperty with ShapeKey
In the docs it's stated that PointerProperties must be derived from ID or ID Property Group. ShapeKeys are not derived from these and so cannot have PoitnerProperties made from them.
However, in the bpy docs, relative_key is stated as being of Type: ShapeKey and in the UI it has a search box and performs like a PointerProperty, updating itself if the name of the targeted shape key is changed. So unless this is an exception hard coded into Blender, there must be a way of doing it.
Does anyone know how I can find exactly how the relative_key variable has been set up, or a way of replicating this funcitonality?

Hello ! FWIW here's where this comes from. https://github.com/blender/blender/blob/master/release/scripts/startup/bl_ui/properties_data_mesh.py#L416 You can inspect UI elements with Rgiht Click > Edit Source if you have developper tools enabled and it will add a new text block with the relevant script.

Thank you, I'm aware, but this just shows where the prop_search is made, it doesn't show 'how' the relative_key itself is set up (as in its PropertyGroup creation).


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Add Meshes like in 3ds Max
How can I create objects like in 3ds Max?  Like creating a cube, the first click and drag defining the start of the cube, the release of the drag giving the size of the base and the third click giving the height.  I prefur this over just being given a default size cube.

You cannot.
Blender is different software, it does not work identically to other 3d packages. It might not be very reasonable to expect it to.
What you could do is set the pivot point to cursor and use the scale cage tool:

Or you could set the transform pivot to 3d cursor and scale after setting the cursor to cube's sides with s operator that might be more convenient for using numeric keyboard input in operation because you don't need to hold the mouse down:

It will be possible in 2.9, a beta version is already available.


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Model Scaling Breaking Animation
I've imported a model with pre-made animations and a rig. Scaling down the model (via the rig) works and the animations are okay, but trying to animate the rig's motion causes the rig to default back to its initial scale.
I parented it to an empty which works. However, trying to edit an animation also causes this issue, and I'm worried about the issue being triggered by other things.
Could someone let me know what I'm doing wrong? How can I apply the new scale without breaking the animations?

I've asked a quite similar question here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/196995/applying-armature-scale-messes-up-the-action ... not sure your problem is the same though, so maybe share your file (just the animated armature): https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

@moonboots It's not exactly a fix, as it removes all 'location' data from the animation; anything dependent on location is lost. Scaling down the 'location' did make the animation 'work', but I need location data preserved.

hard to tell without the file, maybe your armature scale has been keyframed at the beginning of the action?

Alright, just found out you can just parent it to an empty and scale the empty. Simple solution, but appears to work!


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Smooth keyframes without easing
How can I smooth out motion between keyframes, but without messing up other parts of the animation? I'd use bezier and I've tired messing with the handles and lerping types, but, as in the second image, it smooths out more than I want.

Just trying to get the one keyframe smoothed so the change in motion isn't instant/jagged, but not so much as to drastically change the rest of the animation.

For context it's a camera. It moves a bit, then changes direction to follow the motion of a character walking. Without smoothing, there's a jolt as the direction changes, but with the smoothing I've managed to do so far, it changes the motion after too much and the camera flies away off course.

I'm not sure this will solve your problem but you may not be aware the handles in the Graph Editor are by default, connected and thus can be a trifle restrictive.  Select the keyframe, then the handle in the Graph Editor and press V, then select "Free".  This will disconnect the twin handles and give you far more control.  I usually press VFG as a standard sequence to free them, the G to Grab the handle.

Further to the above... As for your camera lurching to swing to a new target, this could be because it just hasn't enough time to do it smoothly.  i.e. it needs more space between it's keyframes, starting earlier if it can.  The slower the action the easier it is to smooth it.

The issue isn't the movement of a camera from one keyframe to another, it's the change in speed and direction. Right now it snaps from one speed+direction to another, causing the 'snap' (as in a jolt because the change in direction isn't smoothed out).
I'm not after really 'smoothing' the animation, just smoothing the 'jolt' in the change in speed and direction. Smoothing it throws the rest off too much, and I'm finding it hard to get an accurate balance manually moving the handle. Thanks for the info, though.

From your description it sounds like the camera interpolation is set to "Constant".  I imagine it's not though as you have found handles with which to manipulate.  I've had a similar problem when a cam had to switch from being stationary to latching onto a passing object.  It was some years ago but I'll go dig that one out, see how I tamed it.

I have no proper idea what your scenario is but from what you tell me the jerk might be reduced effectively enough perhaps by allowing the target to 'get away' from the camera initially. (Tracking constraint's 'Influence' slider). Continued...

The archived file I mentioned was in fact a commercial animator involving a fast moving aircraft moving left to right and the cam's Bezier driven cam-tracking appearing far too machine-like for a human operator.  With nothing like Blender's features and the few frames available there was no way it could be smoothed out so the tracking was actually keyframed off for a few frames so the aircraft swept into view, 'unlocked'.   Cont...

This allowed it to get ahead of the cam and to the far side of the screen.   The tracking was then restored and the camera catching up again, but this time much smoother and appearing as though human operated.


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Volumetric lights - origin point seen as a single point even with large radius
What can I do about point lights having very intense point of light at its origin when using volumetrics?

I realize this is the nature of a 'point' light, but what about when the 'radius' is turned up? I can't get the lighting to look realistic.

There's also a clearly defined 'origin' when using an area light, even when the area is substantially larger than what the volumetric origin is portraying.
If there's no simple solution to this, then how do you suggest lighting of this nature be done? A spot light leaves parts of the scene behind the light unlit, and still has a 'displayed volumetric origin' way smaller than any radius I set it to have.

I think the radius only affects the "center" brightness when using Cycles render engine.

So what could a work around be?

I guess that means you're using EEVEE? I'm not sure there is one due to the limitations of how it "fast calculates" lighting. That doesn't mean it's necessarily impossible, it might just take a much more complex setup to achieve - one that I'm not currently aware of. I'll see If I can find anything.

A simple solution could just be to use multiple lights, like six, in place of each one. Not optimal, not optimised, but it'd work.


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which curve tool would be the most suitable to reproduce this profile on the top
I found this cool structure and I would somehow like to create a similar one in blender.

Which curve tool would be the best to replicate the profile? The idea would be to create the profile and extrude it in Z and pinch it (S key) near the bottom to make it vase like.

It would be also really cool if it is possible to make it parametrically so that the profile can be varied.
Any tips would be appreciated!

maybe try this pretty cool tool: diferential growth, got something quite 'similar' after a few tries -you can extract the profile if you want, but shapes are great-

That looks promising… is that an add-on available by default in blender?

sorry here's the link

Thanks! Will explore it!

it's fun, even if you won't get that exact shape... try to understand settings, then use modifiers on surface, LaplacianSmooth is a good one

You can use a curve bevel and curve taper to keep it parametric

Start with a vertical bezier curve
Use a (modified) bezier circle to use as Bevel Object
Add another bezier curve as Taper Object (orientation and origin point is important)

(then solidify/subdivide/bevel/etc)

Thanks for this. I guess this could be used with the differential growth tool

I was looking for a way to add a slight rotation on the vertical axis. I didnt get it working with the screw modifier...

Hi :). Simple deform modifier/twist works perfectly


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Is it possible to dynamically draw a bezier curve around an object without stopping -2d/3d mouse
I attempted to draw "vines" on top of my object in a spiral fashion via the bezier curve using the draw tool. I was striving to get one continous curve as I dynamically rotate my model . However, I could only do it in segments.  I used both the 2d and 3d mouse.
For the attached pic I have nevertheless converted this curve to a mesh and remeshed it so as to avoid non-manifold geometry and it is now in 3d printable format. Unfortunately the segmented vines just dont look good.
It would just be great if I could get a continuous curve. Perhaps some-one has some tips?

to continue extruding a curve, move the cursor to the next point where you want a control point and use CTRL-right click.  Would that work?

@Marty Fouts: Im afraid that does not work. The curve just follows some random trajectory instead of my designated points.

what you maybe can try is this:
Model a new curve like your branch, add a archimedian spiral (is in a curves add-on), give...

...this some turns and height and then ....

...give your "branch" curve a curve modifier ...

...and you can get this:

Thanks for this. I managed to create something like you have but I have no way of projecting it onto the topology of my target mesh with the draw tool in edit mode. Unless there is a tool for this projection outside of the draw tool?


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viewport shading solid is showing wireframe or similar
One of my objects is showing a wireframe or similar.  I have looked at view-port shading options but I didnt see anything that could influence it. Is this  a bug?

maybe check the Object panel > Viewport Display > Display As?

@moonboots: That also does not work.

could you please share this object?

Attach the .blend file here: https://blend-exchange.com/

I discovered the problem.
I imported an object via stl and deleted faces/edges and not realising that my remaining vertices were not connected at all. Then it remained a wireframe after a screw modifier.
Solution:
Select vertices of interest to connect and press F. Then X and select "only face". It should leave vertices/edges.
It will now become visible after a screw modifier.


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How to approximate this spiral curve
I am looking to replicate this curve in which my attempt was to use Math XYZ. However, I could not find a way to create a "constant thickness" around each of the spirals. Ie, a duplicate and scale smaller does not give the desired constant. Any suggestions are welcome. Ultimately I would like it to be a closed mesh.

1. The Spirals
Try the add-on Add Curve: Extra Objects that comes with Blender. Add a Curve > Curve Spirals > Archemedian curve and play with the settings in the popup to match the reference. Center the reference image and the curve at the world origin.
Then duplicate the curve twice and rotate the copies by 120°. Apply All Transformations to the curves.

2. The Thickness
Adding thickness is fairly easy with a little plane. Create a plane at the world origin (0,0,0), and add an Array and a Curve modifier. If it looks messed up then make sure you have applied All Transformations (Strg+A in Object mode). Duplicate the plane twice and change the settings to align it along the other spirals.
Note: Curves can be beveled when by increasing the value of Geometry > Bevel > Depth on the Object Data Properties tab. But merging the resulting cylinders/pipes in the center is more complicated then.

3. The Clean Up
Cut the extended spirals' ends in Edit mode. Then make a backup of the planes, apply the modifiers, and join three spiral meshes to one object. In Edit mode, merge (M) the vertex pairs to create the final mesh.
To maintain a quad mesh you can subdivide edges to create extra vertices, dissolve edges (X) and use the knife cut (K).

Final mesh (no math involved ;-)

Somehow I cannot apply All Transforms to the 3 spiral curves. I get message "Rotation/Location cant apply to a 2d curve" even though I selected All Transforms

I see the problem: I selected 2d in the spirals window. I have another problem in that apply the fir curve via array makes the object look messed up. I have applied All Transforms at various stages.

Oh yes, the curve must be 3D. The Archemedian curve is 3D by default 3D. I just used your blend file. It works when I 1) add a plane at the 3D cursor (world origin), scale it down & apply the scale (or scale in Edit mode) 2) switch the curve to 3D 3) apply all transformations to the curve 4) add Array and Curve modifier to the plane and select the spiral in the settings (screenshot). It looks good then. 5) apply the Array modifier first, then the Curve modifier. The order is important. Then you have a spiral mesh with thickness. Repeat the steps with the other spirals for the final mesh.

I will try again later and let you know.


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Where are the non-manifold edges?
After reading this useful link and following some of the repair suggestions, I still cannot fix the manifold edges.
What is non-manifold geometry?
Its not clear to me where the issue lies? I do not want to add a thickness to the area yet until I resolve the non-manifold. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

Anything with 0 thickness is non-manifold. Manifold is a shape with volume of which all faces are facing "inward". Your model has no volume and therefore no "inward", so it is non-manifold
You "not wanting to add thickness to the area yet until resolving the non-manifold" is exactly what is causing it to be non-manifold. If a shape has no thickness, it CANNOT be manifold.
Think of it as trying to fill the volume of a 3D shape up with water and then shaking it around. If water leaks out, or you simply cannot fit any water in it because it has no thickness: then your shape is non-manifold.


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Shape key not working when exporting to to threejs
I've been trying to exporting animation with shapekey to threejs. The animation looks fine in Blender, but it completely doesn't work in threejs, the animation is playing part that is animated by shapekey are not working.
I am trying to export it to gltf. the following image is the setting I used when i tried to export the gltf file.

Can you provide more info please ?
what format are you exporting to?

Hi thank you for the replied, I have edit the question, and provided a blend file with the problem model

Well, actually your file is working. Nothing is broken.
I tried to see what is the result of the exported .glb file inside the three js viewer at this url: https://gltf-viewer.donmccurdy.com/
What is different is that the shapekeys are not visible as an animation but as a morph target.
Try putting your mesh inside this viewer, and you'll be able to see this :

On the right side of your screen, there is a lot of dropdown menus. Open the Animation and Morph Targets ones.
Your shapekeys animation can be found under the Morph targets -> "Left Eye Large v2" and "Right Eye Large v2".
On the screenshot, I put them at a value of 1. This value can be changed in the range [0 - 1] and for each of the concerned meshes.
So I think you should try to use different approach inside your three js code to be able to play it as an animation.
Check out the example of three JS regarding morph targets
https://threejs.org/examples/webgl_morphtargets_sphere.html
Hope this will help ! :)

Thank you so much for looking into my model, but is there a way where I can change the animation to morph target? I have exported a few model  with the same rigging method before, all of the prior ones are able to directly play the shapekey with the animation. Only this one seem to have this problem....

Maybe try a rigging approach for your animations. A Bone as a driver for your shapekeys for example, so it might allow you to play the animation "as other" in your three js code

A reminder for myself and for those who encounter a similar problem. List of things not to do, in order to export a glb with working shape key from the get go.

don't attach or reattach any part of the model
don't reset/apply tranform(shift A) after animation
if the option for the part with shape key is separable (I.E. eyeball not attach to the main body), then let it be separated.

The shapekey will works in blender even if you did the thing mentioned above, but it might not work when you export it as glb.