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Enable/Disable Mask Modifier depending on object visiblity
I would like to know if it possible for mask modifier to be automatically displayed based on the visibility of some object.
Example: I have a character with some basic clothes. Body of the character and every piece of clothing is a separate object. Let's say when object Gloves is visible in viewport/render, I would like for mask modifier Mask_gloves on object Body to turn on/display.
Is it possible to set up this kind of control?
Thank you

Yes, I've done this for example to hide a lower part of a t-shirt when jeans are set to visible, so that the t_shirt doesn't sometimes "poke through" the jeans (i.e., t-shirt is "tucked Under jeans and belt").

One does this using a "driver" based on another objects visibility or render-ability.
Another idea is to use a driver in some vertices that are assigned a material,  for example part of a character mesh that annoyingly appears through Armature-parented clothes, where I might instead "Mix" in the clothing color to clothing-adjacent body vertices, when the clothing item is to be rendered.
In the following, the viewport behavior is a bit "sluggish" when updated the controlling objects visibility in that one might have to "jiggle the threshold to update.  But if I animate the controlling objects visibility, it works fine.
In my example:  ,  I hover over Cube visibility and "Copy as new driver", then hover over Mask visibility and "Paste driver", then edit to invert the logic.  Here you see the driver for Mask visibility (on Sphere VG), based on control (Cube) object visibility:

and here is when the cube is animated to be invisible in frame 1:

and visible in frame 2:

If you find my answer useful, please mark it as a solution.

Hello, thank you for answer. Unfortunately I was not able to reproduce this effect using the drivers. I created drivers in same way as you described, however mask on object is not turning on/off when I change visibility of other object. I did some research on the internet and found some related discussion, it seems like this is a common "problem". Anyway you definitely pointed me in good direction, I will try to do some more research and maybe I will be able to find something.

@FMax -- yes you first have to get Mask modifier working without the driver.  perhaps assign the vertices in a VG with a weight less than 1.0.  Then as you slide "Theshold" up/down you should see the masking effect.  click on the left-right arrow next to the vertex group you're using to invert the vertices (from in-group to not-in-group).   tutorial

@FMax -- as I re-read your comment I think you refer to what I mention in my solution... You'll find that if you re-load your file, or jigger the Threshold around, it will pick up on enforcing the driver.  So there is def a bug here that I will report.   If I animate the visibility, it works perfectly to the frame's settings.

@FMax -- you are correct, as I just tried in on Subdivision modifier also.  I reported it as a bug that you can subscribe/follow.


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Do I need more VRAM?
I was doing some work that ended up having lots of linked models, there were different types of textures for the same box. When I see my pre render VRAM its 1/12 Gb. But when I start rendering it just freezes as a message in the top left of the render window appears as out of memory. Or it just shuts down. What could it be?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/280520/110840 - you don't list your gpu, but this may help if you have an rtx card

Now I'm using a rtx 3060, I tried the CUDA to render and had the same message, not enough memory, the real problem is that I dont know which is lacking I thought it was VRAM but it doesn't look like it is

You could use the duplicate technic may to save vram. Blender-Manual-Duplication
It´s in the Graphic-Industry always good to have a lot of VRam. But 3D-Programs like Blender have a lot of tricks inside to reduce the amount of necessary Ram.You could also switch to CPU Rendering or Cloud-Rendering.

Yeah so I tried the CPU mode but had the same problem. The duplication between the displays I made with the duplication shift+D so I don't know if the alt+D alternative is going to make any difference. I'm going to try the cloud rendering. Thanks fo the attettion

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Are there any specific modifiers you have to have active for sculpting?
I just learned why sculpting wasn't working in blender for me and it was so dumb lol. all surfaces that you want to sculpt have to have a subdivision on them, I guess my question is, did I just get lucky and find that out because I missed a step or is that like a known rule or fact that you should have your subdivision modifiers on when sculpting?

Having a Subdivision Surface modifier won't change anything as it doesn't add topology for real, you'll still sculpt on the low resolution mesh, if you want enough topology to sculpt on, either apply the Subdivision Surface modifier (but before that maybe make sure that you keep a low resolution version of your object), or use a method suggested by Alex, there's also the Dyntopo tool

I’m going to try this out! Thank you!

when sculpting with a subdivision modifier, you only sculpt on the base layer of the geometry, which means you cant really add fine details on your mesh.
However, you can use the multiresolition modifier, which allows you to sculpt on all subdivision levels, while conserving the original topology.
It's also pretty common to just use remesh, which will change the topology's resolution depending on the value you set. It's very useful for models that are not made to be subdivided

Thank you! This was very helpful and I’m still super new to using blender so you have no idea how much your photo reference helped me understand! Lol

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


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Turning opacity down on a layer in grease pencil not working
I want to make a layer in grease pencil semi-transparent, but when I turn the opacity down, the layer still leaves a mask that covers objects behind it. If anyone has an idea on what I'm doing wrong here, I would appreciate the help.

This glitch has been KILLING me!! It happens with opacity anywhere below 1 on the layers menu as well as with brushes with variable opacity or transparent edges - like Sophie Jantak's watercolor brushes. I've found the same question unanswered many places. Here's another example: https://cgcookie.com/community/10789-grease-pencil-opacity

I think I found a solution. If I move the object's origin closer to the camera or farther away I can get the masking effect to stop and start. Moving the vertices in edit mode any distance will not get the masking to stop. I don't know if the direct overlap of origins is the cause.
To move just the origin, click the options drop down menu in the top right corner of the 3d viewport in object mode and select the box affect only origins.

Awesome, thanks for the tip!


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I have low playback frames, even though i have good specs
i am creating this tutorial by Ducky 3D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reUQmtqptwk&t=539s&ab_channel=Ducky3D
i have a gaming laptop with the following specs:-
an RTX 3070 8gb VRAM
32 GB RAM
a 10th gen i7 with 8 cores
and all running on an nvme ssd
without texturing, in animation i get around 16 or 17 frames during playback.
setting playback sync to frame drops doesnt work
turning on simplify doesnt work
increasing memory cache limit and turning on cache disk also doesnt work.
what do i do?
Do i need a new pc?

If I had to guess, he's using a lot of geometry with no viewport simplification.  It's not unusual to get less than ideal playback in the viewport because of all the work done to display each frame in realtime.

Look into the Simplify panel in blender

@AllenSimpson, I did turn it on, and set everything to 0, it did nothing which i found odd

Are there just a lot of vertices?

@AllenSimpson 64000

@AllenSimpson im guessing thats alot ...


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Problems with Liquid
I don't know if I checked a bad box or something but I was following mantaflow tutorials and now I cant get any liquid to flow out of an object marked inflow, I have the domain and an effector set but I cant get any flow out. Attached is the scene I'm working on if anyone can check it out and see what I'm missing, I'm trying to get liquid to flow out of a can
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tntq34yHzfB-lUuDEwLIwPNfJcRKzVkY/view?usp=sharing

I think you have forgotten to bake your fluid. I baked your fluid and even though I saw no fluid (I only saw a blue ball appearing and dissapearing) there was still some animation data.

No I just unbaked it before I saved, The blue ball is all I'm getting too which looks to me like just a really large water particle, that's why I'm really confused

Ok so I got my answer from this      https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/208713/how-to-decrease-the-size-of-particle-for-fluid-simulation2-9


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What does "data" inside standalone game mean in the Blender License?
The Blender License says that games you create with blender are not covered by their license, however, any "data" inside "standalone" games are subject to the license.

Games created in Blender (.blend files) are program output and therefore not covered by the GPL. You can consider them your property, and license or sell them freely. With stand-alone games however, any data that is included inside the actual stand-alone executable is covered by the GPL. If this is a problem then you should set up the stand-alone player so it reads from external .blend files. A common practice is to include a “please wait, loading…” scene in the standalone, and read level files externally.

As I understand it, all software is technically "data", so I was wondering what exactly this was referring to. Does it refer to the parameters of the object, like, say, for example, the coordinates of a cube's vertices? Maybe the height of a character, the high score of a player?
Thank you for your time.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about licensing and copyright

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos Although it seems not to be related to Blender and BGE, it's a common question among BGE users due to the nature of the GPL.

I have no doubts it is related to Blender, but we are nor lawyers licensing questions are still off topic regardless.

My reading is that it refers to any data (code,config,models, anything) that is encoded as part of the actual executable file used to launch the game. Data that the executable then reads from other files is fine. The type of data is irrelevant.

If you use an addon to export your game in BGE (Build Game, Game Engine Publishing, etc), the addon will attach your blend file at the end of blenderplayer executable. This way, your blend file is part of the executable, so your blend file must comply the GNU GPL license.
To avoid this, you can keep your blend files external to the executable and simply run them through the Game > Start Game From File actuator, so that your blend files can comply any license you want.
Alternatively, you can run the blenderplayer through command line, with a batch / shell script. I've made this tool using this method, you may find its information useful.


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Export bezier curve as primitive line
is it possible to export a bezier curve as a primitive line? I want to import it in threejs as a visible curve with a line thickness of always 1px. I need to scale the curve and want the thickness to stay the same, thats why it needs to be a primitive line.
My curve in blender

Thats the use case. I wanna import it to threejs and use it as cad door model

What exactly is a "primitive line"? A line of vertices? Since you mention that the thickness should be 1px, do you want to save a texture, because the geometry doesn't have a thickness measured in pixels?

@rjg The primitives are the default or standard shapes like cube, sphere.. and line. In threejs a line is always 1px (in blender too?). Its a line of vertices yes, with material but I dont want/need a texture. See issue here

You can convert the bezier curve to geometry by Object > Convert to > Mesh from Curve/Meta/Surf/Text. Is that what you need?

Yes that may do the trick. Ill give it a try

Im actually missing a geometry of the curve in threejs, but converting it did not work

So what exactly do you need if it's not the coordinates of vertices that create the curve? What doesn't work with the converting?

Im not having a geometry when importing the model to threejs. Do I have to apply the convertion or anything like that? Im going convertTo -> Mesh from Curve/Meta... and then theres a small popup where im not able to confirm or apply the convertion. Or is it done as soon as I click it?

It's done as soon as you click the menu entry Mesh from Curve/Meta/Surf/Text. How are you trying to export this to threejs and how do you attempt to load it?


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Blender Cycles Freestyle Line Breaking
I'm trying to make a short 5 minute toon shaded starship scene with Blender Cycles. The ship(s) in the scene also have a toon outline created by two line sets, one thinner one set to only render on creases and edge marks and one thicker one set to only render on object contours.
It looks good and like the way I want it to be, but when I render an animation (camera flyby) I notice that on some frames certain lines break. You can see that here:
https://youtu.be/czazInaUevc
That looks pretty ugly. Is there any way this can be avoided or at least greatly minimized?
Here's the scene's .blend file:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ceVqcvQTiVrjOe-18zJdUkYJpaEqc1QP/view?usp=sharing

For the benefit of future users (and to make it more likely people will answer), can you include a screenshot of what you mean instead of a video?

Not in this case as it is only noticeable (or only happens) in animations.

You have to adjust your model (topology) to be better compatible with freestyle.
Two problem of your geometry are

intersections
very sharp angles

left: intersections; right:sharp angles
Freestyle isn't designed to work with intersections. An intersection will remove other lines if freestyle wrongly thinks that a line segment is occluded (even though it may be only partially occluded).

If you are using Smooth Shading and Subsurf Modifiers, you should consider checking Face Smoothness. The manual is quite vague

When enabled, Smooth Shading will be taken into account for edges calculation.

However, I have found that some edges with wouldn't be connected, are connected with Face Smoothness enabled.


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My Audio Is Changing The Start
I have an audio file, and am trying to animate according to (very precise) it, but it isn't working bc it is starting at different positions according tp where I play it. for example, if I am on keyframe 1, a part in the audio would start at keyframe 100, but if I start at keyframe 50, the same part would be at 120 or 130 keyframe.

You could provide a minimal representative version of the file on https://blend-exchange.com/ , following the instructions there, packing a small audio file showing the error into your .blend. Then people might have a chance of figuring out what's going on.

This can happen when the audio and the animation have different start times or frame rates.
To fix this issue, you will need to make sure that the audio and the animation are synchronized at the same starting frame. Here's how you can do this:

Open your Blender project and select the object you want to animate.
Go to the frame where you want the animation to start and set a keyframe for the object's position or rotation.
Import your audio file into Blender by going to the "Video Editing" workspace and dragging the audio file into the timeline.
Go to the frame where the audio should start and set a keyframe for the audio's volume.
Scrub through the timeline and adjust the audio's starting frame until the audio and the animation are synchronized. You can do this by adjusting the audio's starting frame in the timeline or by adjusting the animation's starting frame until the keyframes line up with the audio peaks.
Once the audio and the animation are synchronized, you should be able to animate the object based on the audio using keyframes that correspond to the peaks and valleys in the audio waveform.


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Temporary file problem
I had a problem, I changed the path for temporary files to another disk in the blender settings, but it still saves them to disk C, I even changed the location of temporary files in windows, and blender still saves them to disk C

Hello and welcome. where did u change the path?

Did you change the path via Edit > Preferences > File Paths > Data in Blender and if so did you then save your settings via the three-bar icon on the bottom-left corner of that dialog?

Yes, I did and it didn't work


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My object and grid disappeared
This may be a stupid question, but I think I accidentally pressed something so now both my object and the grid has disappeared. Can someone please help me because I've been looking at it for hours and it's driving me insane!!!

If josh sanfelici's answer doesn't work, you're also in Local view as you can see from the top-left of the viewport so press the '/' key with the cursor over the 3D window to exit that view.

Yeah, I tried josh and your method, but it still gives me a blank canvas... ;(

I think we'll need to see your Blend file in that case. You can share it via https://blend-exchange.com/ following the instructions there. Don't forget to add a link to it here.

Go the outliner (Top right window), select the cube, hover over the 3D main window and press the "dot" key on numpad (or go to menu > View > Frame selected).
Works also with "Home" Key, which is the shortcut for menu > View > Frame all.


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How do you make this corner smooth?
I have this square tube that takes a 90 degree corner, How would I go about making the outside of the corner smooth and rounded like the blue line.(The edges are beveled)

From your current topology you could use the Mesh: EdgeFlow addon (available here). Once enabled, select the edges and CtrlE > Set Flow, then tweak the Iterations parameter in the Operator Box:

Or you could remove everything and instead select the 2 opposite edge loops and right click > LoopTools > Bridge (you first need to activate the LoopTools addon):

Then tweak the parameters in the Operator Box (Segments and Strength):

Thank you so so much

Just to be sure .. is this the one ?  Maybe throw in the link?

Oh you're right, I thought it was a default addon


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Is it possible to convert shape keys to rigged bones?
I have a model with some shape keys, But the program its made for only works with rigs/ armature. Is there a way to convert the shape keys into bones I can then move a certain amount to get the same effect. Everything I find on this topic just refers to using bones as drivers

I don't think its possible for the general case.

There probably is a way to make a script capable of creating bones that recreate the motion of a shapekey, but I haven't heard of any existing script. And just thinking vaguely about it, I don't think there is a way to do it both accurately and without making a messy rig with tons of bones for each shape.

Great idea. i´ve never seen anything like it tho. What software are you exporting for? If it´s for Unity you might be able to combine shape key animation and bones in the NLA Editor and export the combined animation as fbx.

So while there are no plugins so far to do it, if it is a simple shape key like moving a group of vertices along a straight path you can manually rig it with bones


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How can I turn this 'V' shaped indent into a smooth rounded indent with a smooth join

How can I turn this 'V' shaped indent into a smooth rounded indent(Blue) with a smooth join(Red)

Hello do you have a reference image that would help to understand the shape?

If u used bevel to create that indent, you can tweak the settings of it right after you did it to make the bevel more round instead of V shaped. By increasing the segments and tweaking the shape parameter for example.
If you didn't use a bevel and want to change the shape to be more round, i'd suggest you merge the vertices back together so you have one line of edges, and apply a bevel again with the right shape.
If that's not possible, you could try manually adding edges with the loop cut tool and tweak them accordingly.


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Exporting model as USDZ
The 3.5 release notes say exporting a model as USDZ is supported. How do I do this? The export menu does not contain usdz as an option.
The source code (linked to on the release page) says something about passing a usdc to UsdUtilsCreateNewUsdzPackage. How do you do this?

See the Note below this section in the Blender manual.

I have run across an easy-to-miss blue box in the Blender manual that says if you just type the z to the end of the file name as you do a .usd* export, it will save properly as such.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/files/import_export/usd.html

It is incredible but it works!!!  On a Mac I could double click on the model and it opens in Xcode 15 (beta)

This does not seem to work in Blender 4.0.  Is there some other required library that needs to be updated?  When I attempt to write .usdz I get this error: "USD Export: unable to find suitable USD plugin to write FILE_NAME.usdz"


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Baked normal map creates seams on export to glTF
I'm trying to create a model for a threeJS application, but the resulting glb file shows always more or less noticable seams, depending how the light hits the modell.
I was told that I might bake the map incorrectly or some other setting in blender is incorrect but I don't know what:
The Color Space is set to Non-Color.
The Image uses 32-bit float.
I use Tangent Space for baking and using the Normal Map node with the Tangent Space option.
I ticked following export options: UV's, Normals, Tangents, Vertex Colors.
And I'm still getting visible seams... A higher resolution normal map makes the seam appear clearer since the surface appears to be less "noisy".
In Blender the seams doesn't appear to be visible no matter how high I set the normal map strength.
Is there anything else to consider?
Here a picture:

One thing to consider it that glTF only supports one tangent map per mesh. So if your materials use more that 1 UV map the tangents that they use might me incorrect for the tangent space normal maps. The glTF exporter exports tangents only for the active render UV map.

It might also be worth trying this file in a couple viewers (like https://sandbox.babylonjs.com/ and https://gltf-viewer.donmccurdy.com/) to see if it might be a viewer bug.

@unwave I just use a single image as a normal map. It is connected to the "Normal" input at the Principled BSDF node with a "Normal Map" Node in between.

@DonMcCurdy Yeah, I've tried these and I can't see any seams. Could be the light though. My screenshot above shows that the seam might be not visible depending on illumination.

How many UV maps exist on your Blender mesh?

@DonMcCurdy I'm using only one single UV map. At least the Object Data Properties show only one "UVMap".

"image uses 32-bit float" -- this might be a clue actually, is it an OpenEXR file? Could you try converting to PNG? There was a similar issue in older versions of Blender: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF-Blender-IO/issues/1473

@DonMcCurdy After baking I saved the normal map as PNG and Base Color, Roughness and Emission as JPG. I never used EXR.
If it helps, I could share my blend and glb, if you want.

@DonMcCurdy Here is the link to the glb file: https://we.tl/t-WNY9JNsdyO
Maybe you are able to confirm if there is a general problem within the file or if it comes from the exporter like mentioned in the github issue.

I've tried this model in three different viewers based on three different engines, including three.js, rotating the lighting and all of that — can't find a seam anywhere. I suspect this is not a problem of the model, but something about your app's setup. It might be best to post code and details including the three.js version on https://discourse.threejs.org/ for a deeper investigation.

@DonMcCurdy Yeah, that's what I already did and then I got told to ask here.
You think that I should try there again?
Well, I've updated ThreeJS and tried to recreate the problem with a minimal setup. I noticed, that the seam gets visible whenever the bright light spot gets near.

If you have an existing question in the three.js forums i guess you could bump that or link to it. But generally it's very hard for others to help if they can't reproduce the issue on their own computer. So it's less about where the question is, and more about including all necessary context to reproduce the error quickly, which can be easier in a forum thread than a SO question.


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Fire+Smoke Simulation isn´t working with motion
Im trying to make a scene where a helicopter flies in the camera view and shoots rockets at the camera. I want to make a fire and smoke trail behind the rockets but i cant get the simulation to work. I created a very good looking Fire + Smoke but when the domain with the flow object is mooving with the rocket it looks terrible. I tried every solution that came to my mind but nothing worked please help.
Without Motion
With Motion

you shouldn't move the domain object....

Thanks for the reply. I tried to make the domain as big as the rocket´s path but it ended that the simulation got way to big. After that i tried to scale the flow source but it didnt worked. I also tried to upres increase the resolution divisions but it didnt helped.

What if you turn on Adaptive Domain, which will resize to domain to track only the volume that is needed.   However this may still end up being too large of a domain.

Yeah im already using Adaptive Domain thats not the problem.


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Merging objects - Is there a way to
I've been using blender for a few years as a hobbyist. I am by no means an expert. I wasn't really sure what to search for outside of just 'merging objects' so sorry if this is stupid.
Is there a way to like overlap a bunch of smaller objects together and merge them into a single manifold object? Ideally with vertices formed at the joints and I'd delete the bits inside. Is this feasible, or am I just dreaming? If it's not, what would be an efficient method of achieving the same thing?

Ever tried the Boolean Modifier? Apart from Difference and Intersect it has a Union mode.

@GordonBrinkmann I rarely ever use any modifiers outside of subsurf and mirror. I just looked it up and tried it, and it crashed blender... Thank god for auto-saves. I'm using 2.92. Kinda disappointed as this sounded exactly like what I wanted.

I don't know hox complex your object(s) might be, but I very seldomly experienced Blender crashing when using the Boolean modifier... and yes, this is what you want. Maybe try it again? Or with the most recent Blender version?

As @GordonBrinkmann said - that's the way to go

@GordonBrinkmann I updated to latest and tried it again. Worked perfectly, thanks.


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Problem exporting to gltf
Just exporting a model seems to work, but when I try adding animations, I get this error message. Does anyone know what to do about this? (Providing an image since I can't seem to copy the text.)

https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF-Blender-IO/issues/1485

From the end of the issue that @scurest linked to above, it sounds like this is a known issue in Blender 2.9xx that is fixed in the alpha builds of Blender 3.0.

Thanks, it looks like it isn't an issue in 2.93.6.


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Fluid Simulation, How to change the angle of the fluid based on the rotation of the inflow object
Right now, when I run my fluid sim the water only flows down. I know that I can change this angle manually using the initial velocity values on the inflow object, but it would be alot easier and alot more dynamic if the angle could be adjusted on the fly in animations, just by rotating the Inflow object.
Its simple on the face of it. If I have a plane that emits water downward, and I rotate it 90 degrees the water should now be shooting out to the left or to the right.
I have failed in all of my attempts to google this and im pulling my hair out. So please tell me, Is this even possible. And If so, How is it done.

Your idea using the initial velocity is correct. Apart from Source and the Initial X, Y, and Z axes there is also the option to enter a velocity for Normal.
If you take a flat object like a plane or a filled circle and make sure you check Is Planar in the Flow Source options, then you can use the Normal velocity to point the inflow into the direction of the face normal. This way you don't have to make sure there is surrounding effector geometry sufficient to guide the inflow. Of course you have to set the velocity high enough to conquer gravity if you haven't turned that off.
The following animation uses a flat circle with a Normal velocity of 50 (to make sure it works against gravity when pointing upwards), all other velocities are set to 0:

Oh! Thank you I'll have to try that. I didn't realize that the normal setting did that, so I was only had it set to 5 but assuming gravity is something like 9.8 the I wouldn't have seen any change. Thanks!

Yes, but it's not only gravity, the domain resolution plays a role as well. In my example it's only 64, because I made it just as a quick visual demonstration. But if you increase it to 128, the water will not shoot out as far as it does now.

One way you could do it use a sphere as inflow object, give it an initial velocity like 10, then put a cylinder as effector object around that sphere with a solidify modifier, then parent your sphere to the cylinder and if you rotate your cylinder you get something like this:


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How to fix an incorrectly working eyes texture?
I found a problem with incorrect display of eye texture. In Texture Paint, everything works fine if Viewport Shading is solid. But in Material Preview and Rendered, the sclera of the eye becomes gray, along with the eyeball. How can this be fixed?
I have absolutely no idea what needs to be done so that the texture of the eyes does not disappear.

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.

Looks like transparency is not enabled. This is needed for the material preview and Eevee render modes. The cornea should be transparent and glossy. Check the material tab > Settings > Blend Mode. The mode should be Alpha Hashed

@Blunder
Yes, I have already used this setting. Nothing changes.

That's good. And the nodes of the material that should be transparent are set up properly? The alpha mask should be connected to the Alpha slot of the Principled BSDF. This is either a separate image or the channel of the base color or another image when the textures are channel-packed. Later is often used for game models. I've seen imported models where the material was messed up, especially the transparency. The Backface Culling option in the material settings can cause problems, too.

Another thing: Have you enabled Screenspace Reflections?

@Blunder I enable Screenspace Reflections, but it also didn't give any results.

@Blunder I'm not sure about nodes of the material.
I just started studying the program, so I don't understand many things. Nodes of the material were loaded automatically along with the model.

Can you show your node setup for the material of the eye that should be transparent? Or maybe share the file so we can have a look?

@Blunder
I didn't understand if it was possible to upload files here and how to do it, so I uploaded a file in .blender format to this site. I hope everything will function.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/a38z78hlk7zwi8j/head.blend/file

Eevee Render Settings
First, enable
[X] Ambient Occlusion and
[X] Screen Space Reflection and
[X] Screen Space Reflection > [X] Refraction
in Eevee's render settings.
Material For The Eyes
Almost all materials have set Metallic to 1. For human models, this is not recommended. Set Metallic to 0.
The eyes of the model consist of 4 mesh parts and the related material:

the cornea, (Material #67). It covers the eyeball and is like a ball of glass. Settings:

Base Color = white
Roughness = 0
Transmission = 1
Alpha = 1
in the Material Properties, enable Settings > [X] Screen Space Reflections to make them transmissive.

faked amibient occlusion (AO), (Material #66). It's a shadow near the eyelids inside the eye. This is needed for Eevee and game engines because there is a limitation that does not allow the add AO on transmissive materials such as the cornea. Settings:

Base Color = black or an image texture (Map #2?)
Alpha = an image texture or the Alpha slot of an image texture (Map #2?)
in the Material Properties, set Settings > Blend Mode to Alpha Hashed.

the tear line, (Material #68). It's tinted green in the screenshot so you can see it better. Usually, it's transmissive. Settings:

same as the cornea
Eevee cannot render transmissive & transparent glass (tear line) on glass (cornea). You can add transparency when you lower Alpha to 0.4.
in the Material Properties, set Settings > Blend Mode to Alpha Hashed.

the eyeball, (Eye_Mat). It includes the pupil. Settings:

lower Specular, and maybe leave Roughness at 0.5? Set Metallic to 0.

You had not included the textures, so here is just a very rough example. (Eyebrows and eyelashes are usually also transparent.)


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Need help solving this bad edgeflow
I'm fairly new to this and while following a YouTube tutorial I've came across this problem of bad edgeflow as you can see here

I don't know how to work around it. I tried cutting with knife tool but it made it worse. I want these blue edges to completely follow through to the end. What's the problem here?

always use Quads to have a better control of the topology avoid N-gon and vertices where more than 4 edges converge

Oh I didn't notice that pentagon there. Does that break edge loop? And in the second image what's the "4 lines" you're referring to?


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Need help with UV Unwrapping of a Tyre
I downloaded this model from Sketchfab, but the UVs are messed up. There are four tyres. I want to apply a texture to the rubber parts of the tyres. (Selected in image below)

This is the texture I want to apply:

The final result should look like this:

I tried projection from view, but it didn't turn out well. How do I go about it? Any idea will be appreciated.
Thankyou.
P.S: Since there are four tyres (two of them are different size than the other two), do I have to do the unwrapping separately for each of of them?

I would recommend watching a few tutorials on UV unwrapping. Youtube is full of them. Very basic workflow of marking seams and then unwrapping should work here. You could use UvSquares add-on to help you straighten the UV islands.

Thanks. I will look into it.
I did it using the "Follow active Quads" option and it seems to work.


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Blender Metadata and TIFF files
I've had a search but can't find an answer to this.
Blender has the functionality to write various items of metadata to rendered output files (the name of the .blend file, the scene, the camera and so on). I don't mean burning in, I mean metadata in the output file. This is great for me.
However, the annoying thing is it doesn't seem to do it for TIFF files. It works for JPGs ok but, as per the documentation, TIFFs are not supported. Does anyone know why that would be? TIFF files can definitely store it, so it seems strange that this is not implemented.
The reason I ask is, I've just written a Windows Explorer shell extension that adds a tab to the file properties dialog. It shows any Blender-related metadata if there is any. This is useful to me so that I can track back to the blend file and scene of the source of the image (whenever I need to go back and re-render it). However, (of course), I usually render in TIFF format and hence... no data.

Thanks
Steve

There are no Blender developers here nor is anyone here associated with the Blender Foundation so you'll have to ask the developers directly or suggest it at https://blender.community/c/rightclickselect/.

Thanks for the comment, @johneaston. Yeah, I previously tried getting a login to RCS but it said its closed to new registrations so I thought I'd chance my arm here (just in case anyone might know the answer).


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The Asset Browser and Posable Assets
I can't seem to figure out a good workflow here so I wonder if someone with more experience could help.
I use Blender for product images. So I make extensive use of the asset browser because the products that I create often have several material variations (e.g. colour). I use linking (mostly) when dropping in an asset in from the browser, because when I update the original source mesh I want all my variations to update with the new mesh. All good so far.
The problem comes when I have something that is movable. So, for example, I do quite a few wristwatches and I want the straps to be moveable/posable so I can create different images. But of course, if I use a curve with the underlying strap object, the curve is inaccessible when the strap is used from the asset browser. Same if I use bones.
If, on the other hand, I just create an object (without any curves or bones) and mark that as an asset, then drop that asset into a scene and attempt to add a curve or bone at that point, that doesn't work either. A curve I can't add because assets don't have modifiers. Bones I CAN add but they appear to do nothing.
So can anyone tell me the best (or any) way to use 'posability' with assets dropped in from the asset browser? It may well be obvious to some, but sadly not to me :-)
Many thanks for reading.
Steve

OK I think I figured it out.
I added a bendy bone to the source asset (the one in the asset browser). As I said in the question, this is inaccessible when I drop the asset into a scene, BUT if I override the object, the armature becomes accessible and I can pose the object.
It's not ideal because, as anyone who uses the asset browser will know, as soon as the object is overridden, it snaps back to its origin position and can't be moved. So I have to then create a new asset from this posed asset and use that in yet another scene (which is what I have to do anyway when creating versions with different materials). So it means I need a new asset for every colour/pose - nightmare!
What I would sorely love to do is pick an asset (that has an armature), drop it into a scene, then just pose it how I want. Feels like I'm missing something obvious.
So anyway it's all a bit long-winded, but at least I have a way forwards. I would still appreciate any better approaches if there are any.
Thanks
Steve


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My model doesn't follow my armature, but only in rendered mode (2.8)
When I'm in object mode everything tracks correctly, but when switching to rendered view, or rendering outright, the model become off track, and distorted.
Haven't the faintest idea what could be causing this, so any help would be great, thanks.
]2

Are all your modifiers (Including Armature) Activated for the viewport and rendered view?

Yes I have made sure that they are enabled for render.

maybe share your file https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/


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Glass edges look blurred
I'm modeling an interior. As you can see, a part of the table's glass top looks blurred. I think this is given by the noise due to the engine lacking data to understand how to render the transarency of glass.
Here is a detail of my problem and the the nodes of the glass material.
Any advices for "sharpening" the edges of the top?

Why are you using a simulated glass shader? I don't think it is actually blurred, just the appearance of the glossy/transparent mix. Have you tried using just a Glass Shader instead - that would include refraction which would make it look far more realistic (or try replacing your Transparent shader with a Refraction shader)

It looks like the "blurred" part is mostly volume shader, surface is tranparent.
If you don't want to change your shader, you can try to use a bevel on the edges to catch the light and make it look real somehow.


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bpy.context.scene.objects.active = obj returns None when object exists
As the title says, I am trying to set a specific object as the active object. Everything I have read says that bpy.context.scene.objects.active = obj, will do this. After setting the active object, if I call print(bpy.context.scene.objects.active) all that comes out is None. If I call print(obj) I get <bpy_struct, Object("Container")>. Also, if I call print on the active object before trying to set it, it happily spits out the current active object.

My guess is the object isn't linked to the scene, in which case how can it be the scene's  active object?  Check that scene.objects.get("Container") is not None  Recommend posting relevant code, eg how you set obj to remove the "element of guesswork


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Is there a way to export a movie/video in the VSE using markers to form separate mp4 files using the script?
I have been trying to export a video from the sequence editor with markers that act as 'video cuts' in the VSE. I haven't had any luck with this and would appreciate some help.
This script from Render Videos From Marker Ranges? only for the 3D scene itself, not the VSE

Just had the same issue recently, and came up with this.
Once you have placed all the markers in your timeline (and ideally given them a meaningful name), configure all the output details for your video clips (resolution, framerate, output format and encoding, etc.). Then you can just copy the Python snippet below into a Text Editor window in Blender and click "Run Script":
import bpy

sorted_markers = sorted(bpy.data.scenes['Scene'].timeline_markers, key=lambda x: x.frame)

for i in range(0, len(sorted_markers)):
    bpy.data.scenes['Scene'].frame_start = sorted_markers[i].frame
    bpy.data.scenes['Scene'].frame_end = sorted_markers[i+1].frame

    # Your file path for saving the rendered video clips goes here
    bpy.data.scenes['Scene'].render.filepath = 'C:\\Users\\YourUsername\\MyVideos\\some_filename_prefix' + sorted_markers[i].name + 'some_filename_suffix'

    bpy.ops.render.render(animation=True)

This will generate a separate rendered video file for each segment of the timeline in between markers. Note that you need to include markers at the beginning and the end of your overall edit too for the script to work as intended.
I added the name of the start timeline marker for each clip as a variable to the filepath to get unique file names, but you can customize the filepath to your liking before running the script.
Lastly, once the script is running you will not get any render preview during the process, but trust me the script is running (you can check the progress by looking at the files generated in the set destination folder).
Hope this helps!


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Blender game recording at the wrong time
I have a simple animation for a midterm project; someone walks up and pushes dominoes over. I can set something with physics to knock the dominoes over at frame 125, then play the engine and he will walk up and push the dominoes up easy enough. When I record though, the animation will still show those things happening simultaneously, but the keyframes for the dominoes falling over are recorded at frame 270, a very long time after they're pushed over. How can I fix this?

(I think) you can use the dope sheet to select all the keyframes for all your dominoes, and move them closer to the beginning of your timeline.

@X-27thefluffyunicorn I'm just a first year student, so I guess they didn't think it was worth the time to teach me what the dope sheet was. Worked wonders, thank you!

Added an answer to make the question more useful. (I do not think comments are indexed in search engines). Feel free to upvote and accept :)

If your issue is simply that all of your keyframes on the dominoes are starting too late, you can easily fix this by using the dope sheet. Select all of the keyframes in your scene by hitting A (or select just the ones you want by using box selection with B, or circle selection with C). Then simply move them closer to the beginning of your timeline. (shortcut would be G).


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transparent PNG image not working in cycles

Hello blender community.
using Blender2.79b
I am working on creating leaf with PNG transparent image file.
but alpha part is not working as transparent part.
My node setup is wrong ? or any other cause?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/6416/transparent-image-textures-in-cycles/6423?r=SearchResults#6423

You are not using the transparency node, but the translucency node
Transparency makes the area transparent while translucency let's some light throu but scatters it a little bit. A good example for this are the leaves on trees. If the sun shines on them, they are bright from both sides, while the trunk is only bright on one side, as it is not letting light pass throu

thanks for the great answer. I really appreciate.

If it was the rigth one you can mark it as the correct answer :)


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Redo shortcut doesn't work
Here is strange thing: Shift+Ctrl+Z doesn't work but i still can redo through menu (edit - redo). Why is it happening?
Blender version 2.82.7.

Perhaps the wrong order? Make sure your keys are working.

Hello :). This can happen when you switch your keyboard layout. Make sure it's still Qwerty.

@Dundun93 The order is right. Looks like keys are working, because blender reacts when i push them seperately.

@Jachym Michal But other shortcuts works fine (Ctrl+Z e.g.). Keyboard layout is English.


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How to configure the correct connection of objects with armature?
I have an armature to which I would like to attach objects moving with the bones, instead of those that were before. When I try to attach them using Ctrl+P, nothing happens, or the objects rotate and distort (when using the Armature Deform - With Automatic weights)
What do I need to do so that the objects move and rotate correctly according to the armature?
Thank in advance for the answer.

You need to apply all transforms on the objects, parent with armature deform->empty groups, and then manually weight paint all of the objects.

The bones are point to the wrong direction. They are perpendicular because the armature not really compatible with Blender. In this case the autoweight tool won't work. When you import the model from fbx (may be some other formats) there are options to rotate the bones but it will ruin the animations if you already have.

@Nathan Can you tell me a little more? I still know very little about the program.

@FFeller In another model with exactly the same armature, I attached objects in the same way and everything worked. I can't understand why it doesn't work with this.

@CrazyFox I can tell you to follow along with a few rigging tutorials.  Just google "Blender rigging tutorial" and pick a couple.

@Nathan The tutorials are all in English, and I've already watched a few. There was no similar problem anywhere.


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How can I recreate a corridor from a picture?
I'm making a game which display pics to show the player where he is. I want to use pictures of my surrounding in it, but add some 3d elements. I'm a total beginner with blender and I saw this video. Sadly the video is not about how he turned the picture to a 3d space, I'd like to know how he made that. making a light 3d environment (no big extrusion) from a picture of a corridor or a room. I want to make this so I can add elements in the space and re export it as a picture. (I know I could use a picture editing software but first I want to learn blender and in this scenario I want to be able to really have full control on the environment). Do you know the name of this technic or a link to a tutorial video ?

You can either try to recreate the 3D space from the perspective lines of your photo, to do that there are some apps like Fspy. Or you can recreate a 3D space that approximately looks like your photo, then unwrap the faces and then project the images on the surface. It's not as precise as the first method but easier imho, especially if you are a beginner.

it seems that there wasn't any softwares used to achieve this and in comparison with other tutorials, there wasn't any extruding or 3d sculpting involved when creating the walls, roof, and floor and that's what I'm looking for since I'm not looking for a precise 3d space, just recreate quickly the place with perspective then adding a 3d model downloaded on internet too add it in the middle of the room

So I've watched the video again, please take a look at my answer

It looks like in the video he imports the image with ⇧ Shift + A > Image > Image As Planes (don't forget to disable the Show Backface option later), then in Edit mode he cuts it with the Knife tool along the surfaces:

Then select a part and press P to separate as a new object:

Then in Edit mode rotate 90° so that it is flat on Z, and scale so that it has approximately the right proportion, cut some edge loops or subdivide in order to untwist the image texture:

And so on for the other parts in order to rebuild about the same perspective as the corridor:

thank you very much


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How to place an object higher on the plane via Python?
I need to make an image in which there are two objects when one of them is located regularly on the plane but the second is actually a bit on top of the first one when they do not touch each other. It is actually not realistic because the second object is hung in the 'air' without any support. For example, in the attached image, the sphere is located (not realistically) on top of the cube.
I tried to use the function of bpy.ops.transform.translate(value=(x, y, scale)), but none of its parameters controls the height of objects.
Do you have an idea how can I make it?

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.

Just a cheap solution:
import bpy

# need 'Cube' and 'Sphere'
cube = bpy.data.objects['Cube']
sphere = bpy.data.objects['Sphere']

for idx in range(3):
    sphere.location[idx] = cube.location[idx]   # loc x,y,z is same

sphere.location[2] += (cube.dimensions[2]/2) + (sphere.dimensions[2]/2) # move sphere to top of cube

Thank you very much! it is exactly what I needed.


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Blender 3.0 Offical Release get rid off some geonodes that were in 3.0a - what to do in cases such as this?
i found tutorial made by Default Cube which shows how to make some cool visuals - you can find it here https://youtu.be/Doqs_4FHo6U?t=245. Link is time stamped at exact moment where my problem happens (around 4th minute).
So, in film the author is using attribute nodes that are considered "legacy" by blender org and will be deleted in blender 4.0. But some of them are already unaccesible.
For example first node is attribute sample texture. It vanished from the add node menu. Fortunately, i know how to bring this one back, by dragging it from texture menu.
like this:

But then there are nodes as Vector Math node, but not this one:

but the one author uses in video, that has a geometry input in.
So my question could be answered in one of two ways:

how to access this legacy nodes on blender 3.0 (cause they are there somewhere)?
how to transfer geometry output to some data that is tranformable in math nodes (retaing ability to rebuild that geometry after) - basically how to do what is done on video without these legacy nodes?

i guess 2nd way is more future resitant as this legacy node will go vanish on blender 4.0 release (or even sooner).

For the Cloud Texture: this is basically the same as the Noise Texture in the Shader Editor. In Blender 3.0 you can now add texture nodes in GN, there are not all procedural textures yet but you have a Noise Texture.

Related: Can't find the node! Which node is available in which Blender version?

Attribute-specific nodes are indeed supplanted by their ordinary equivalents in Blender 3.0. Instead of Attribute Vector Math, you can just use the ordinary Vector Math node, and instead of Attribute Sample Texture, you can use the ordinary Noise Texture node (or one of the other texture nodes).
This is because the attribute system has been reworked using fields, which as the linked documentation explains, implicitly operate over the geometry operated on by the nodes they’re connected to:

All field nodes work in the context of the data flow node they are connected to. The context usually consists of a geometry component type and an attribute domain, so it determines what data is retrieved from input nodes.

In other words, these nodes no longer need to accept a separate Geometry socket because the geometry they operate on is now determined automatically from the structure of the node graph.

Here’s an example node setup comparable to the one shown in the video you linked, which shows how ordinary nodes can replace what previously required special attribute nodes:

This new functionality of existing nodes is indicated by the change in the shape of their sockets. Note how all three sockets on the Vector Math node are now diamonds rather than circles:

This indicates that the node can effectively perform “double duty” as both an ordinary node that operates on concrete vectors and as a field that operates as a function on attributes. If you connect the output of such a node to a circular input socket (that is, a socket that accepts a value, not a field), note how all the node’s sockets will automatically change back to plain circles:

This signifies that this node is now obligated to produce a concrete value, so it must take concrete values as inputs. This makes sense, since there is no geometry to provide the attributes that a field must be applied to.

Thank You, Alexis! That really well solves my problem. Tho I'm used to old system this new flexibilty seems to be much easier in learning then other frankly complicated concept of attributes.


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How to set grid size to 1 mm
I have set the Unit to millimetres unit Scale to 0.001 and Grid Scale to 0.01. But still, one box in the grid measures 1.43 mm as shown in the screenshot. How can I correctly set one grid box to 1 mm? or am I missing something?

I am using Blender Version 3.5.0 (3.5.0 2023-03-29)

Maybe your measurement didn't snap to the verts or your verts aren't planar...

Is that an edge of an object? Is the object scale applied?

I just set the unit scale and scale of the floor to the values you did and the grid is 1mm here, so the issue is not the actual size of the grid but how the measurement you see in your screenshot is being done.

@LeoAguiarAll there vertices are on z0, so I think it is planar

@AlexandreMarcati I added a plane mesh and removed the face, now it has only vertices and edges. I am a noob, not sure how to set the object scale :|

In object mode, select the object. Check if the 'scale' values in the transform panel are all set to "1.000". My guess is they aren't. If they are set to any other values, press ctrl+a and select "scale". This will 'apply' the scale of the object, making the scale values all 1, but without changing the actual dimensions of the object.
If my assumption is correct, then  after appying the scale the edge you are measuring will give out the correct measurement of 1 mm.


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Particle trail path in geometry nodes
I'd like to create a particle trail path that follows a certain object in geometry nodes. Let's say each trail path has 15 points. In code I know I'd store the position of each point for the next iteration, shift the list of positions by one, discard the last position and create new position for the first point based on position of geometry it follows. How would one go about this with geometry nodes?

I know it's possible to store the last position as an attribute of each point. What I am not sure is how I'd keep shifting the list of attributes by one whenever the original geometry moves (or whether it is even possible). I've seen similar effect with predrawn path it follows (that one is quite easy to do) but I'd like a solution that doesn't need it.

My tip: Don't try this with Geometry Nodes. You have no way to read the data of other frames, unless you would precalculate the whole movement. There are solutions, but I would rather call them a hack. Maybe use Animation Nodes instead.

The geometry is made in GN and I'd like it to stay procedural. Precalculation of the whole movement is not different from predrawing the followed path.

and who said that animation nodes isn't procedural?

No one. I know animation nodes are procedural. But I want the geometry to stay procedural. Not to apply the modifier and after that animate it.

You can do this only in the blender simulation branch (or by using the buffer hack).
If you are willing to use that branch then this is how you shift the points attributes:
The easiest way is to use a curve, which has a topology node called offset point in curve; set the offset to -1. Using the index output of this node as the index input of the field at index node and the previous frame's position as the attribute, then use a switch (set to vector) with the is valid offset as the switch, the value output of the field at index as true, and the current position of the mover as false. this result should be stored as the next previous position (with store named attribut node) and set as the current position (with set position node.
this should all be wrapped in a simulation node loop.


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Struggle without attribute nodes PART 2
I have a setup like this:

And i want to scale UV Sphere depending on its position on Z axis for example. With attribute node that was done in 1 operation and now i cannot find solution, using Separate XYZ and Scale Instances in any configuration.

Four you example, just use the output of the Noise texture to drive the scale of the Instance on Points Node, since it already drives the Z location.  Here's a crude version:

Since you want to keep the sphere shape, plug all the noise value into all three sockets of a Combine XYZ and use that to drive scale.
I didn't put any math in the path, but yo can add math nodes to control the range of scales.

You don't need the Combine XYZ nodes if you don't want to combine different values. Plugging a float value into a vector socket automatically enters the float into all fields of the vector.

Sure, but note that I mentioned you could add math nodes. I wanted to make it obvious you could control each dimension's scaling separately.

As an attentive reader, I can provide you with an answer that, unlike MF's existing answer, actually works. ...

Since you use the node Noise Texture, it will be evaluated twice here:

Once at the point where you use Set Position to change the positions of the grid.
And a second time when you use Instance on Points to instantiate your objects at the points.

So you get two different values.
To avoid this problem, the following solutions are available:
Variant 1

Here I capture the values of the output Fac and store them with Capture Attribute into the geometry.
I can then use these values directly when instantiating the objects.
Variant 2

Here I query the positions of the points, after these were changed by Set Position.
With this I also get the desired result.
PS: In both examples I also use Map Range to control the scaling more precisely. Change the values there according to your taste.

...And if you do it as shown in the other answer, you will get a nice thing, but the scaling is definitely not dependent on the Z-position. Fun in theory, not in practice.


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Add tooltip/hint hover header of panel in Belnder Addon
In Blender addon api, How to add tooltip/hint when hover over header(or label) of sub panel under layout
class MyPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    ...
    header, panel = self.layout.panel(idname = "rigs_enabled", default_closed = True)
    header.label(text="Enable additional choices")
    if panel:
        ...

according to the documentation it should be just a matter of using bl_description but it doesn't seem to show any tooltip nor error on my side.

But at the same time, looking at tooltips guidelines, i suspect you can do enough with the panel's header label and a tooltip would probably be redundant.

I want to add tooltip to this section (subpanel)


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extrude on subdivision modifier

Hi, I'm taking a blender class and my modeling mesh does not appear like the picture above. So when I try to extrude, I keep ending up clicking big faces...

You haven't shown the modifier panel in your image but the instructor has the subdiv display turned off in his image (monitor icon at the top of the subdiv modifier). Incidentally the subtitle is wrong on his image! Press 3 for Face mode not 2 although his viewport image is correct.

hi, thanks for the comment. I tried turning the monitor icon but the object turns rectangular shape so how do I figure this out?

Without having access to the instruction video (which presumably is a paid-for course) and seeing your blend file which you can upload here it's difficult to say.

think I happened to figure it out! thank you


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Rigging up a machine with moving objects and constraints? Would rigid body sim work for this?
I am trying to reproduce this in blender. I have the 3D models for the all the parts. I even tried using rigid body sims to try to achieve the desired end goal with some partial success. The animation is jittery and buggy though, I was wondering if there's a better way to do that. I'm only trying with 2 sliders to begin with. Attached below is a pic of what I am working with.


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Best way to do 3d printer nozzle animation

This is the result I'm trying to achieve. The blue part is a mesh object. I did this using a boolean modifier but that makes the material act weird and it doesn't look right in the video.
I have tried using bevel geometry on a curve but that fails when I try to vary the thickness.
Any other ideas?

I wonder why the bevelled curve approach is failing you..

If you want a full profile, you could use the native bevel and mapping of an ordinary straight Bezier curve.
You could make the ink first, setting the radii of its control points manually to get the right shape, and keyframe the mapping.
These settings seem reasonable:

For an exact fit, you could then, as here, construct the nozzle from the ink (converting to a mesh, cutting in half, flipping the normals, extruding and scaling) but there would be no harm in a slight intersection, it's all hidden.

For a flat front, you could use a custom-made semicircular profile for the curve. This one was converted to a curve from a  mesh-circle, cut in half and bevelled to get a slight meniscus...

Thanks a lot Robin, I'd try and do it this way again. I am very new, so I might be missing some things

I am, very stuck actually. Your beveled spline looks very different from mine. Yours has segments and looks like a mesh object. Mine only shows the control points of the bezier curve.

Just figured it out, you just have your wireframe overlay on. I think this would help a bit. I'd give it another shot.
Edit: that did work and I got the perfect shape of the nozzle, but the problem with the material still persists. Material changes shade slightly as I vary the start or end property of the bevel. I'd keep working on it.

Hi @Viput! The radius is linearly interpolated between control points, so where there is a sharp change, you have to put in more of them. Shading to do with normals. Again, probably placement of control points. Late here.. share if you like, I'll have a look tomorrow.

Have a good night. It's 4am for me too. Thanks a lot for your help. I'd probably bother you again in the day.

Try it with a shader. Make an object that fits the gap perfectly (just duplicate the inner vertices) and give it a texture mixing between Transparent BSDF and whatever else you want. Here's a setup that would work well, you can just change the second value on the Add node to move it up and down:

This is a pretty good solution, near perfect for what I want, is there a way to make the white part transparent though?

Sure is- stick that color ramp into a mix shader- ramp color to Factor. Change the blue to Black. Input 1, blue, input 2, transparent BSDF.


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Procedurally Creating Tiny Imperfections using Shader or Geometry Nodes
I'm working on a project where I'm importing GCODE (that is a file that a 3d printer takes in and prints an object for you) and displaying it on Blender. This is what I have so far. Please understand that each of those slices is a Polyline Curve with bevel geometry applied. So that's 100s of Curves with 100s of points each.

You can see there are a ton of imperfections there and that is how I want it. But they are all where the plastic is missing. Sometimes a printer oozes more plastic than needed. Something like this:

This is also just a blender plugin where these small blobs are being generated using just a shader, I believe (I could be wrong). This is exactly what I'm trying to achieve. It would be awesome if it could be done just in the shader because that would save me render time, else if it's possible to do it using geometry nodes.

It would be a good idea to share your blend file with us so we can take a closer look.


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Make Vertex Radius Affect just One Axis on Beveled Curve
I have a curve with a bevel applied. I know varying the radius would make parts of the geometry bigger or smaller. What I want is the radius to increase or decrease to only affect one axis. basically to scale the bevel only on a desired axis on that vertex.

the profile is a circle right now, if I could change the scaling around the desired axis I could make it an ellipse. Let's say I scale it 0.5 on Z and 1.5 on X. I cannot use the object bevel because I want to vary this scaling on every vertex and it won't be in a fixed proportion.

You should be looking at properties/object data/geometry/extrude:

Extrusion basically scales the curve object in particular per-control axis, and can be used in combination with bevel radius to create an object with an elongated profile.  It is a product of the control radius and the extrusion depth, so can be controlled via either.  The axis of extrusion is determined by the curve tilt, as set by curve twist method and handle tilt (and, depending on how you look at it, by the curve object's orientation.)
A different option is to designate a bevel object.  You can designate a curve object as a bevel object, and it gives the greatest control over the exact cross-section of the curve:

The cross-section is the bevel object's object-space projection onto a Z plane.  The origin of the bevel object basically travels through the spline being beveled by that object, following the curve.  It is still affected by radius and tilt, as with extrusion.  You can use this to create any cross-section you want, to any arbitrary level of detail.

Wow. I thought Bevel and Extrude were independent... all this time...:)


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Bevel Geometry and Array Modifier on a Polyline Curve Has Varying or Uneven Thickness
I'm trying to make a curve that has some geometry applied to it. My two options are bevel geometry or array modifier. This is what I have so far.
Following one is the result of bevel geometry on a polyline curve, the shape is shown on the bottom left. Please note that it gets thinner on sharp corners.

Following is the result of array modifier, the object is show on the bottom left. This is even more uneven

Finally, the following is what I want. nice even thickness all the way round. I made this my varying the radii of the vertices on a beveled curve but that's only a stop gap solution my final product is going to be too complex to apply the same method.

If the object is to be flat, and mitred, make the curve 2D in its geometry panel.

@RobinBetts That did it. I did not expect it to be that simple. I'm glad that it is.

Great! This Q may get clobbered, (no offence), there are duplicates out there but I can't find them atm


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Pack Addon or PointerProperty/PropertyGroup with Blend File For Cloud Rendering
I wrote an addon that takes a 3D-printing GCode file and turns it into a renderable object.
I define a pointer property and then use members of that pointer property to drive the visibility of different types of features.
This is the UI:

It works perfectly fine on an instance of Blender with the plugin installed. This is the code:
class Buddy_Props(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    ObjectName: bpy.props.StringProperty(name='Object Name', description='What to name the imported object collection', default='OBJECT')
    BevelName: bpy.props.StringProperty(name='Bevel Name', description='What to name the created bevel profiles', default='bevel')
    FilePath: bpy.props.StringProperty(name='File Path', description="Path of GCode file", subtype="FILE_PATH")

    SeamAbberation_Amount: bpy.props.FloatProperty(name='Seam Abberation Distance', default=0, description='The maximum amount to vary the seams', min=0)
    SeamAbberation_Probability: bpy.props.FloatProperty(name='Seam Abberation Probability', default=0, description='The probability with which a seam would be picked to be varied.\n0 being none and 1 being all', min=0, max=100)
    WidthOffset: bpy.props.FloatProperty(name='Width Offset', default=0, description='All the lines widths would be offset by this amount', min=-1, max=1)
    HeightOffset: bpy.props.FloatProperty(name='Height Offset', default=0, description='All the lines heights would be offset by this amount ', min=-1, max=1)
    ExtruderError_Density: bpy.props.FloatProperty(name='Extruder Error Density', default=0.1, description='The density of extruder mistakes', min=0.00, max=1.00, step=0.05)
    ExtruderError_Probability: bpy.props.FloatProperty(name='Extruder Error Probability', default=0, description='The probability with which a point would be picked to be varied.\n0 being none and 1 being all', min=0)

    Gap_fill: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Gap fill', default=True)
    External_perimeter: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='External perimeter', default=True)
    Overhang_perimeter: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Overhang perimeter', default=True)
    Perimeter: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Perimeter', default=True)
    Top_solid_infill: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Top solid infill', default=True)
    Bridge_infill: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Bridge infill', default=True)
    Internal_infill: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Internal infill', default=True)
    Custom: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Custom', default=True)
    Solid_infill: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Solid infill', default=True)
    Skirt_Brim: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Skirt/Brim', default=True)
    Support_material: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Support material', default=True)
    Support_material_interface: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Support material interface', default=True)

    ViewportOnly: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Veiwport Only', description="The filters below would only affect the viewport.\nThe features would still appear in the render", default=True)

    End_Point: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='End Point', default=True)
    Extruder_Error: bpy.props.BoolProperty(name='Extruder Error', default=True)

    SeamDistance: bpy.props.FloatProperty(name='Seam Distance', default=0.2, description='How far apart should the seams be to get a desired look', min=0)
    LayerIndexTop: bpy.props.IntProperty(name='Layer Index', default=5000, description='The topmost layer to show, every layer after this would be hidden', min=0)

    Status = bpy.props.StringProperty(name='Status', description="Processing Status", default="Not Processing")

def register():
    print('registered') # just for debug
    for klass in CLASSES:
        bpy.utils.register_class(klass)

    bpy.types.Scene.Buddy_Props = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=Buddy_Props)

The property appears in scene custom attributes of the scene like this:

This property is used to drive the visibility of the features like this:

But these drivers fail when I open the blend file in an instance of Blender without the plugin installed. I'm going to use a cloud rendering solution to render my project. How can I work around this? Hopefully with minimal code changes. It's my own plugin so I have full access of course and I have no problem packing a copy of the plugin with the blend file if possible.
This is the same file opened in a Blender instance without the plugin:

regular custom props should be accessible with ["Buddy_props"] instead of directly Buddy_props

I tried that, but unfortunately, it doesn't work. Anyhow, I found a workaround. I'm using a service like vast.ai and installing the plugin before rendering.


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Launch System Console, Blender 3.0
Is there a way to launch the system console from inside Blender? I'm running a script that displays info in the console. I don't want the end-user to have to launch Blender from the command line. Best would be if I can launch the console from the script itself. Some command for that?
There is no 'Toggle System Console' option in Blender 3.0 (I'm on Mac OS).

The entry is certainly there under Windows in 3.0.1 below the Save Screenshot (Editor) entry.

This option is available only for Windows. In Linux and MacOS, you are going to have to launch blender from terminal.
To do this, open terminal, then type inside:
Linux:
blender

MacOS:
cd /Applications/Blender
./blender.app/Contents/MacOS/blender

Blender will be launched with output to terminal.
If you need to do this often, you can make an alias so that typing just blender in the terminal works. For that you can run a command like this in the terminal (with the appropriate path).
echo "alias blender=/Applications/Blender/blender.app/Contents/MacOS/blender" >> ~/.bash_profile

If you then open a new terminal, the following command will work:
blender

I do know about that. I made an add-on for people, I didn't want to tell them to open system console from command line to see logs. But I guess I'd do just that then.

Sure, if it had been possible, it would have been here


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Changing Label Text in Addon UI
How would I go about creating a label with a label that takes a property as the text input?
row.label(text="Hello")
I want to display the progress of a plugin instead of this Hello.

UPDATE: Label only version
I would use a StringProperty attached to bpy.types.Scene.  That way you could reference it from anywhere in your add-on and display it in a panel.  Here's a trivial example, that also uses an IntProperty to provide a counter:
import bpy
from bpy.types import Operator
from bpy.types import Panel
from bpy.props import StringProperty
from bpy.props import IntProperty

class TLA_OT_operator(Operator):
    bl_idname = "demo.operator"
    bl_label = "button"
    bl_options = {"REGISTER", "UNDO"}

    def execute(self, context):
        context.scene.progress = "pushed"
        context.scene.counter += 1
        return {'FINISHED'}

class TLA_PT_sidebar(Panel):
    bl_label = "demo"
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "UI"
    bl_category = "TLA"

    def draw(self, context):
        col = self.layout.column(align=True)
        col.label(text=f"status: {context.scene.progress} {context.scene.counter}")
        col.operator("demo.operator")

classes = [
    TLA_OT_operator,
    TLA_PT_sidebar,
]

def register():
    bpy.types.Scene.progress = StringProperty(name="progress", default="None")
    bpy.types.Scene.counter = IntProperty(name="progress", default=0)
    for c in classes:
        bpy.utils.register_class(c)

def unregister():
    del bpy.types.Scene.progress
    del bpy.types.Scene.counter
    for c in classes:
        bpy.utils.unregister_class(c)

In this example, a "TLA" tab will be added to the sidepanel (n-panel) of 3D View.  When opened it will display the current value of the StringProperty, and a button.  If you push the button, the StringProperty will be changed by the operator, resulting in the display changing. As a bonus the counter will increment and the number of button pushes will be displayed.
In an addon it's important to clean up, so you have to remember to delete the string property if your addon is disabled.
You can, of course, modify the string property from anywhere in your addon that you want to change the progress report.
In the example I attached the StringProperty to bpy.types.Scene but there are other places you might attach it, depending on your usage.  For instance you might attach it to bpy.types.Object if you wanted to maintain status for each object in your scene separately.

wouldn't this just create a text box though? Still giving something like this a shot.

@VipulRajan on second thought, using the label is simpler, so I've changed the answer code to use a label and not a prop.


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Get Rid of Creases due to "Curve to Mesh" Geometry Nodes Profile Curve
I have a 2D polyline curve:

On this curve I add these geometry nodes:

My resulting geometry has these weird creases in it. What would be the simplest way to get rid of them?

I have tried resampling the curve and that didn't quite work. Also if the solution is to add geometry it would be ideal to keep the increased geometry around the corners only because I'm going to have a few thousand of these curves in my project, so efficiency is key here.

You can try to add a fillet with Fillet Curve node (or Curve Fillet ?)

I am not quite clear what the result should be. Should it be sharp corners with uniform thickness, or rounded corners? And why do you use Geometry Nodes here at all, if you can achieve that with Curve Bevel as well?

@Gorgious Thanks. That is a life saver. Helped me achieve exactly what I want to achieve.

@Gorgious Are you going to write an answer or do you want me to do it? ;-)

@quellenform Please do :)

If your question has been solved, please be so kind and mark the answer that contributed to the solution as "Accepted answer" so that this question will not continue to be displayed as unsolved. Thank you! Here you can find more information: What should I do if someone answers my question?. If you still haven't gotten a solution to your question, please be kind enough to address it.

Hi there, I am involved in addressing this issue in Blender. This is still in development but closing in on a solution and that'd be great if you could provide some feedback here: https://devtalk.blender.org/t/curve-to-mesh-node-even-thickness-feedback-thread/27271 - Thanks in advance!

From the comments, it appears that you want to extrude a profile and have the corners evenly rounded.
You can solve this relatively easily with the node Fillet Curve:

Note that the radius for the rounding must be the same as the radius of the profile curve and Poly must be selected.

PS: If you need instead a profile with constant thickness and peaked corners, you can solve it this way:
Solving Uneven Profile Curve Thickness with Mesh Extrusions?


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Align instances along curve
Can't align instances along curve.
If i delete nodes marked with yellow, it works fine, but i need this result on points of mesh. How can i achieve this?

capture the curve tangent and use it as a vector input for the align euler to vector node


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Scaling instances along curve
Float curve node marked with red doesn't work as it should. It does so only when i delete group of nodes marked with yellow, but then i don't get random istances destribution in volume. Any ideas how to achieve this?

It is not possible to keep the captured attribute when converting to a volume. You need to get the factor from some kind of geometry.
It is possible to Sample Nearest Surface like this:


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Making objects linked
I used to do many copies of an object using Shift+D (didn't know about Alt+D then). Can I make these objects linked now and keep their positions?

To link objects after you created them, simply select all the objects, with the original object as the active one. and press Ctrl + L, then choose what properties you want to link.


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Translucency amount control
I have created a plant with leaves. I have used a leaf texture to with a translucent shader . But I want to be able to control the amount of translucency  . Which node can I use to achieve control of translucency?

In Cycles you need to add the Mix Shader and adjust its Factor value. When set to 0.5 (the default) it gives equal share to Translucent and Diffuse BSDF.

What I have done with leaves is use a Principled BSDF and a Translucent BSDF. I use an Add Shader to add the two, then a Mix Shader to mix the [Principled BSDF] with the [Principled BSDF + Translucent BSDF]. That allows me to control the degree of translucency and still maintain all of the other properties from the Principled BSDF.

It's actually better to use the principled shader for a plant. After that, you can add mix shader, and mix with Translucent shader. Also, you can use a texture for translucency, which you plug in the fac part of the mix shader. This way, you achieve a Translucency that is different in different parts of the leaves. I usually do all these textures from a single color texture, where the translucent shader gets a more saturated version, and the mixing factor is also the same texture with tweaked brightness and contrast.


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File format or method of exporting per-vertex roughness values
I am working on a project that necessitates an automated export of blender objects with materials to basically any file format that supports diffuse and roughness maps. However, some objects have topology too complex to be smart-UV unwrapped and thus cannot be texture baked on. To remedy this, I was able to use .fbx to export vertex colors. Is there a method of annotating vertices with roughness and a file format that supports it? In essence, I need to avoid the use of UV unwraps but still export roughness and diffuse data.

Once your roughness is tuned to your liking, (depending on what facilities you have to further adjust it in your destination application,) you can plug it straight into the material output, and bake its resulting Emission into a Color Attribute you've set up for the purpose:

On the left, the original texture. On the right, picked up from the baked Attribute:

If you needed to, with a Combine RGB you could arrange your shader-tree to feed 3 float/monochromatic parameters into the R,G,and B of a single  Color Attribute.
The attribute's resolution will obviously depend on the density of your mesh.

This is great, but do you (or anyone else reading) know if its possible to export color attribute data out of Blender? As far as I know, shader node IO only supports image textures during export (and remember that I am unable to uv-unwrap/texture bake). I could export vertex colors/color attributes via .fbx, but the question remains of how I could link the per-vertex roughness data in my roughness color attribute layer to whatever fbx uses internally to represent roughness.

@user167693  Ahh, I see, I've slightly misunderstood you, haven't I? This is more like a .fbx question..

@user167693  What application are you aiming at?

Fbx was just an example - quite literally any file format or application that might support this pipeline would be fine. Basically I just need to get roughness and diffuse/color data into any file format out there without utilizing UV unwraps. one hacky solution maybe would be to write my own uv unwrapper that maps all the points into a completely disjoint texture map and then generate a roughness maps from there, but I wanted to see if there were any other options

@user167693 a quick search suggests most renderers in most applications can pick up vertex color layers from .fbx , and use them for whatever you like? .. but that would mean checking with them, not Blender. (Needless to say.. the .fbx can be exported from Blender and re-imported, 'Roughness' survives as a named layer.)


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Turn 2D shape into a Point Cloud
A project I'm currently working on requires turning a 2D shape (simple but random 2D shape, typically a face extracted from another object, can be tilted) into a Point Cloud of some specific specs (thickness, point distance, density, etc.) for further process.
So the idea I came up with is using Geometry Nodes to:

use Extrude Mesh node to turn the 2D shape into a 3D geometry
generate a box shaped point cloud bigger enough to cover the entire geometry
use the method from this tutourial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8pI_f-S6bg to delete all the points outside of the geometry

However, I get some fairly weird artifacts, as you can see in the attached screenshots. So besides those points inside the 'boundary', there are also some bits outside of the boundary somehow didn't get deleted as expected.
I can swap the 'boundary' geometry to some default meta shapes (cube, torus, etc.), and the whole thing works just fine.

Any idea of why it acts like that, and how I can fix it?
(I know I didn't close the bottom of the extruded mesh, but that's not the issue and doesn't help either as I've tried.)
Here's the blend file:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rLv0_lpGD8k9FVskyj3TkI3ukkh5WNZS/view?usp=sharing

I wonder if this is actually a bug.

Note: in my actual case, the point cloud is more complicated and has a specific pattern, so it is made separately, hence why I took that 'boundary-check-remove-excesses' approach... Also the actual face will very likely be tilted with its normal facing all sorts of direction but its Z axis, but the point cloud (in its own pattern) does need to align with that face's normal.

To transform a two-dimensional shape into a point cloud, you can use the following setup:

Here I extrude the 2D shape to get a solid body.
But instead of creating a grid, and removing the excess points, I use the nodes Mesh to Volume and Distribute Points in Volume to create points in a grid within this mesh.
(Blender 3.4+)

Update
In your specific use case or based on your example, you can also simply use the node Raycast and send a ray upwards. This way you filter all points that do not hit a surface:

Appreciate it. In my actual case though, the point cloud is more complicated and has a specific pattern, so it is made separately, hence why I took that 'removing' approach... Also the actual face will very likely be tilted with its normal facing all sorts of directions but its axis, making distributing points in it a bit tricky.

@Raven Ah, all right, maybe the suggestion in the update will help you.

Brilliant! It worked well in my actual case. I can use the face normal to direct the ray's direction. Never fully understood how Raycast works, but the outcome is perfect. Thank you!

@Raven Imagine that with Raycast simply a ray is sent from a certain position in a certain direction. If the ray hits an obstacle, a Hit is generated, and you have additional information about the point that was hit (normal, position, distance, etc.).


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Cannot Close Rotation Tool
I cannot find the answer to my issue so sorry if the question is a duplicate. I cannot close my rotation tool and am not sure what I hit.
See pic please and thank you!
M

It looks as if you may have the Rotate option checked in the Show Gizmo dropdown as shown below. Normally all the Object gizmos are unchecked on that menu by default.

This applies to both Edit and Object mode.

That was it, not sure how it got checked. Thank you!

Good! I've never used it here, but did know that the setting existed! :^)


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How can I get the list of all tracking markers using python command
I want to get the list of all tracking markers for the active clip in the clip editor and loop through each marker, so that I can do something with the markers, like get the (x,y) co-ordinate or delete it or change any other values like weight of the marker using python

This script
import bpy
D = bpy.data

for clip in D.movieclips:
    for track in clip.tracking.tracks:
        fn = 'data/tr_{0}_{1}.csv'.format(clip.name.split('.')[0], track.name)
        with open(fn, 'w') as f:
            frameno = 0
            while True:
                markerAtFrame = track.markers.find_frame(frameno)
                if not markerAtFrame:
                    break
                frameno += 1
                coords = markerAtFrame.co.xy
                f.write('{0} {1}n'.format(coords[0], coords[1]))

from Blender: exporting camera tracking markers to CSV contains code to do what you're looking for.  You'll have to adapt it, of course.


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How can I insert a keyframe at curve between two keyframes
How can I insert a keyframe at this point of the curve on all channels at the cursor location, I have made offset and I want to delete the keyframe before frame 0 .. when I select all and press I and insert keyframe nothing happens

To add a keyframe to multiple f-curves at once, you have to select all of those f-curves.  You only have one selected in your screenshot.
Go to the left of what you have in your screenshot and find the list of f-curves.  Here's my list from an animation that simply moves an object in Y and Z:

Select the individual F-curves that you want to add the keyframe to.  Unselected curves will be white, selected will be yellow, if you use the default theme.  Here I have selected all three curves.  (Left click to select, then Shift left click to add to selection.)
Move the cursor to the frame where you want to add the keyframe. (Your screenshot looks like you're already there.)
With the mouse somewhere in the graph, type I.  This menu should appear:

left click on Only selected channels or type O.
EDIT:  in response to a comment fixed the menu entry to pick.
EDIT 2: In response to a comment that this doesn't work:
It is possible that you have an active Keying Set that is preventing you from adding keyframes to some curves.  You can check this by going to the left side of the Top Bar of the Timeline editor and clicking the Keying Menu.  A popup like this will appear:

If there is text in the left highlighted box, it means that you have an Active Keying Set.  Keying sets only allow new keys to be added to certain F-curves.  To disable the Active keying set, click the button highlighted on the right.
Returning to the graph editor, another reason might be that you have one or more F-curves locked.  You can't add keyframes to locked curves.  You can check this in the list of F-curves on the left side of the graph.  The red box in the next image shows a locked F-curve. The other F-curves in the image are unlocked:

If you do have an Active Keying Set

Actually, pressing I and choosing "All Channels" inserts keyframes on all channels even if you didn't select them. If you disabled the "Only Show Selected" option in the graph editor so that all F-curves of all objects are displayed, "All Channels" not only inserts keyframes even on unselected curves of the selected object, but also on all curves of unselected objects. All visible curves.

Thank you for your kind reply. However when I follow your steps and insert a keyframe on all channels still nothing happens as shown in the picture https://i.imgur.com/Ry0yM16.png

@GordonBrinkmann Thank you.  I fixed the answer.

@Ibrahim  In that case, you have a setting that limits what keyframes you can insert, either the preferences setting suggested in another answer, or you have keying sets enabled and the other f-curves aren't in the keying sets.

In Blender preferences-Animation-keyframes, un-tick "Only Insert Needed"


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Rendered image different from rendered image view
I'm rendering a scene in Blender, and for some reason, the rendered image section is different from the exported image. Note the difference in the wood colour appearance in the sun.
Rendered view

Saved image

Colour settings

No answer as yet, so, here is my best guess:
In the top-right of the 3D Viewport, make sure to select the correct shading option, then click the menu icon to get the viewport shading options:

If you are not using the scene world or lights that could be an issue.
Next, in the Outliner, click the visibility filter dropdown.

That one between the eyeball (visible in 3D Viewport) and the camera (Renders) is the option to preview render in the viewport. Select it and check to make sure all your lights are enabled. (I don’t think it likely you have anything disabled here, but might as well check.)
Finally, you just need to look through your Scene Properties and World Properties to make sure everything is correct, alas.
I may be wrong on all counts, but these are the first things I’d check.

Everything is configured correctly, according to what you're suggesting. And, as of the sun, it's the Nishita sky texture. The problem could be due to weird colour space stuff...


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How do I access histogram data from Python?
I am trying to adjust the rendered image exposure using the histogram in the compositor, and I would like to automate it. But, how can I get the data from the graph in the image below?

Maybe not yet possible https://blender.community/c/rightclickselect/nOLW/?sorting=hot

What is so weird is that I see references to it in the Python API, but with no clear way of how to get the data...
https://docs.blender.org/api/current/bpy.types.Scopes.html#bpy.types.Scopes.histogram
https://docs.blender.org/api/current/bpy.types.Histogram.html#bpy.types.Histogram

I've seen that too. But as you say, the exposed properties are very limited.

Though, I did get this in the Python console...
"No reference available 'Histogram.mode', Update info in 'rna_manual_reference.py' or callback to bpy.utils.manual_map()"

AFAIK this just lets you create the UI, you don't actually access the data. If you RMB > Edit source, you can see how this is used.


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Texture coordinates dupliface UV projection
How do I get the desired texture coordinate projection for duplifaces? I've tried everything and nothing seems to be working.
Here's how it should look:

This is how mine looks

I think you should select the parent object in the object input of the Texture Coordinates node because right now, it uses the UV of the duplifaces and not the parent's UV

It doesn't change anything when I set the object to the parent in the texture coordinate node

Can you give me a link to where you took the first screenshot? I couldn't replicate it either.

Never mind. I found it

OK. I think I know what the problem is, give me a few minutes to write the answer.

If you set up your duplifaces correctly, then I think you are doing nothing wrong. The only thing that you may want to take notice at is that the official documentation states that the From instancer option works for Cycles only.

So you need to be in Cycles and view your object in rendered mode :

But just to make sure, this is how you should set this up :
You create two objects, the instancer and the child object. In my case the instancer is an UV Sphere and the child is an Icosphere. You parent the child to the inscancer with CTRL + P and you select the instancer and got to the objects tab under Instancing (in 2.79- it is called Duplication) and select Faces :

Then you should have the child duplicated all over the parent's faces.
For the material you just need to add the texture to the child. You use the same node tree as your screenshot but you check From instancer and you should be able to see the desired result in rendered mode.

Thanks for the assist, so it doesn't work in eevee? D:

No it doesn't. For the moment.


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While sculpting, whenever I use the mirroring tool it has a tendency to not be symmetrical. And i can't find a damn solution for it :(
I'm fairly new to blender and i have recently been following a sculpting tutorial. I have this problem where whenever I use the mirroring tool the mirror dots are not symmetrical to each other  and it drives me crazy. I know its something about the origin point or the scale, rotation, location but I've checked all those and everything seems to be normal.

Yes, the mirror tool uses the object's origin for the mirror. It's indicated by a little orange dot. Have you tried to reset the object's origin into the center with the menu entry Object > Set Origin > Origin to Geometry?

Yes. I have multiple times, that's why it's bothering me so much.

(Hm, for some reason Blender does not show the origin in Sculpt mode even it's enabled in the overlay ...?) According to the Location of the N-panel in your screenshot, you have applied the Location. This means the origin should be at the world origin (0,0,0). And the model must be centered on the X-axis to have the mirror work correctly. Can you check this in Object mode?  https://i.sstatic.net/YyFVA.jpg

It says the same in object mode, everything is on the (0,0,0). The model should be perfectly centered including the origin. Despite all that the mirroring is still asymmetrical. Could it be that the model itself is not symmetrical?


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How would I make a plane with a hollow cylinder and a flat bottom, like a skateboard half pipe?
How would I make a plane with a hollow cylinder and a flat bottom, like a skateboard half pipe?
I am just thinking about making a primitive shape. No details are other than a shape. A side view would be akin to this " --U--" but flush with the top and a bit of flat bottom.
This is my first blender project, so I hope this question is appropriate.

Hello, could you please a photo of the shape?

add a mesh circle, select the upper part and delete it

now select the right part

and move it to the right

now select these two vertices

and subdivide

select the vertex in the middle and use snap -> vertex
now press G Y and move the cursor on this vertex so that the selected vertex has the same height

then move that vertex to the right like this:

now select these two vertices

and press E S X and move your mouse so you got this:

now press A E Z and move your mouse you will get:

now TAB and right click -> autosmooth