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Delay trim curve animation using geometry nodes
I try to delay the trim curve animation of each plant instances but it doesn't work
as you can see in the attached blend file.

On the left a grid with a bezier curve scattered. It works but doesnt look very random.
On the right side same setup applied to a plant design i have made but it dont work.

I am sorry to write that there is a contradiction in your setup in the sense that you are animating the object ("PlantComplete") that is spawned by the Instance on Points node, while you are expecting each instance to behave independently. By design, the Instance on Points node is replicating the same object. Only position, scale and rotation can be set per instance. You can not control a Trim Curve node  per instance, because each trimmed curve must be a different object.

May I recommend to read this post about controlling a limited subset of spawned objects to give the feeling of a fully random process ? How can I instantiate a procedural node group with different parameters?

I understand... how should i proceed to correct that without having to redo everything ?

I tought that realizing instances was a way to make each instances unique so that the trim curve could have been delayed for each of this new "unique instances"

@ StefLAncien What i dont understand is why does it works in the first setup i did for testing. each bezier curve are delayed properly even tho they are the same "instances" but realized with the realized instance node

The different behaviour between "GridScatterPlants" and "GridScatterTEST" objects comes from the fact that the GN modifier for  "GridScatterTEST" is producing a collection of 400 splines after the Realize Instances node, so you can still apply individually a Trim Curve node. Whereas the "PlantComplete" GN is producing a mesh (made of 9492 vertices, 18649 edges and 9198 faces !). So the underlying spline is complete lost, and there is no chance to apply individually a control.

A workaround could be to "grow" splines without decorations like leaves and flowers, then at each frame, to add the decorations after.

I understand, i will try to change the way its constructed
Thank you


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How to extrude geo using color ramp data
is it possible to use a color ramp and get black and white data to extrude faces of a grid?
my goal would be to mimic these kind of basaltic rocks stairs effect
is it doable in geo nodes or only using image texture in shading editor ?

Here is a good starting point for you. By decimating a grid first ( with the Decimate (Collapse) modifier) you can then use the Dual Mesh node to get the hexagonal shapes. The effect you are after happens on the "Extrude node". The key is to create a series of masks for both your selection and the offset scale.

Here for example i built out a ramp using a math expression and bluring the result.

Thank you so much @Badboi3d

shapes are looking pretty symmetrical not as yours i might missed something, any idea ?
when i decimate more i have better variety of shapes but ofc less geometry https://i.sstatic.net/eWdmJ.png  https://i.sstatic.net/iOMR9.png

Hello Badboi .. very  nice answer! I think it would help folks  if you  share a blend on https://blend-exchange.com/  to cover some of the hidden details, if that's at all possible. Thanks!

Hi, @ant0, I found that stacking a couple of Decimate modifiers with different ratios helped a bit if I wasn't imagining things...

i have added 3 decimate modifier  and i looks already bit better.  dont know if its the rightway to dot it may Badboi tell us what he thinks.
I didnt find how to create the color ramp mask

Sorry, i lost track of time, ive added the file for download!

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Can not select endspoints on curve (sapling tree)
I generated a tree using sapling tree gen
i would like to use geometry nodes to select endpoints of each branches to scatter a flower animation growth there.
when i plug the endpoint selection node to "selection" of the instance on points node, it doesnt work. What am i missing here ?

here a blend file
Thank you

I disabled the Geometry Nodes modifier to show you something, this is the tree model - in the Curve Properties under Bevel > Round it has a Depth value of 1 m, to make the trunk and branches visible:

The problem with this is, it is basically the same as if you had a curve in Geometry Nodes and would plug it into a Curve to Mesh node, to convert it with some profile into a mesh. The Bevel > Round does this under the hood with a circle profile.
And the important word here is "mesh": the curve is no longer treated as a curve object, but a mesh object - and as such the Geometry Nodes setup cannot select any curve endpoints, because it is not a curve anymore.
But if you set the Depth to 0, so that the tree is just a curve object without any mesh geometry anymore like this

then you can enable the Geometry Nodes modifier again and plug the Endpoint Selection into the Instance on Points node. Here I joined the instances with the curves so that both are visible:

So what I would do instead is leaving the tree be a curve and just use a Curve to Mesh modifier in Geometry Nodes to get the tree trunk and branches. Since the original setting was a Depth of 1 m, you can use this as Radius for the profile's Curve Circle as well. The thickness of the branches is given by the control point radii of the original curve, which are taken into account by Geometry Nodes too:

Thank you very much for the explanation !

Only problem i have now is that the shader doesnt appear anymore

I'mFacing 2 issues, now , first is that the shader do not show up anymore, i have tried to add some nodes like set material but did not work. Second issue is about the endpoint selection, when setting up start size at 0 and end size 1 there is still multiples instances of the cube appearing when i would  only want one at the end of each branch

@ant0 Actually there are not multiple instances of the cube. I've scaled it extra small to have no cubes overlapping each other - and there is only one cube at each endpoint of a curve. I guess your problem here is how the Sapling Tree addon creates the branches. If I remember correctly, you can add levels and sublevels of branches. Now there is always an endpoint where one level ends, which means a thicker branch at level 1 might split up in two thinner branches of level 2 - but where it splits, there is an endpoint because the level 1 ends there which then instance cubes inbetween.

@ant0 So maybe you have to ask a new question on how to separate between the different levels of branches...? But what if you only instance on for example level 2 endpoints, but a branch ends at level 1 with no sublevels? Not an easy task and the tree addon is probably not designed for that. With the shader, the first thing that it does not show up is because you need a Set Material node to give it to the tree. But the other problem is, that the tree has no longer the UV coordinates from the original curve. So easiest would be you duplicate the tree - one for the shader, one for the leaves.

@ant0 Or you ask another question on how to create UV coordinates from the curve geometry inside Geometry Nodes and use them for mapping the shader... as far as I know there are tutorials on how to do this, for example this one by Leonardo Romero: Geometry nodes: UV map in curve objects

Thanks again @ Gordon Brinkmann for your help,  the video about uv map is interesting but i think i will copy the tree so it's easier and quicker for uv. Yes i guess sapling tree addon is not the best for what i want to do. Maybe its possible to merge vertices of each cuves like in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRGGEtx_Yoc&list=WL&index=21 but still takes lot of time trying things and not sure i will have time for it now

@ant0 If you take a look at the tutorial, he's not merging control points of a curve. As he explains in the video, Merge by Distance only supports point clouds and meshes as input, not curves. Which means, you have to convert it into a mesh and then back into a curve. A mesh line of course is not like a Bézier curve, it can only have straight edges between two points. You can convert it to a Bézier curve again, but it will most likely then be different then it was before converting to a mesh.

@ant0  And while a mesh line can branch at vertices, i.e. go into two or more different directions from there, a curve cannot. A control point of a curve can only be connected to a maximum of two other control points - the previous one and the next in line. Another option would be only a single connection, if it is the start- or endpoint of a non-cyclic curve. More about connections in splines you can see in my answer here: Problems with joining Bézier curves

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


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"Hard" areas in the cloth simulations (blender 4.1.0)
I'm trying to model a jacket with stand-up collar. I'm using simply cloth pro add-on. Is there a way to implement this through this add-on? And if not, how can I do it without an add-on?

First thing check the name of the pin group in the Physics panel > Cloth >Shape > Pin Group. This vertex group won't be affected by the cloth simulation:

Then select the collar vertex group and assign it to the pin group, the higher the Weight will be, the stiffer the collar will be:

I suppose then this group won't move at all? I've seen this method used to model fabrics "hung" on hooks. I just need this group to be minimally deformable, but still move along with the rest of the clothes.

It will move wth the charcter if your cloth is parented to the armature, and it will be as stiff as the weight will be high

Ah, that makes sense. I will try it, TY.


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Multiresolution for vertex group (blender 4.1)
Is it possible to generate (or simulate) multiresolution for only one vertex group (or mask)? The point is I need more geometry in a small part of the mesh (human model, subdividing the entire geometry doesn't seem reasonable). Is there a simpler way than manually re-topologizing the necessary part of the mesh? Probably the geometry nodes, if it will not ruin the armature/topology/uv/materials/etc.

Okay, I found some solution. I duplicated and separated the necessary part of the mesh, increased the multires level, sculpted the details. Then, I applied the multires. Than render properties -> bake -> bake type - normal -> space - object. This exports normals as a texture to the image connected in the material nodes. While the UV maps are similar in both objects, the image texture fits the base object as well. And I was able to import this image texture as a base for the normal map node. These actions worked for me, but I had to play with it for a while.
UPD: Ah, and I had to mix shaders by created mask, so the normals of the base object doesn't distort.


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Is there a way to change the data structure of mesh?
I want to convert the mesh data structure to a half-edge mesh and export it as an fbx file.
Are there any resources or methods I can refer to?

for such a task i would rather suggest to use meshllab than blender

thank you for the reply


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How can you create a circular pillow?
I want to create a circular pillow. I know how to make a rectangular pillow, but can't figure out a circular pillow. Thanks in advance.

You should start with an idea, what pillow exactly you want to make. You could imagine it in detail, sketch it or find an example. There are thousands of kinds of circular pillows made out of thousands of kinds of materials so it's first important to know how the one you want looks exactly.

Could you edit the question and attach an example of the kind of pillow you want to make?

Hello, katehd24. Please illustrate with a reference pillow, to make this post less vulnerable to being closed as 'unclear'.

You could create a cylinder, scale it on Z, inset the top and bottom faces (i):

Bevel the top and bottom edges (CtrlB):

Add loopcuts (CtrlR):

Give it a Subdivision Surface modifier, apply the modifier to have more topology, assign the center (top and bottom) to a vertex group (CtrlG > Assign to New Group):

Give it a Cloth simulation (here with Silk presets, enable Pressure, under Shape > Pin Group select the vertex group that you've created, enable Self Collisions, under Field Weights disable the Gravity):

Then you can apply the Cloth modifier and add details in Sculpt mode (here the Crease brush):

Thank you this is very helpful! I am very new to blender, could you please explain how you got the first step down 'create this mesh, assign the center (top and bottom) to a vertex group' - e.g. how do you create the mesh etc.

I've edited my answer, I hope it makes things easier?

thank you so much!!


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Creating fabric canopy in blender
I'm looking to create a fabric canopy in a room (6m x 6m by 3m high), whereby the fabric is scrunched in the centre of the roof (like the image) however the fabric also drapes down the walls too.
Any help would be amazing! I'm new to blender and this is quite complex so I'm struggling using tutorials :)

You could subdivide a plane, assign its opposite edges to a vertex group (CtrlG):

Create 2 shapekeys, in the second one scale these edges on X:

Back to Object mode, create 2 keyframes on the shapekey Value, the first one being 0, the second one being 1:

Give a Cloth simulation to your object, with the group as Pin Group, enable Collisions and Self Collisions:

Play the animation, it should give something like that, apply the Cloth modifier if you want:

Give an Array modifier to your object, decrease the factor so that you have no gap between the different iterations:

Give a Simple Deform modifer to your object, Bend mode, on Z, increase the Angle to a bit more than 360°:

Result:


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How do you create thick fabric folding over a piece of furniture?
How would I model thick folding fabric to drape over a piece of furniture or surface like in   the image attached? Thanks.
Chair with folding fabric over it.

Prepare an object like that:

Switch to Sculpt mode, choose the Pose brush, Deformation Target > Cloth Simulation, Deformation > Squash & Stretch:

Sculpt in order to roll up the mesh:

Result!

thank you so much!!

Is there any chance you would be able to go through how you made the initial geometry?

it's just some extrusions to model a low-poly torso, then apply a Subdivision Surface modifier to have a dense topology


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How to make one side of the plane transparent and other side of the plane reflective in Bledner
I am trying to create a plane, whose properties are one side of the plane is transparent and the other side of the plane is reflective.

in the attached image the plane is transparent but not reflactive.

with this shader setup:

you will get this:

either use cycles, or in EEVEE enable Screen space reflections

and in material use blend/shadow mode alpha hashed


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Center Diamond stone render getting in a dark shade
Lights path value-> max bounces value all are set to 24 ...still facing the issue.enter
LINK : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x8Jg177cLzjHy8ccGQg1p93CbzSW9Y0p/view?usp=drive_link

This is due to the mirror modifier.
As it is, the center diamond geometry is doubled.
Separate it. And for this diamond, remove the mirror modifier.

Alternatively, you can also add a 'weld' modifier after the mirror modifier.

separate the center diamond geometry: edit mode, select it and use P key. After that remove the mirror for this separated diamond. As said, you can also add a weld modifier, which will remove all duplicate geometry.

Maybe Bisect? .... I haven't checked.

@RobinBetts, bisect should work, yes.


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What values should I use for light paths->Max Bounces of diamond/gemstone for realistic effect?
Values i kept now are :
Total : 12 , Diffuse : 4, Glossy : 4, Transmission: 12, Vol : 0, Transparent : 8
Blend File : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_X1BB0xevVQzawKQSv6smmFPxgQh2sPN/view?usp=drive_link

EDIT: you don't really need high transmission, it can stay on 4 or 6 and raising it up doesn't seem to change how it looks, Glossy and Total are what you need to try to rise. I tried to change Glossy from 0 to 100 and I could still see a new reflection even at 100+, keep in mind however that you still need to optimize it for your hardware, change Total to the number of Glossy that you will find as good... realism is still a bit subjective and someone will say something else

Thanks @MikoCG issue have resolved.

no problem, dispersion and reflections in diamonds need a lot of bounces to look right because in reality there are hundreds of reflections that gives them that shiny look


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How do I export music visualizer animations?
I was following a tutorial on how to make a music visualizer but no videos that I have found had no explanation on how to export it. I used a displacement modifier to animate the sound but when I export it with both FBX and glTF, its just a normal plane with no animation. Is there a setting on the export im missing?

It's not possible to export Blender's modifiers. They have to be applied before export which of course won't work if their effect is used for animation. Investigate baking your animation first and then exporting to GLTF.

You can export the animation to obj which makes all frames a different object, or you can use abc format, that developed for these kind of stuff.


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Detail transfer from high poly to low poly mesh
I saw that people in different tutorials transfer details from a high poly to a low poly mesh by overlapping them and adding a multires and a shrinkwrap modifier to the lowpoly mesh.
Why do they do that? Is it that after the detail transfer if I turn the subdivisions on the lowpoly multires back to zero the model looks better than before even though it has the same vertex count?

Hello, maybe link one of these tutorials?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQfFlzHJJ88&t=1371s here for example at the chapter that starts at ~ min 32

Yes not sure why he does that instead of continuing to sculpt the hight poly


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Why wont my shrinkwrapped meshes (eyes) not rig perfectly?
I made this character and for the eyes i've uploaded a svg turned that into a mesh and then shrinkwrapped it arround the head and turned that into a mesh again.
Now after I rigged my charackter, some parts of the eyes just wont rig right.
Does anyone know why that could be? :/
I'll add some photos for clarification.
Greetings,
cherrybug

Select this part of your mesh in Edit mode, remove from all vertex groups then assign to the head vertex group?

i believe it proably has something to do with the topology, cuz when i try to weightpaint it it wont take every verticies with it. Topology of the eyes is a big mess, im guessing thats because the translation from svg to mesh kinda fucked it up?

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

ive just remodeled my eyes with meshes now, and it worked. I think the topology was just bad. But thanks for the help! :)


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Create a greave (cuts) or combine two objects?
I am trying to figure out what would be the best option to achieve the following result in Unity for my game background frame.

As you can see there are cuts in the frame. Tried with loop-cut and extrude. But then in Unity, those cuts are not make the black line affect.
Another option would be to create separate line objects and embed in main frame and then I could apply black color to line objects.
Or any better suggestion? Just need an advice what would be the right approach for this scenario.
Br, Maris

I'm a fan of the quick and easy solution. A single black quad set just behind the whole thing.  Forget about connecting everything together, just separate the buttons and let the backplate show through the cracks

Thanks for suggestion. Will try it out.


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Get edge slope/angle of depression in mesh
I’m looking to write a script that is able to produce each edge’s change in height between its two vertices so that I can export the data to an external file. I am using a model of this mesh as a reference while designing brackets which can be assembled to make the final product.
I have the angles between faces, as well as the edge length. The difficulty is with finding the angle, or slope of the edges in the mesh.
If I were to do this manually, I would calculate the height difference between two vertices and take the inverse sine of the y difference over the edge length.

In maths, a slope is a proportion between a horizontal and vertical components of a distance:
$$m=\frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1}$$
In 3D world I imagine you want to replace $y$ coordinate ("height" in 2D world) with $z$ (Blender coordinate system is "z-up"), but then what is the horizontal distance? It's simply the hypotenuse of a triangle, defined by other sides ("legs") $x$ and $y$, so a Pythagorean theorem can be used to calculate the horizontal distance $d$:
$$d = \sqrt{ x^2 + y^2}$$
but the python's Vector class allows you to simply use "swizzling" to easily get just the $xy$ components as a new vetor and then read the length of that vector:
from bpy import context as C
from math import atan, degrees
ob = C.object
me = ob.data
v1, v2 = me.vertices  # I have just 2 vertices in the test mesh
offset = v2.co - v1.co  # order matters - it affects the sign of the slope!
slope = offset.z / offset.xy.length
angle_radians = atan(slope)
angle_degrees = degrees(angle_radians)

print(f"{v1.co=}\n{v2.co=}\n{offset=}\n{slope=}\n{angle_radians=}\n{angle_degrees=}")

Example result:
v1.co=Vector((0.0, 0.0, 0.0))
v2.co=Vector((1.0, 0.0, 1.0))
offset=Vector((1.0, 0.0, 1.0))
slope=1.0
angle_radians=0.7853981633974483
angle_degrees=45.0

You need to be in Object mode to run this script, or more specifically, if you're in Edit Mode, you will read the last state of the mesh in Object Mode - to read the most up-to-date state in Edit Mode, you need to use bmesh
in Object Mode you can access any edge's vertices like so: v1i = me.edges[i].vertices[0] and v2i = me.edges[i].vertices[1], where i is the index of the edge, and the results are not vertex objects but just their indices, so that later you need to read the actual vertex data as v1 = me.vertices[v1i].
using bmesh reading vertices is easier because you can access them from the edge directly.


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Weird inner geometry showing when I deform mesh in Pose Mode
My armature is working as normal except for the fact that there's a weird tube thing inside the geometry that only shows when I bend parts (in the image I'm bending it at the elbow and the tube starts to peek out.

Does anybody know how I can get rid of this?
:(

There was hidden inside geometry. I just zoomed in, selected one of the faces of the tube, and hit Ctrl +L to get all linked faced then deleted them.


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Why are sculpt tools doing this weird square thing?
When using my drawing tablet and the sculpt tools if I press lightly or move too quickly these squares randomly start generating at the max radius and strength of the brush! It's incredibly difficult to sculpt with it randomly doing this, any thoughts?
Recorded example: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SXy2VYsk9VYODu1vlwdVRrKQO7zQV_Cu/view?usp=sharing
It did this for a while, stopped yesterday which was blissful and now it's doing it again!
All drivers are up to date, I tried adding Blender as a specific application in Wacom Center and nothing changed.
Version: 4.1
Tablet: Wacom Cintiq 13HD

Have you applied the scale to your mesh? Ctrl+A > Scale.

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

I don't remember where I saw the post, but the solution that worked for me was to first make sure in your Wacom tablet settings to disable "Use Windows Ink".
Then in Blender's settings under Input category, change the Tablet API to "Wintab".
Hope that helps you like it did me.

So far, working like a dream! Thank you so much!


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3 points determine a plane - but not 3 vertices?
I am trying to patch the hole using the fill command. It will not work selecting either the 3 edges or the 3 vertices. Any ideas what to try?
Thank you-

Go into Wireframe mode and lasso/rubberband select the bottom vertex - I bet there's another right underneath it.  Then merge the two verts and I bet the fill will work.

Yup looks like the North West > South edge is actually linked to 2 other double vertices since it isn't highlighted in orange

Yes, as the others say, if the selected vertex at the bottom of the triangle would be connected to those two edges going to the left, they would be highlighted in orange. So there is no hole to fill.


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I need to deform a complex array
I need to build a regular structure (Think a three dimensional net) out of strings and deform it, as if it were slack in some spaces. This is supposed to be printed, so I need actual structure and no shaders.
This is a first sketch of what it's supposed to look like:

It is not as chaotic as it looks, this is the bottom view:

A short summary of what I did (in that order):

I created the string using the screw modifier on some circles.
I built curves for the knots and so on and had the strings follow them (curve
modifier).
I used regular arrays to create the web.

And here's where my issues start, I tried multiple ways:
4a.:
I applied all modifiers, joined the meshes, then moved some vertices with
proportional editing active (That's what the pics show). This is what I am trying to
achieve, but not in such a small scale, but around 30 times the area that is shown.
With the computational ressources at my disposal, I'm not able to make this happen. I
need modifiers or reliable placeholders.
4b.:
I applied the Warp modifier, but it compresses the meshes too much.
So, to sum up, I need to deform a highly complex, three dimensional web before applying modifiers.
Another though I had was whether maybe I can slice the thing into smaller portions and work on them individually (Since it's going to be printed, it needs to be sliced into chunks eventually anyway), but then I'm not sure how to ensure that the cuts will line up later.
Any help is appreciated!

if you are trying to deform the whole structure, you can do it with a Lattice modifier for example

That was indeed it, thank you!

Answer was Lattice deform modifier.


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Model Hair and Teeth Not Moving
I am very new to blender. I imported a model from xnalara as an obj. file so that I could use it in blender. After rigging it, I noticed that the hair and teeth do not follow the head bone when I pose it. The only vertex groups I have are for my bones. I do not see the hair and teeth listed in the collection as separate meshes. The entire body, including hair and teeth, are showing as one mesh, yet when I pose the head, the hair and teeth remain fixed in place. How do I make the hair and teeth move with the head?
I also noticed that this model's hair and eyelashes look like pictures of hair on a sheet of black paper. Is there a way to fix that?
Would greatly appreciate any help or links to a hair tutorial. Thank you!

To get rid of the black parts you need to enable Transparency in the material settings. Set the render engine to EEVEE to see the options (for viewport & EEVEE). Try Blend Mode = Alpha Hashed or Alpha Blend and make sure Show Backface is not checked if you want to use Alpha Blend (https://i.sstatic.net/kGdqt.jpg). Also, make sure you use an Alpha mask in the shader. For Cycles render, you might have to increase the Max Bounces (https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/230578/107598)

about the not-moving hair and teeth: the meshes are loose, and not connected to the rest of the body. That's ok. But they also got no weights assigned (probably because they are loose parts). That's causing the problem. You need to assign the vertices of the hair and teeth to the head bone's vertex group manually. Here's an example: https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/49388/107598


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Is there a way to lock Shader node In blender?
After completing the work, to customize all the nodes, we use the Tab key. Now, I'm wondering how to lock or restrict access to this shader. In other words, I want to ensure that other users can't see the nodes created using the Tab key and can only use the customized shader without access to the nodes.
Is such a feature possible in Blender? If yes, how can I achieve this? I genuinely appreciate your guidance on this matter.

Is such a feature possible in Blender? I doubt that is feasible natively. Blender's main philosophy is focused on openness, sharing of knowledge and customizability. There are no builtin paywalls, obfuscation methods or forms of DRM. For every possible workaround, there may be any number of counter techniques to reverse it

Hi :). You can link the nodegroup from a different file or scene. Depending on the Blender version, users may see the nodes, but won't accidentally change them.


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GeoNodes set position on vertices in vertex group along their normals
I like to procedurally change the position of vertices in a selection (vertex group) randomly in a certain direction with a defined min/max threshold along their Normals. And here is also where I fail - combining the normal information of the vertex group with the set position node

Simply use a Vector Math node between the Normal node and the Set Position node and switch it to "Scale". The normal always has a length of 1. By scaling this vector (with random or fixed values) and using it as an offset, you move the points along the given normal.

As noted in the comments, you would just need to scale the normals here and use them as offsets to move the points along their normals.
Something like this:

Depending on what exactly your goal is, you could also use the Extrude Mesh node if you want to process the selection as a whole:


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Fading object out in Workbench
Is it possible to fade out an object in workbench and not have the vanished object produce a shadow?
Thank you


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unexpected fill command behavior
Please help with an F-key command problem.
As I understand it, selecting two or more vertices, then pressing the F key should create a new edge (two vertices) or face (more than two vertices between the selected vertices. If I am correct, edges and faces would be created joining distinct meshes if vertices on separated meshes were selected.
I am getting very different results and I have no idea what I could have set incorrectly to cause problems. What comes out joins some seemingly unrelated vertices -- definitely not only the ones selected.
As far as I can discern there are no duplicated vertices.
The pictures I provided show the two meshes I want to connect. One picture with nothing selected, one with four vertices selected, one with the result of using F key. (The order of the pictures displayed may not be the logical order for my description, but they uploaded that way.) I get similar results from selecting only two vertices.
The F-key behaves as expected when I select vertices on only one of the two unattached meshes.
I am using Blender 2.83.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on this issue! Please let me know if any further information from me would be helpful.

[

You can't join vertices from separate meshes. You have to join the meshes into one object first.

That did it using "join". Thank you! Not sure where I got the impression that separate meshes could actually be connected.

In earlier versions of Blender such as the one you're using (2.83) you could only edit one mesh at a time in Edit mode. With recent versions you can select multiple meshes in Object mode and then edit them all at the same time in Edit mode, but you still can't join them if they're separate objects which does confuse some folks. You can also add a new mesh (Ctrl-A) in Edit mode of course but that then becomes part of the same mesh that you're already editing so you can already join vertices to that.


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How can I render caustic using (only) the Cycles render engine?
I'd like to render caustics in Blender with the Cycles render engine. There's a number of (other) questions that explain a few ways to fake it, but I noticed that Blender 3.2 Cycles now has caustics included, but I haven't found any answers explaining how to use that new feature yet.
So, how can I do caustics directly in Blender Cycles, without using any plugins or a different render engine (and without faking it)?

Note: this requires Blender 3.2 or later. Earlier versions won't work.
Here's how to do caustics, from a default scene in stock Blender 3.2 with no plugins or other render engines.
Feel free to skip steps two and three if you already have an object for the caustics to come from, as well as a 'floor' where they will go.

Delete the default cube and the light, and set the render engine to Cycles, and I suggest using GPU rendering if possible. Under the Render section, I used max 512 samples, min 0, noise threshold of 0.01, along with the OpenImageDenoise for the denoiser, set to the accurate prefilter, with Passes set to "Albedo and Normal". Of course, feel free to change this, but those are the settings I used.
Create a plane, and make it a reasonable size. I'll go with 4x4
Make an object for the caustics to come from. I'll use Suzanne (the monkey). Remember to set this object to "Shade Smooth". I'll also add a subsurface modifier with three levels, but if you already have a high-resolution model, you don't have to use subsurface. If you've been following along, here's how it should look. I've also rotated Suzanne here.

Time to actually add the caustics. Head over the Shading tab, and make a new material for our object, consisting only of a Glass BSDF. Feel free to change the color of it if you want. I'll pick green

For the floor material, I'll just use a default Diffuse BSDF:

Next, create a sun light, and give it some rotation so it isn't just straight down. I'll do 45° for the X and Y rotation, and -90° for the Z rotation. Set the Strength for the Sun light to 8. Note that I specifically used a Sun light, not sure if the other light types will work. Here's how it should look if you've been following along

Caustics aren't enabled by default. We have to manually enable them. Here's where we need to do that:

On the Sun Light, under Object Data Properties (the lightbulb icon - ), turn on Shadow Caustics
On our object (Suzanne, in my case), go into Object Properties (), and enable Cast Shadow Caustics.
On the floor (the plane), go into Object Properties, but this time check Recieve Shadow Caustics

Now let's render it:

Done! Just to go over it one more time, here are the high-level steps we did:

Use the Cycles render engine
Create one or more objects and a floor
Turn on Cast Shadow Caustics for the objects, and Recieve Shadow Caustics for the floor.
Create a bright Sun light with Shadow Caustics turned on for the light

If you're stuck somewhere, here is the finished version:

Good explanation. When I tried the new caustics first, I had a hell of a time trying to figure out why there were no caustics although all settings seemed correct - until I realized that setting the casting object to Shade Smooth is very important.

I was smashing my brain until I read your comment @GordonBrinkmann, thankss!


text:
Moved Textures To Different Folders
So I am trying to fix my blender installation and have an issue where the texture files are no longer where they were when the file was created many moons and hard drives ago. I know where all the texture files are now, but have several dozens of blender files to deal with.
Is there a resource for the format of the blender file so that I could just write a quick program to fix everything?
Or has someone already done this?
I would rather not have to open each file and fix every texture one by one.

What do you mean by "the format of the blender file"? If you mean its location, a short expression for this in Blender's Python library is bpy.path.abspath("//")

You're looking for Find Missing Files. can be automated with bpy.ops.file.find_missing_files().
I'd probably leverage the python API rather than messing with the blend file format. Execute blender.exe --python your_fixup_script.py need_fixing.blend

I could work with that just on a file by file basis, it's not super critical to make them all be up to date. Still knowing the file format I could also scan the files and build a excel worksheet with locations and names and figure out the best strategy to tackling the issue. I should note that textures are in multiple folders.

I haven't messed with the blend file format, but considering there may be differences between versions I'd rather use the same method I mentioned to extract the paths. I've done something similar to mass export meshes.


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Problem with exporting an open lid box with red color inside and white color outside to use in Adobe Stager
I have made a simple box with open lid with red inside and white outside. everything looks good in Blender and export with "write material" selected. But when i import it into Adobe Stager its just an object and no colour. I am pretty new in Blender and cannot figure out where the problem is? Please help.
Also how can I make a box in Blender that I can change the colours in adobe stager? I really appreciate for the help.

This is on the edge of not being about blender. There is a chance that the export is not working as intended, but otherwise I would vote to close this. Adobe Stager might not support the material system Blender exports with, and adapting to a 3PS is not really the scope of this site. Also, you didn’t even mention the file type you are using. Collada, perhaps?

Thanks for the comment. I have exported with both FBX and OBJ. FBX, I selected copy and embed texture. In OBJ it writes the MTL file which is the same as all the objects Adobe Stager use. I was thinking to make a UV map but this is just a simple base color. I have seen videos they import Blender object into Adobe Painter which is the same system as Stager and they can put color on the object. Do you have any recommendation ? Thank you,


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How to set the pivot point when creating a new object with a rotation, using python?
I am doing some modeling to illustrate a specific math geometry. I want to create a tilted line through a point cable_aufpunkt.
import bpy
import numpy as np

cabel_rot_x = 5 * np.pi / 180  # 5° rotation around x axis
cable_rot_y = 3 * np.pi / 180  # 3° rotation around y axis
cable_len = 20  # in meter
cable_radius = .03
cable_depth = .5
cable_dist = .55

cable_aufpunkt = np.array([cable_dist, cable_depth, 0])
bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cylinder_add(location=cable_aufpunkt,
                                    scale=(cable_radius, cable_radius, cable_len),
                                    rotation=(cabel_rot_x, cable_rot_y, np.pi / 2))

However, this line does not touch the point which I specified as location. It got rotated away from it by the rotation=(). I would like for the object to revolve around its median point. How can I do that? Is that even possible at creation time, or do I need to move and rotate it after creating it?

try to rotate in a second op, after creation.

May find these useful. The default origin of a cyl is its median. Object rotation uses origin as pivot. https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/214497/15543  https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/214678/15543

@HananBeer what rotation command would be the right one?

I think you want bpy.ops.transform.rotate(value=3.14) (~pi to rotate 180 degrees)


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Diffuse Map to Mesh
I have a photogrammed object, the diffuse is pretty good but the mesh isn't that great. I know that I could influence the mesh using a displacement map, but unfortunately I don't have one. Is it possible to somehow transfer the details of the diffuse to the model? The goal is to get more details for 3D printing.
Thx!

Hello, use a Displace modifier with the wanted texture and apply the modifier?


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Distortion Issues When Exporting Cat Rigify Animation
I am creating a cat model and rig with a team for a school project. The cat mesh was created in zbrush and has a medium polycount. We followed this tutorial to use rigify with Blender to rig and animate a cat model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I9VRGm45HE.
When inside of blender, the animations look fine. When the model is exported as a .fbx with any combination of export settings, it gets distorted and stretched in weird ways. This issue is mainly centered around the neck and head area.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Before Exporting

Idle animation in Blender (before exporting):
https://youtu.be/yg6MD-_pQZc
Sprinting animation in Blender (before
exporting): https://youtu.be/YjskYxj2j5Y

After exporting

Idle animation after exporting: https://youtu.be/gsR0fgdxiiA
Sprinting animation after exporting: https://youtu.be/kDl9N0ryQbg
Sprinting animation rig after exporting:
https://youtu.be/P8Lzl9fyA70

Image of rig before exporting

Image of rig after exporting

since rigging and exporting is a quite complex process i would recommend providing a blend file so we can check it out.


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how to make background like this (in link)? https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/s/bPavVmocgs

https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/s/bPavVmocgs im beginner,if u know any similar tutorials on yt?

You could use an Input >Layer Weight (Facing output) plugged into a Converter > ColorRamp (with all your colors) plugged into the Output. The Layer Weight uses the normals of your object, it will project a different color depending on how much the normal is parallel or perpendicular to your view:


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how do I export my pose with my character

I want my character in this pose but when i export her and put her in the game i want her in she goes back into the t-pose. What can I do to fix this.

You could either create a keyframe on all her bones and export the action as well, or apply the Armature modifier so that she keeps this pose (but make sure that you've made a copy before applying the modifier)


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Cannot See Keyframes in Animation Nothing Online Helps
I have researched for over 2 hours on this topic. I have an animation that I wanted to loop. I looped it with the NLA editor but when I got back to the timeline, the keyframes were gone! Holding the MMB (middle mouse button) and panning up does not fix my problem. The animation still plays. Here is a video. And yes, I know my animation is simple. I am trying to find the answer because I want to pursue more complicated projects in the future.
Video

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

I don't know how to add images or gifs

There are two links in my comment above explaining how

It looks like you need to click on the character's rig to view the keyframes. Pause the animation, click on the armature, and the frames should show up. I just opened a couple of my files and I couldn't see the keyframes until I clicked on the rig.
You can check the comments for further answers.

Yes. I am positive that I have clicked on my rig. I have been trying to fix this problem for a while now, and that was one of the first things I did. But thank you for the suggestion (:

Have you tried appending it to a different file? What about opening it in a different Blender update?

I can try that. How do you append something? Do you copy it and then paste it into another blender window? Do animations transfer? Also, how do I open it in a different blender update? And would the fact that I use MCprep addon have anything to do with it.

Open Blender. Under the File tab, click Append. Once the Blender file view opens, go to the folder your animation is stored in. Click on your file. It will take you to a long list of file names. Click on the one that says Collection, then click Append. Your character and its rig should pop up in your file, along with the animation attached to your armature. In the viewport, try clicking the rig and then hitting play. Your animation should play and the keyframes should show up in the timeline.

As for opening it in a different Blender version, first make sure your file is saved locally to your desktop. Then go to your File Folder and search for a different Blender update. Once you have it opened, click Open under the File tab, search for your file, and open it. Or you could try appending it using the steps I mentioned above. I'm not sure if your addon could be affecting things. You could try going into Preferences and disabling it, then playing your animation again.

Appending worked, but the keyframes are still not there. But the animation works. Also, this is so much more handier than copying and pasting models. But anyway, I will try a new blender version.

I am so surprised. I got a new blender version, opened it. Appended the file. And the keyframes were not there! I had the armature selected and everything. But, when I inserted a keyframe, it showed that keyframe, but not the others! How?

Plus, the animation still plays! I am so confused.

I fixed it! I exported the model as fbx then re-imported it. The keyframes are now there. But, in case someone has the same problem, how do I make this question awnsered.

Good for you for finding a solution. The keyframes not showing must have been a glitch in your computer. As for marking the question as answered, I've often seen that the post that contained the right answer was marked as correct using the arrows to the left of it.

Okay, I made this post the answer. Can you edit your post and say to check the comments for the full answer? I have seen people do that too.

Which post would you like me to edit? Oh, you meant my answer at the top. Sorry for the confusion.

The one I marked as the answer. The one that we are both commenting on.

Thank you! I will go now, I have some school to do.

Okay, it's edited. Glad I could help. :)


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Rotation keyframes not recorded in python
for n in range(5):
size = n + 1
print(n)
print(size)
#ADD IT ALL TO PARENT EMPTY OBJECT
bpy.ops.object.empty_add(type='SPHERE', align='WORLD', location=(0, 0, n + 1), scale=(1, 1, 1))
empty_obj = context.object

add_circle(size,empty_obj)
add_text(n,empty_obj)

#add keyframes for empty object rotation

#start settings first frame here
scene.frame_set(scene.frame_start)
current_frame = bpy.context.scene.frame_current
empty_obj.rotation_euler[2] = 0.0
#empty_obj.keyframe_insert("rotation_euler",current_frame)
empty_obj.keyframe_insert(data_path="rotation_euler",frame=current_frame)

#settings middle frame here
empty_obj.rotation_euler[2] = 6.0

# Set keyframe for middle frame.
scene.frame_set(scene.frame_start + (scene.frame_end - scene.frame_start) // 2)
current_frame = bpy.context.scene.frame_current
empty_obj.keyframe_insert(data_path="rotation_euler",frame=current_frame)

#settings last frame here
empty_obj.rotation_euler[2] = 0.0
# Set keyframe for last frame.
scene.frame_set(scene.frame_end)
current_frame = bpy.context.scene.frame_current
#empty_obj.keyframe_insert("rotation_euler",current_frame)
empty_obj.keyframe_insert(data_path="rotation_euler",frame=current_frame)

I'm trying to record the rotation of my empty object, and the keyframes are added, but the value is not changed (empty_obj.rotation_euler[2] = 6.0). I can't seem to find the documentation in the api either for this method obj.keyframe_insert(). What am I missing?

frame_set will change the value. Try the order frame_set => set the value you want => keyframe_insert.

Could you fix the cut'n'paste of your code?  It seems to have lost all indentation, and you're using the variable scene without having set it anywhere, among others. Is it bpy.context.scene perhaps?

the scene is set just above this code block. I know the indentation... I don't know how to set it right, tab does not work.

@scurest thanks, the order was indeed the reason! My bad, sloppiness by working to fast without proper re-reading.

@hdries Glad it worked. You also don't need to do both frame_set and pass the frame to keyframe_insert. Either one or other will work (just passing the frame and not doing frame_set would be easier I think).


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Can the Mesh Deform modifier do something that the Surface Deform Modifier can't?
While the mesh deform modifier seems to give slightly better deformations, I can't find a situation where I wouldn't just use the surface deform. Can somebody enlighten me please?

The main difference is that Mesh deform works with any arbitrary mesh, like a lattice modifier with a 3D cube, but you're not restricted to cubes.
Mesh Deform Modifier:

Surface deform is optimized for 2D meshes, like planes, usually meant for cloth simulations.
You can see how using a surface deform modifier with the 3D mesh kind of breaks down.

But use it with a 2D mesh and it works great.

that makes sense, thank you !


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Video Editing: apply transformation to mupliple images
I am a complete Blender noob. I am editing a simple video (no 3D objects) and I am trying to apply the same transformation to multiple images at once. However, I can't select and apply to multiple.
system info:
version: 3.5.1, branch: blender-v3.5-release, commit date: 2023-04-24 18:11, hash: e1ccd9d4a1d3, type: release
build date: 2023-04-24, 23:31:15
platform: 'Linux-6.2.0-36-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.35'
binary path: '/home/foo/Desktop/blender-3.5.1-linux-x64/blender'
build cflags:  -Wall -Werror=implicit-function-declaration -Werror=return-type -Werror=vla -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wno-char-subscripts -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wpointer-arith -Wunused-parameter -Wwrite-strings -Wlogical-op -Wundef -Winit-self -Wmissing-include-dirs -Wno-div-by-zero -Wtype-limits -Wformat-signedness -Wrestrict -Wno-stringop-overread -Wno-stringop-overflow -Wnonnull -Wabsolute-value -Wuninitialized -Wredundant-decls -Wshadow -Wno-error=unused-but-set-variable -Wimplicit-fallthrough=5  -std=gnu11 -msse -pipe -fPIC -funsigned-char -fno-strict-aliasing -ffp-contract=off -msse2
build cxxflags:  -Wuninitialized -Wredundant-decls -Wall -Wno-invalid-offsetof -Wno-sign-compare -Wlogical-op -Winit-self -Wmissing-include-dirs -Wno-div-by-zero -Wtype-limits -Werror=return-type -Wno-char-subscripts -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wpointer-arith -Wunused-parameter -Wwrite-strings -Wundef -Wformat-signedness -Wrestrict -Wno-suggest-override -Wuninitialized -Wno-stringop-overread -Wno-stringop-overflow -Wundef -Wmissing-declarations -Wimplicit-fallthrough=5  -msse -pipe -fPIC -funsigned-char -fno-strict-aliasing -ffp-contract=off -msse2
build linkflags:  -Wl,--version-script='/home/blender/git/blender-v350/blender.git/source/creator/symbols_unix.map'
build system: CMake
windowing environment: 'X11'

Steps I followed:

go to video editing

Add image

select image

repeat until I add 3 images

Put images in a single channel

before applying transformation to single image

after applying transformation to single image (the green bullets show the transformations I applied)

I expected that if multiple images were selected and I would edit the transformations the transformation would be applied to all the selected images. However this is not happening

select multiple images

but transformation is only applied to the image (object in the video editor) with the white contour, not the orange ones

Edit: added Blender system info

In almost all parts of Blender, entering a value in a field only changes the value of the active object of which the value is shown in that field.
There are two mostly common ways to change them together if you have multiple objects selected:

Hold Alt while you click into the field to change a value. This way all selected objects will get this same value in the according field. //Edit: According to the comments, it seems you have to use Alt+Shift and click on Ubuntu. By the way, holding Alt to change multiple objects also works if you are scrolling a slider to change the value. But then it will change by the same amount, not end in the same value and work like method 2 below.

or

Click into the field, enter a value, then press Alt+Return to confirm it. This way, the values in the other fields will be changed by the same amount.

Examples: Let's say, (active) object1 has a value of 2.0 and another object2 has a value of 3.0 in a field you want to change.
Method 1: Changing the value to 2.5 will make it 2.5 for both.
Method 2: Changing the value to 2.5 will make it 3.5 on object2.
On objects where they all share the same value, those methods won't make a difference and it does not matter which one you choose. Having different values however will result in different values in method 2.
The change in method 2 is in absolute values, not relative, i.e. if you have the values 1 and 3, doubling the 1 so you have 2 will not double the 3 to 6, it only adds the difference so you get 4.

Thanks a lot! Method 2 worked out of the box. For method 1, since I am on Ubuntu I had to use Alt + Shift + click https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/119873/176564

I didn't know you could do that (especially not the 'relative' change) - very nice!

@RichSedman Dangerously enough I've seen YT tutorials where the tutors teach people the second method but explaining you could do this to make all values the same - the problem is, this all just worked "by accident" in their tutorials because the selected objects had no differing values which makes it result similar to the first method.

@vkats Oh, good to know - I'll add this in the answer for future users using Ubuntu.

I've just tried method 1 with a couple of rotated cubes and it seems to be 'relative' whatever I do.

Oh, I see what I did wrong. You have to hold Alt while clicking in the field to edit it, not hold Alt while pressing Enter. I think....

@RichSedman Correct, because Alt while pressing Enter is method 2, not method 1. Still it is not relative, but absolute... But I've also added something to method 1: if you hold Alt while scrolling a slider, this will work like method 2, only applying the amount of change. But using a slider with method 2 is not possible.

Thanks - I think it was the sliding that caused my confusion. That and not reading your instructions properly :-D

Throughout Blender, if you have multiple "objects" selected (and one is the 'active' "objects"), changing the properties only affects the 'active' one (the white bordered one in your case). However, right-clicking the property should bring up a menu include a 'Copy to Selected' option. Selecting this option will propagate that setting to all of the other 'Selected' ones.

oh! that works too, thanks for sharing that tip


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Evee DoF actual Render different to rendered camera view?
I'm new to Blender and was wondering can anyone shed some light on the following and why this would be happening please? (apologies in advance for any improper terminology)
So, I've a rotating sphere animation and want to use to Depth of Field to create some nice bokeh blur styling for animation. In my rendered view I've set the camera to how I'd like it to look, which is showing this;

However, when I render out the image the bokeh effect appears to be not as strong?;

Any ideas why this difference would be happening? I have used DoF before and never encountered this problem until now?
Thanks

I cannot tell this for sure from the screenshots, but just a question: how large in pixels is the viewport window and how large is the rendered image? At least in the Compositor with things like the Glare filter and others I know that the effect varies depending on the image size.

Hi thanks for replying, I'm not sure how to get my viewport pixel size? but the output for rendering I've set to the 4K UHDTV 2160p setting.

I don't know how to get the viewport pixel size, take a screenshot and crop it to the camera window? Doesn't really matter anyway, it changes everytime you zoom in or out... but since it's most likely just a (small) portion of the whole screen it is probably a lot smaller than the rendered image... as I said, no idea if this is the problem here. Just something that might have an effect.


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blender loop cut tab doesnt appear

Hi someone knows how can I extend that tab that is cuted? and I cant change the values of the loop cut. thanks

Hello, what tab is cut? To change the loopcut number, use MMB or + and - of the number keys

Presumably the bottom-left adjustment one as shown! Useful if you want to add a particular number of loop cuts and only appears after you've clicked or pressed Return to complete the loop so you can't then use MMB or  + - keys. I've never seen that cutoff effect here.


text:
Instancing Objects - New (Kinda) Feature?
Ok so I’ve been playing around with instancing and duplicating linked. Both are very cool.
It seems that duplicating linked has most of the performance of instancing, but with the added flexibility of being able to change object properties, while using the same mesh. Aka the verts / faces / memory of the scene stay consistent regardless of how many you have in the scene.
However, it’s always confused me as to how you can instance a collection, instance a child object on a parent’s vertices and faces, but you can’t just instance an object by itself. For cases where you want everything to be replicated, including the settings of the object, a pure instance on an object level would be very nice, without having to add it to a collection first. The mechanism seems to be there in terms of already being able to instance children on the parents vertexes / faces.
Would you all find that a useful feature?
Can you already do this, and I’m just not seeing it?

Instancing objects works with mesh objects, not empties. You have to make the instanced mesh a child of the instancer. Then choose whether you want to instance on faces or vertices. The most simple setup is to instance an object on a parent instancer with a single vertex at 0, 0, 0, giving the same functionality as an instanced collection, but you can only do it once since an object can only have one parent. But you can duplicate the vertex in edit mode to instance several copies of the child object.

I don't see what would be the advantage of such a thing at first glance, to be honest. Isn't Alt+D duplicating linked already that (and more, as you say)?

@Gorgious I think you misunderstood my question. What I was asking is whether having an option on empties to instance objects (that aren't their children) like you can collections, would be useful. I already know about instancing children on parent vertices and faces. It's useful for having those objects form the shape of the parent, but gets pretty convoluted if you want to just instance those objects around and have to add more vertices around. Hence the question of adding that as an option to the empty instance property, to instance objects.

@Kuboå I think the benefit of this option would be that instances instance the object data as well, not just the mesh data. So having a 1000 instances of one object vs 1000 duplicated linked objects means you only have one object, and all of the settings on that object the its instances are the same, since it's an instance, not a duplicated object with a linked mesh. Does that make sense?

Have you explored Geometry Nodes ? An instance on points on a single vertex should achieve what you're after

@Lichen Yeah it does make some sense, and perhaps it is surprising that it didn't come first—what did they do before Collections were a thing? But I guess simply putting the object in a collection is so easy (and also gives you an option of adding more objects to the instances down the line) that it's not exactly a "missing" feature that's holding the user back, so while I wouldn't mind having the option, I wouldn't bother trying to convince the devs either.

@Gorgious I have indeed! They're very cool. This question is more directed at being able to create object instances quickly and using them in specific locations in a scene. I could use geo nodes for it but it would require more setup and time than justing being able to click select an object and then from the add menu "Create Object Instance" and move it where desired. Thanks though!

@Kuboå For sure! That was my thinking. I would have thought that object instancing would have come before collection instancing. Especially with the fact that you cant move objects in the collection that is instanced without affecting the placement of the objects in the instanced collection (least as far as I can tell), since collections are more like boundless layers than they are localized to the objects inside them. Hence why they don't have transforms, origins etc. Which makes sense given their nature.

@Kuboå Which is where object instances would be great, since the instance could be based on the object origin. Which would allow you to move the object that the instance is based on, without having that move the instance.
I'm going to see if I can figure out how to add that feature since it would be super useful for me. In the meantime duplicate linked is fine, just not ideal for some cases.

AFAICT the feature that resembles the most what you are looking for is the library override workflow, but it requires linking objects from other files, as you can't override an object that's inside the current file. Weird limitation but I think improvements are in the works.


text:
Help With Bending Surfaces
I am trying to create a plane so it switches from 0 degrees to 90 degrees in a smooth motion. I've seen it done, and want to try and duplicate it. However. I don't know how. This is as far as I've gotten:

Right now I am trying to take that center row and bring it out so the angle isn't 90 degrees, but instead is a smoother transition. I have tried to bevel and extrude the edge / vertices but haven't had the results that I am looking for. Thanks in advance.

you mean you want to round the edge? so why are you not satisfied with bevel?

When I say round, I want the lower surface curve towards the surface on the side. When I try and use the bevel tool, the image distorts or there are more vertices but no change to the image's appearance.

do you have a picture of what you want to achieve?

I managed to solve the problem after starting a new project. For some reason, the edge didn't act up strangely. The bevel works now, but for some mysterious reason the object's traits were changed. and I don't know what I did to cause that problem.

sorry for wasting your time.

Maybe, Although I don't know how as I am still relatively new to Blender

you should show the result so that we understand better what you wanted to achieve

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


text:
I can't shade only one object
I can't shade just one object. What happens is I make some shader and it works, the problem is that it shades all objects. How do I shade just one object? If it helps, I am making a jello simulation.

There is a difference between materials and material slots. By default, each object shares the same material slot when first created (Material). To add a new material slot to an object, click the plus button next to the material name box. This will let you give it a material that is different than the base material that all objects share.

Next, press the plus button below the box to add a new material to that slot.

Once the new material is made, you can make it the primary material on an object by picking its main material slot and changing the material in that slot by clicking the "globe" button and selecting it from the list.

You can remove slots from objects by using the minus button to the right of the "Slot Name" box. Remember, the ability to have multiple slots is there for a reason, an object will often have multiple slots, with the materials in those slots assigned to different areas of the object.


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Embedding text in curved surface
I've been trying to create a keycap, with a slightly translucent letter embedded and lit up by an emmision texture. I've mostly been succesful but i've hit a brick wall, I used the boolean operation to embed the extruded letter which left me with a lot of ngons. This causes weird shading issues, I know they are caused by bad topology but I  just don't know HOW to fix the topology to remove these shading problems. If anyone has any ideas on how to fix this, please let me known. Thanks
A few images to clarify the situation :
Mesh  :

Shading issues :

Rendered result :

I think your main problem are the normals, that is what looks bad, you could improve topology too but what I would suggest is to keep in place a copy of the original object -before cutting the B- and transfer the normals to the new mesh... for this you can use a transfer data modifier with a vertex group as a mask, then apply it if you want
about topology, having a better cookie-cut object, maybe with a bit lower resolution could help I guess

i am not sure how you want it to look like, but if you add a remesh modifier, you will get:

I'm trying to get rid of the shading issues caused by the ngons, it's not visible during the render since it's barely visible (It can only really be seen when using a MatCap). It's not really an issue with this render but i'm just trying to find out how I can prevent this bad topology from happening in the future. I'm not sure if you applied the remesh on the keycap or the text, i've tried it out on both but it doesn't seem to help. Thanks anyway!

I think the main factor is the topology.
In order for smooth-shading to interpolate normals in a way that simulates curvature on underlying polygonal geometry, it must have data-points to interpolate between, that are a reasonable  approximation of a curved surface. If your polygonal surface is split in only one direction, the smoothing has nothing to go by along the long straight edges, resulting in artefacts:

If the polygonal surface is split in both directions, the smoothing interpolation has something to get its teeth into:

This is before repairing the Boolean mesh, or pulling any tricks like transferring normals from an intact version of the surface.


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How to fix shadow artifacts on a simple planme
I have a simple rectangular cube mesh that renders correctly in Eevee but has strange shadow effects on the top and sides when I render in Cycles. I've confirmed there is no Custom Split Normals Data, the normals are facing outward, and there are no other objects in the scene that could be casting shadows. The top pic is with Eevee and the bottom is with Cycles. I've also attached the project folder. Any ideas?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wyn9pv7r8cycvk9/Skybox.zip?dl=0

Hi could you first go to file>external data>pack all into blend and then send the file please instead of sharing a ZIP file

It seems to be related to floating-point precision. See: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/207480/floating-point-precision-problem-with-transparency

Applying the scale helps a lot, as does moving the object closer to the world origin.

The Origin of your object is problematically far away from your mesh; as Ron Jensen said, it's floating point precision.
Apply the location of the object, or perform Origin to geometry and you'll be fine.

That got rid of the artifacts, thanks! Your a lifesaver!


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How to move bones with quaternions on realdata
sorry for stupid questions, I am new on blender..
My question is how can i move bones when i recive data via serial port.
So i get quaternion via serial port and want to set the values on the bones.
i tried it like this but it does not work, but the part without blender is working with python.
import bpy
from math import *
from mathutils import *
import serial

class q:
    def __init__(self, id, w, x, y, z):
        self.id = id
        self.w = w
        self.x = x
        self.y = y
        self.z = z

class offset:
    def __init__(self, sender, x_accel, y_accel, z_accel, x_gyro, y_gyro, z_gyro):
        self.sender = sender
        self.x_accel = x_accel
        self.y_accel = y_accel
        self.z_accel = z_accel
        self.x_gyro = x_gyro
        self.y_gyro = y_gyro
        self.z_gyro = z_gyro

ser = serial.Serial('COM11', 115200)
if (ser.isOpen()):
    while True:
        a = ser.readline()
        aa = a.decode()
        # print(a)
        # print(aa)
        einzeldaten = aa.split(",")
        # print(einzeldaten)
        while n <= 3:
            if einzeldaten[0] == "Hand":
                q_Hand = q(einzeldaten[0], einzeldaten[1], einzeldaten[2], einzeldaten[3], einzeldaten[4])
                #print(q_Hand.id, q_Hand.w, q_Hand.x, q_Hand.y, q_Hand.z)
            elif einzeldaten[0] == "UnderArm":
                q_UnderArm = q(einzeldaten[0], einzeldaten[1], einzeldaten[2], einzeldaten[3], einzeldaten[4])
                # print(q_UnderArm.id, q_UnderArm.w, q_UnderArm.x, q_UnderArm.y, q_UnderArm.z)
            elif einzeldaten[0] == "UpperArm":
                q_UpperArm = q(einzeldaten[0], einzeldaten[1], einzeldaten[2], einzeldaten[3], einzeldaten[4])
                #print(q_UpperArm.id, q_UpperArm.w, q_UpperArm.x, q_UpperArm.y, q_UpperArm.z)
            #elif einzeldaten[0] == "Hand_Off":
                #offset_Hand = offset(einzeldaten[0], einzeldaten[1], einzeldaten[2], einzeldaten[3], einzeldaten[4],einzeldaten[5], einzeldaten[6])
                # print(offset_Hand.sender, offset_Hand.x_accel, offset_Hand.y_accel, offset_Hand.z_accel,offset_Hand.x_gyro, offset_Hand.y_gyro, offset_Hand.z_gyro)
            #elif einzeldaten[0] == "UnderArm_Off":
                #offset_UnderArm = offset(einzeldaten[0], einzeldaten[1], einzeldaten[2], einzeldaten[3], einzeldaten[4],einzeldaten[5], einzeldaten[6])
                # print(offset_UnderArm.sender, offset_UnderArm.x_accel, offset_UnderArm.y_accel,offset_UnderArm.z_accel, offset_UnderArm.x_gyro, offset_UnderArm.y_gyro,offset_UnderArm.z_gyro)
            #elif einzeldaten[0] == "UpperArm_Off":
                #offset_UpperArm = offset(einzeldaten[0], einzeldaten[1], einzeldaten[2], einzeldaten[3], einzeldaten[4],einzeldaten[5], einzeldaten[6])
                #print(offset_UpperArm.sender, offset_UpperArm.x_accel, offset_UpperArm.y_accel,offset_UpperArm.z_accel, offset_UpperArm.x_gyro, offset_UpperArm.y_gyro,offset_UpperArm.z_gyro)

            bpy.ops.object.posemode_toggle()

            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone"].rotation_quaternion[0] = q_UpperArm.w
            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone"].rotation_quaternion[1] = q_UpperArm.x
            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone"].rotation_quaternion[2] = q_UpperArm.y
            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone"].rotation_quaternion[3] = q_UpperArm.z

            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone.001"].rotation_quaternion[0] = q_UnderArm.w
            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone.001"].rotation_quaternion[1] = q_UnderArm.x
            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone.001"].rotation_quaternion[2] = q_UnderArm.y
            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone.001"].rotation_quaternion[3] = q_UnderArm.z

            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone.002"].rotation_quaternion[0] = q_Hand.w
            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone.001"].rotation_quaternion[1] = q_Hand.x
            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone.001"].rotation_quaternion[2] = q_Hand.y
            bpy.context.object.pose.bones["Bone.001"].rotation_quaternion[3] = q_Hand.z

else:
    print("Port not open")

Maybe someone is so nice and can help me and point me to the right direction
Thanks and best regards

What 'does not work'?  That is, what happens to your object when it receives data and blender is running?

Sorry for my late response. I tried to do that stuff with other programms but i found no way. My problem is, that the bones only move after i stop the script. How to update the bones with my quaternions live? thanks


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Paint Pre-Made PBR Materials
What is the best way to paint an existing PBR Material (i.e. one that I have downloaded) onto a model? My first guess would have been using texture painting mode, but as far as I know, this only allows painting a single texture at the same time. This does not work with PBR Materials, b/c all of the different maps need to be painted at the same time in exactly the same way.
Is my assumption wrong on how to paint PBR Materials or is there another way that I can not see?

You can use a texture as a black and white mask for a mix shader switching between your pbr shader and another one

Yes, in my current model I could also use multiple materials and assign them to different surfaces. But I still have very noticeable seams because of UV unwrapping (the model mostly a cylinder) and I would like to paint the texture in such a way that it is seamless.

If using two or more materials inside a single shader tree, I'd suggest using the landscape masking set up with the 4 color split to be able to stencil multiple materials with some success.  https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/49705/texture-splatting-mix-multiple-4-textures


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How can I model a non-symmetrical animal?
In short, I am trying to achieve a lowpoly model of an animal looking to one side. I have up until now been using the mirror modifier for my models but now I want to add a bit more character by having it looking to one side. I of course then want to mirror the head, just facing a direction.
I have drawn the model already and my plan was to just manipulate the head to suit.
QUESTION: How can I achieve this and mirror the head?
Am I going about this the right way?
I can share pictures later if this will help.
Regards, Jack

Eventually you have to apply the mirror modifier (save a copy of the character before you do) and then make the modifications if you want the model to be asymmetric. But it sounds like you want to pose your model, which is done by adding an armature (skeleton) and manipulating the armature.

a solution would be to create a symmetrical object, then parent it to an armature, and move the head bone. This way you always keep the default pose. You could also use the Proportional Editing option to move or rotate the head, or the Pose brush, in Sculpt mode, but these 2 solutions are destructive

Great. And thanks a bunch for your comments. I have managed to have a play around with the Armature feature, my follow up question would be why does it snap back to symmetrical when I go back to edit mode? The piece if for a sheet metal sculpture and I need to flatten faces once it's posing. Thanks again.

UPDATE: I have managed to select then right click and 'convert to' mesh. Now it appears that I can edit it in 'edit mode'


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Using bevelled curves to wrap a profile around an object results in squished sides?
I'm having the following problem and would hope someone can help me there. I usually use curves to wrap a profile around an object, e.g. a cornice around a building. This however results in squished sides when there are edges, as can be seen in the picture as well. I know why it happens (the profile is projected in a 45° angle on the edge) and how to solve it afterwards, but with a complex object it is quite annoying to scale it with squrt(2) at every corner. Is there a solution to avoid this alltogether and have all sides of the resulting cornice be parallel to the object?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance! :)

in the panel, under Shape, try to enable 2D instead of 3D

I tried this already, but seems to me it literally brings the curve in a 2 dimensional setting, bringing it to z=0 and flattening it in the process if it had a more complex shape, so this wasn't a suitable solution to me

are you sure you were able to do it with a 3D curve?

No, as the cirve was turned into a 2d curve, making it unasable for cornices where I use it https://imgur.com/GOG1LF6

see here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/66353/how-to-make-beveled-90-degree-corners-on-a-curve-better

it's a limitation of Blender, for the moment, if you use 3D shape, you won't get a rectangular corner. I think it's in the todo list ;)

This is disappointing. But thanks for the heads-up!


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Curve: Bevel object faces wrong direction, how to fix?
so I created a curve and applied the profile of a cornice as bevel to it in order to quickly wrap a cornice around a building. My Problem is, that the resulting cornice is facing inwards though, as opposed to outwards as it's supposed to. Is there a solution other than rotating the profile object itself to fix this?

I am using this profile for a cornice on a different location as well, where it is properly facing outwards, so rotating it for this cornice would just cause the very same problem on the other cornice.
Thanks!

Maybe you have to switch the direction of your spline.
It's a possibility you might want to consider, although to be frank, it's a mystery to me. Here's a curve comprising two 2D splines. The only difference between the splines is that the one on the right has been subdivided.

For some reason, switching the direction of the splines twists the spline on the right by 90 degrees, and has no effect on the spline on the left.

Edit: So as Duarte points out, the following solution works if your curve is 3D, and scaling negatively is probably the best idea in your case.
You can play with the vertex Tilt value: select the curve, switch to Edit mode, select all the vertices and press CtrlT 180, or open the N panel > Item > Mean Tilt > 180:

Tilt only works for 3D curves which cause distortions on corners, it also only rotates the profile, doesn't hadle mirroring which seems to be the OP issue. Things that may work here are mirroring the bevel object, scaling it negatively, or inverting directions on either the curve or the bevel object

How can I invert the direction on the curve? I don't want to edit the bevel object in this case.

oh ok I may have missed something, that said you can avoid distortions on corners with 3D curves, it depends on its shape, but scaling negatively is probably the best idea


text:
How do I use the exact color of one part, then put it on another part?
The title might be a bit confusing, buts lets say I import a 3D model and the torso is blue. how would I select that exact color and put it on the legs? Thank you.

you can take a look at the material and Ctrl C the color that is used

Follow this GIF if you want to assign a colour to a different object.
Hover over the base colour selection in your object and press ⌃ Ctrl + C on your keyboard to copy the colour, then hover of the base colour option in your other object and press ⌃ Ctrl + V to paste it.

Please follow this GIF if you want to assign the same colour to the faces in the same object
Select your object, press ↹ Tab to go to Edit mode, create a new material, copy the colour by hovering over the base colour option and pressing ⌃ Ctrl + C on your keyboard, then paste it into the new material that you created by hovering over the base colour option and pressing ⌃ Ctrl + V.


text:
Rendered file is unreadable
When I render an animation, and attempt to view the file it's just a blank icon that says it's a .avi, but none of my software can view it or even see that it's there. I know it's not a compatibility issue because I have other .avi on my computer that I can view.
I am rendering in Eevee viewport at 16 samples on a mac + 2.8 and 3.2 for render tests. I tried restarting my compouter, reinstalling blender, using an older version of my blend file. Kinda at my wit's end here and I'd appreciate any insight.

'I know it's not a compatibility issue because I have other .avi on my computer that I can view.' Well that still could be the actual issues. AVI is just a container, it can have videos made out of many codecs, some of which you might not have support for. What are your codec settings in Blender? Also, consider not exporting in video at all ; check Why render in image sequences and which formats to use

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/182033/rendered-image-is-blank-or-white-or-shows-as-a-text-file-in-the-filebrowser https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/201450/blender-will-not-render-any-videos/


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Mirror transform applying from object centre point
So I'm creating a character model where I've been utilising the mirror modifier to project the parts of the body from one side onto the other successfully, however, I'm having issue with the hand. When mirrored it mirrors over itself instead of across to the other side of the model. In addition to this I have also found that when trying to apply transforms the hand is moved and rotated.
Any help on this would be very much appreciate, its got me pretty stuck, and I'd like to avoid having to remodel an entire hand again.

Apply the rotation of the hand to make sure that its orientation is aligned with the global orientation, which is more convenient, and also keep in mind that the Mirror, by default, will use the object's origin as mirror center, so if you want the hand to be mirrored on the other side you can move the origin or choose a mirror object like an empty or another object

Thanks for the reply, I set the origin to the 3d cursor at the center, however when I mirror it doesn't go to the correct place, its going its close-ish but not right. As for Applying rotation, this literally makes it rotate by like 20 degrees each time I do it, even subsequently.

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

Thrown it up, hope you have some luck with it

you need to share the link it will give you (i.e. the URL it will generate)

Ah sorry, I haven't used this before https://pasteall.org/blend/e353b0d3efaf44f2a91b5a5852d17ff8

it's ok, please see my answer, you've changed the Delta Transform values

You've changed the Delta Transform values, it moves and rotate your object, bring them back to the default values:

Great, that did the trick, thanks allot for the time and help. I'd vote up your answer if I had to rep to do so


text:
Cycles renders coming out speckled and low resolution, how can I improve this?
The render below was done with cycles with sampling set to 128. I've done renders in the past that have come out nicely with what I believed are the same settings, so I must have clicked or slid a slider by mistake but I haven't been able to figure out what I've done.
I should add I've tried raising the sampling to no avail (though it wouldn't be a proper solution to the issue if it had compensated I imagine).
I've screen capped the settings for the render below, any help would be appreciated, thanks.

It can be dependent on what BSDFs and which features you're using.  SSS for example introduces a lot of noise and takes a lot more samples to resolve.

Were you/are you running a denoiser?

Thanks for the response. I'm not familiar with BSDF or SSS but I did try the denoiser set to NLM which seems to partially resolve my issue by doing what it says on the tin, however the resolution is still poor, even after increasing the render resolution to 2560 1440.

F12 should render with the settings under Dimensions - Resolution XY at that you provided in the post, you're saying that increasing those values and rendering again spit out the same image?

Can you show the geometry in edit mode? It might be just not enough geometry.
Similar artifacts with smooth shading are produced when lacking geometry like here:

Or you could try to recalculate normals to see if any of the artifacts are a normals issue.

Thanks for the response but this is not the answer I am looking for. Zoom into the image and look at the shadows, these areas are noisy and the resolution of the render is poor, regardless of how I set the resolution or increasing the samples.

Okay so if the noise is the problem then it's just how blender is. Sometimes there is this level of noise even on 1000+ samples depending on the scene.
I suggest just using AI denoiser:
1)Go to layer properties
2)Locate "Denoising Data" under Passes and check it
3)Now in compositor place in a denoise node between input and output and connect all corresponding inputs and you should have noiseless render after compositing even on 10 samples. Tough I'd recommend bigger sample count as small sample count can cause blurriness and artefacts after denoising


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Joining mesh with mirror modifiers, but i don't want the modifier on all of them
So i'm making a character model:
I got the lower half of the body, the 2 arms, and a piece of cloth for the torso. The lower half and the arms both have the mirror modifier on.
I would like to join all of them, but without applying the mirror modifier to the piece of cloth.
How can I do that ?

you can't, you need to apply the modifier, otherwise it will apply to the joined object

You can't.  Join results in the modifiers being applied to all of what were previously independent meshes because they're all now one mesh. The old individual meshes are now disconnected islands in the new mesh.  You can almost accomplish what you want with parenting though.  will that work for you?

Thank you for your responses but how do i "apply" the mirror modifier ? there is no apply button.
And how do i use parenting ?

in the modifier, click on the down arrow and there you'll find the Apply button, or select the modifier and Ctrl A

Ty moonboots it's exactly what i needed.

As has been mentioned in comments, you can't.  That's okay, because it's not usually necessary to do so.  Models can usually exist just fine as multiple objects.
Every once in a while, you want a single object with some stuff mirrored and some stuff not, and you want or need that to be live.  In that case, rather than limiting the mirror modifier, you can run a full mirror and then use a mask modifier to delete some mirrored geometry:

For each object that you don't want mirrored, select it, create a vertex group (we'll call it "mirrormask.L"), and assign all vertices to that vertex group.

Join all the objects.  Create a vertex group on the new object that mirrors your first vertex group-- so in this case, "mirrormask.R".

On your object's mirror modifier, make sure that "vertex groups" are enabled (default) and that merge is disabled.

Give your object a mask modifier.  Specify the vertex group of the mask modifier as mirrormask.R, then invert the vertex group with the button to the right of its field on the modifier.

If you need mirror's "merge" functionality, you can give it a shot.  It might not cause any problems-- it depends on your specific geometry.  An alternative to merge is the weld modifier, which can be used after masking away any unwanted geometry.


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Viewport overlays window doesn't change between object mode and edit mode
the title says it all. I'm trying to follow a modeling tutorial, and I'm already stuck at the start of the process because the UI doesn't allow me to see what I should be seeing.
I just want to see the measurements part of the viewport overlays window, but it doesn't show.

I'm on blender 4.01, if it can help.
Any ideas why?

Measurements are on the next icon, just on the right of the one you've clicked on in the picture.

Since Blender 4 it's in the Mesh Edit Mode Overlays panel:

I love you man, thank you so much.


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Cone surface definition in relation to other geometries, and intersection of cone surface and plane
I am new to Blender and would like to create a 3D graphic for a technical paper.
The three-view drawing of what I need is shown below. There is a line (purple in the figure) that intersects with the x-axis at a point "a". It has the angle mu with the x-axis and the angle theta from the z-axis when looked at from the -x direction. There is a cone surface (green in the figure) with its axis parallel to the x-axis. The axis of the cone surface has a distance r from the x-axis. The purple line is on the cone surface. I want to show how the intersection (red in the figure) of the cone surface and the xy-plane changes when r is changed, and intersection a is unchanged. How can this be achieved? If Blender is not suitable for this kind of graphic, please provide recommendations for other software.

I have read some manuals, seen some tutorials, and tried multiple times. Here is an example of what I have tried.
I set the origin of the cone surface to its apex and added "Clamp To" constraint with the line (purple in the figure above) as a target. I added an armature to the base of the cone surface and added a hook modifier to the base of the cone surface so that it follows the armature. I added "Clamp To" constraint to the armature with the line (purple in the figure above) as a target. I hoped that when I scale the cone surface, it is always on the line. However, for some reason, it cannot be scaled when I scale the cone surface. I was planning to add more constraints to achieve what I need but this model does not work at this point already.

I don't know if Blender is a best tool to do it or if this proposal is the best approach.

Using geometry nodes you can define a cone, put a horizontal line above it and project this line vertically to the cone (we could calculate a hyperbola also, but I think this approach is more simple).
The cone is created with a given depth and with a radius calculated using mu angle and shifted down (per choice) so that its summit is at 0.
Then the cone is shifted so that it corresponds to the theta/R constraint.
The line is created above the cone, so that it correspond to the cone diameter, using the cone bounding box (we don't want to guess the exact length here, the next step will do it for us).
Then the line is projected on the cone using a raycast. Either it hits the cone and the line point is placed at this hit position or it does not and the point is eliminated.
At the end, you can rotate the figure so that it fits to your question (but it is harder to navigate in Blender when axis are presented like this).

 (Blender 4.0)

Thank you! It was slightly different from what I needed, but I managed to make what I needed based on the file you provided.


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Procedural studio scene during rendering
I'm new to Blender.
I will have many different 3D models that I would like to render on the same scene, it should be a simple studio scene with lighting and a background.
I would like to know if it's possible to automatically create the scene, like lighting and background plane every time I render one of the 3D models, so I would not need to setup the scene for each 3D model.
I imagine something like a preset that when I render, it will create the scene on the fly and the elements like background plane are not saved along with the 3D model.

I'm not understanding the question, so I may not be able to answer it correctly.
It sounds like you are wanting Blender to automatically generate the studio scene for you whenever you render your 3d models.
My suggestion is that you build your scene in one Blender file and your models in another. Then you can Append your models to your scene and render them together. If this is not the answer you're looking for, please edit your post for clarification.

Yes, this is what I want to do. But I would like to avoid having to open a scene file and then put the object there as you said.

So you want the 3d models to be in the studio scene? Where does rendering the models separately come in?


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Shader Nodes - Texture Coordinate Node - How to move the "center" of the "Window" output
I've used this output before in order to give objects flat/2D-looking "Chowder-like" materials, I've mostly been using it because it doesn't get distorted by the shape of the object, it stays nice and flat.

This time instead of a material I'd like to apply a gradient [set the color ramp to constant so it's easier to see what I wanna do] and I'd like for it to "follow" the object.
For example: If the object moves to the right side of the screen, I want the texture to move in the same direction by the same amount.
I'm aware that I can manually adjust the values in the mapping node's "location" socket [I did just that for the images below], it would be way more convenient for me however if I could make it automatic, so the "center" of the "window" is wherever the object is without me having to manually adjust it each time.
In short, here's what happens when I move the cube from the image above to the right:

And here's what I want to happen:

In case there's a completely different method for this or a workaround:
What I want to do is essentially apply a "2D Gradient" on an object, one that looks like what you'd get if you put a render of the object in an image-editing software [example: Photoshop] and applied a gradient on top of/over it.

If it's only a gradient you should use object coordinates. Is it only a gradient or is it going to be a 2D texture?

also what do you mean by 2d gradient? A gradient is 1D, unless there are two gradients on top of each other.

I might have gotten the terms mixed up, my apologies. By "2D gradient" I meant one that look 2D, as in it looks like it has been applied in a [2D] image editing software.
Basically I want it to look flat, I don't want it to follow the object's shape/geometry in any way.
I'm very sorry if it doesn't make much sense, I've recently started doing 3D after only doing 2D.

I am just trying to understand, that's all.


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Cycles adds a thousand or so child hairs
Blender 4.2.1 using the Geometry Node hair.  I added eyelashes to a character.  In eevee they look as expected in render:

If I change to Cycles, suddenly it looks like there are about a thousand child hairs for every guide hair:

This happens with both Principled BSDF and Principled Hair BSDF shaders, in spite of the docs saying Principled Hair doesn't work with eevee.  I didn't add child hairs anywhere I can see, or at least there are none in the modifier stack:

Anyone know where all the child hairs came from?  Is there a hidden setting somewhere that does this?

I guess it's not children what you see here. It's very thick hair because you have not set the radius. Related questions https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/311242/107598 and https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/210751/107598 - In Blender 3.x, the options for the viewport is now called Cycles render properties > Curves > Viewport Display > Shape or Eevee render properties > Curves > Shape. Set it to Strip to see the actual thickness in the viewport. Then open the asset browser and add a Set Hair Curve Profile modifier to your curves object to control the thickness of the hair.

In Blender 4.2.1, the answer turns out to be to add a Set Hair Curve Profile moderator to the Curves, then set the radius to .0002 m.


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4.1 Shader ignored in render
I'm following the CG Cookie HUMAN course, which was created with Blender 2.93.  In the Skin Material I section we're supposed to add subsurface scattering to our guy.  That facility has changed significantly between 2.93 and 4.1 so I tried to figure out the new method.  The weird thing is that in materials preview the guy looks fine, but in render preview mode and in render everything specified by the shader nodes disappears.  I'm fairly new to Blender but have learned that there are a lot of hidden ways to turn something off, so figured I probably flipped a switch somewhere that means "ignore shader in render".  To verify that I got the shader right I made a very simple blend file of Suzanne and used the exact same shader in my homework for the course, and the results are very different.  Suzanne came out as expected but my homework render shows none of the effects specified by the shader.  I've checked everything I can think of and expect to feel really stupid when somebody points out what I overlooked   Here are the blend files: Suzanne Homework

That's a paid-for course so we don't have access to the tutorial in the 'Skin Material' link you've put in your question.

I think the problem is in material override:

This replaces all materials in the view layer by the selected one. Remove it.

Hi. Crantisz.. is this based on the share? I'm only asking to see whether I need to nudge OP to make a smaller download.

Yep, it is a screenshot from the file

Cheers :)  No need to bother Walt.. this will be it, surely.

The material override was indeed the problem.  Thank you so much Crantisz!

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4.1 Any way to turn off UV temporarily?
Blender 4.1, Fedora 40 Linux, nvidia 3080 GPU.  I made a nice UV image with surface coloring for my mesh object.  Now I would like to temporarily turn off the UV while I work on other things, in this case specifically subsurface scattering.  So far I have not been able to find a way to do this.  For example, Object Data Properties > UV Maps shows that the UV is enabled for rendering, but clicking the camera image changes nothing.  I couldn't find any switch in the UV editor that didn't look like a permanent change.  All I want to do is turn off the UV temporarily without changing it.  Is there a way to do that?

A UV map is a dictionary that translates 3D coordinates into 2D coordinates. To turn it off simply don't use it. You're probably in some specific view mode, that you want to leave, but it's hard to figure it out without any screenshots.

one idea is to set the object's Viewport Display param from textured or solid to Wire:

NOTE TO SELF:  why doesn't "Solid" simply show the Shading mode to the solid Color set in the color chooser in the same panel?  Hmmm...
Alternately set your viewport mode to Solid, but this would change all objects from textured to solid.