Linking render visibility to viewport visibility in 2.81? While there may be cases when you want to render objects other than the ones you see in the editor, you more often need to prevent such difference and have in the render exactly the objects visible in the editor.

Is it possible to lock (meaning keep them in sync) visibility in render to visibility in viewport, so that you get what you see and don't need to search objects one by one to ensure you'll render all and only the objects currently in the editor?

Said otherwise how to keep in sync any pair of icons, at object level, at collection level, and whatever other levels if I forgot some. In sync meaning when one changes the other changes too, as if there was only one icon. In more conventional GUI, this lock is usually represented by a chain link icon:

Question for Blender 2.8.

By the way I don't understand why the active camera view doesn't show objects with render = visible, and rather show objects with viewport = visible. Camera views are supposed to be the ones which are rendered. So there is no way to preview what will be rendered.

I found half of the answer to this problem here:
Why are there non-visible objects in my final render?

You may paste the following code line to the Python Console (at the
bottom of the Scripting view) and hit return, to make the render
visibility match the viewport visibility automatically:
for ob in bpy.context.scene.objects: ob.hide_render = ob.hide

As someone pointed out, in blender 2.8+ you need to adapt the code to:
for ob in bpy.context.scene.objects: ob.hide_render = ob.hide_get()

This will only do it once though and not permanently link the two. If someone knows how to adapt this to link them continuously, that would be great!
EDIT:
I wrote a short add-on that syncs the render ports with the current view ports through the click of a button in the collections panel. You need to click every time you want to synchronise.

Installation
If you are interested, you can download the add-on here:
https://github.com/Nayunis/Blender/blob/master/sync_render_with_view.zip
Just copy the unpacked folder into the blender add-ons folder (something like C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.83\2.83\scripts\addons)
Then you can activate the add-on within blender via:
Edit > Preferences > Add-Ons (in the left menu) and search for "Sync Render with Viewport" and tick the little box to activate it. Now the button should be there.

It was a little hard to understand your question simply meaning (from what I understand) to ensure that the objects you see in the viewport will be rendered in the final render.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

Unless you have specifically disabled rendering for a single object in Blender, if you can see it in the render viewport, then I am almost positive you will see it in the final render.

In the case you are working with hidden objects and you want to show them all, go to the search bar and type "Show all". Select the option, and see if any objects become visible.

If you have objects that do have rendering disabled, go to the collections tab, and make sure the camera icon is selected. Also make sure that the "eye" icon is also selected. If these are selected, they will be clearly visible, not greyed out.

If what you actually want is to show the objects in the final render as they are seen in the viewport, then don't worry. DevLook function (2.8) will show you almost exactly what it will look like.

If an object is grey/transparent, then select it, and make sure that rendering is enabled. If so, then check the materials. The object may be transparent. If you  want this, then the object will be invisible at full color white. If you want it to be transparent but visible, then lower the color value. If you want it to be semi-transparent, then give it a darker color, or a translucent shader.

If you want to see the actual render status (what everything looks like rendered), then you should just use rendered view. The spheres at the top right of the viewport show different views (wireframe,solid,material (LookDEV), and rendered.

I really hope my answer helps you, and Happy Blending!


smoke Rendering out is blurred I am not convenient to express my settings，So have attached my file

I want to make the smoke more clear，Like an example of a photo

My file:https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9AIC7MxieHpdXN1QTdkbTZPZUU

On the ones with all the mushroom clouds, it looks like you need more resolution in your smoke domain. This will allow it to use a lot more detail.

(Also, this won't change the look, but to make it calculate faster, you can enable Smoke Adaptive Domain in the domain settings.)


nodes missing from node editor The default defuse node missing from node editor - i have tried repairing / did a reinstall -- changed the cycles render // chose use node editor from the material tab. Blender 2.78c. I cannot insert or create a new node.

here is the screen shoot.

ahh... my bad.. the use node check box was not ticked.


Subsurf and mirror modifier creating a split in mesh I was practicing with modeling a leaf using a image reference. Everything went fine and I finished modeling my leaf, but I wanted to make it more realistic (I'll add textures later), I saw lots of people using the Subdivision Surface modifier but it doesn't work for me.

My model:

My model when I add the Subdivision Surface modifier

The mirror modifier is designed to work properly with the subsurf modifier. You shouldn't have to do anything extra.

The main problem is that your subsurf modifier is above your mirror modifier in the stack. The subsurf should be below the mirror modifier.

Essentially, you're suburfing one half all by itself, and then mirroring that. Rather, you want to mirror the part you have, and then subsurf the whole thing.

If that doesn't fix all of the problems, there are some other problems you might be running into.

Normally, the mirror modifier will merge vertices from one half that are close enough to the save vertices from the  other half. You just have to make sure of two things:

Your center line must be perfectly straight.
Your center line must be close enough to the mirror pivot.

To make your center line perfectly straight, select all the vertices that are on the center of your mesh and scale to 0 only on the proper axis. If your center line parallels the x axis and lies on the x-y plane, then scale to 0 on the y-axis.

To make sure your center line is "close enough" to your mirror pivot, first determine what your mirror pivot is. The default is the object's origin, but you can use the origin of another object. In your case, it's probably the object's origin. Here's a method you can use:

Select all vertices
Zoom in on the object's origin (orange dot) and move all the vertices until the center line lies exactly on the origin.

You may have to zoom in very far to get it perfect, but you really only have to get "close enough" as defined by the merge distance set in the mirror modifier.

It's best to move on a single axis, which you can do after starting the operation, in this case grab. After typing g, type the letter of the axis along which you want to move the vertices. You'll be constrained to this axis until you choose another one, or finish the operation.

You are using mirror modifier with subsurf modifier. That's why your leaf is behaving like above picture. You need to add edge loops or use edge crease to solve this problem.

By the way, this is not the most efficient way to create a leaf.
Search for "Sintel LowPoly Plants" video on youtube.com to learn the basics of Low Poly modeling of plants.


Camera not in Outliner or in 3d view My Camera is not visible in the outliner or in the 3D view but if i press num0 i can see its view. But i can't delet it because i cant find it. I can't select it or something else.
Its like it isn't realy there.

I hope you cant finde a solution

Julius

Do not need to have a camera, you can set any object as camera by selecting the object and pressing ctrl + 0, just add a camera, and with the camera selected press ctrl + 0

Add a camera to the scene then press the keystroke.

To add a camera press

Shift A

Then Select Camera


3D track not tracking rotation? I've 3D tracked a scene and the positional tracking is amazing my model is staying exactly where it should be, but then my camera rotates, and for whatever reason instead of the model rotating it just slides sideways. I've set the y-axis, scale, floor, origin and wall and I have at least 20 trackers. What am I doing wrong?

If anyone sees this and knows what I did wrong I would appreciate it if you post, but for now, I just manually keyframes my model to stay in the right position so to avoid wasting peoples time I'm going to mark this as an answer.
Have a nice day!

I guess I'm waiting two days to be able to mark my own post as an answer.... Why?


Image texture rendered badly in Blender cycles The texture looks correct in the preview but renders badly with vertical artefacts and looks very low resolution. What's going on here?

This render, focussed on just the label (128 samples) shows the damage:

The shrinkwrap modifier must be applied first, before the subsurface modifier.

It seems low resolution rendered image. You should check the resolution of render image.


How to make a centered hexagon door consisting of 6 triangles? I want to create a hexagonal airlock. It would consist of 6 triangular parts. I would like to use some tool that would allow me to edit all those parts at once. I'd also want it to animate them accordingly to this sketch:

From what I've read the best solution appeared to be using an array modifier on the triangular element with an object offset using an empty element at 0,0,0 and rotated 60' on Z axis. Instead of the hexagon, I've created something like this.

I played a little with the coordinates of the empty point and received somewhat what I wanted, but it is definitely imperfect.

How can I create the hexagon, so that all the vertices are aligned and it would be easy to animate the mentioned way?

For the modeling, here are 3 ways:

First the simplest way, if you don't need your triangles to be linked:

Create a circle (6 vertices, Fill Type > Triangle Fan).
Choose Edge Select mode, select all the concentric edges and press V to rip, then enter to validate right away. Now each triangle is independent.

If you want your triangles to be linked (so that you can continue to work its topology) you could use linked duplications:

Create a 3 vertices circle.
Put its origin on one of its vertices (or put the 3D cursor on one of its vertices and choose the 3D cursor as Pivot Center).
Duplicate your triangle with altD. Press enter to confirm right away.
Make your linked copy rotate 60° on the Z axis.
Make a second linked copy and make it rotate 120°, etc...

You could also use an Array modifier:

Create a 3 vertices circle.
Put its origin on one of its vertices.
Put an empty on the same point.
Give your triangle an Array modifier, and choose the empty as Object.
Rotate the empty 60° on the Z axis.

For the animation, you can do it this way:

Separate each triangle.
Set the origin on the geometry of each triangle with shiftctrlaltC.
Choose Pivot Point option > Median Point and enable the Manipulate Center Point option (don't forget to disable it when you'll have finished to keyframe).
In the Timeline, put your cursor at frame 0.
Select all your triangles and create a keyframe with i > LocRotScale.
In the Timeline, put your cursor at frame X.
With all your triangles selected, scale up with S. With the Manipulate Center Point option enabled the triangles will go away from each others instead of scaling.
Create a new keyframe with i > LocRotScale.

first add a cilinder and go to the settings in the left panel and set it up to 6 vertices and you are done :D happy blending!!


Audio/Video out of sync in rendered video I've looked at some similar problem descriptions on this, but mine is slightly different.
When I edit a music video with several cut scenes, in VSE the audio/video will be in sync on each cut until I play the video from the beginning.
When I do this, the video will slowly start to lag behind the audio getting further behind the longer I let it play. BUT if I manually click on a cut halfway through the video, it will be in sync again in VSE.
If I render the video, it acts just as it did when I play the video from the beginning in VSE, the video slowly starts to lag behind.
I did check all of the frame dropping/AV-sync settings, and I have those all enabled.
I was running 2.74, but I tried updating to the latest version and I'm still having the same issues.

Any suggestions would be great, as I've spent many hours getting this video ready and I don't want to have to scrap it.

The video is from a GoPro Hero 4 and is MP4 H.264 codec

What you need is AV Sync. AV Sync makes sure that your audio and video play together by dropping frames to match the audio. What you were experiencing before is your computer not being able to combine and output all the inputs for each frame in the amount of time it was given (1/30 or 1/24 of a second).

What you probably currently have:

Good:


How to have collection where collection origin is not world origin? I'm trying create a set of modular 3D pieces in one blender file that I can use to build scenes.  My idea was to create a single file with the modular pieces and then create a second blender file that would link to them to create the scene.  Because I need to export my scene as glTF, I need to import the pieces from my first file wrapped in collections (if I just import the object, the glTF exporter ignores any transform I make to the linked object).

I have carefully set the pivot points of my model pieces so that they can snap together easily.  Unfortunately, if I put an object in a collection and that object is not at the world origin, when I import it the linked model includes the offset from the origin in my source file:

I can solve this by moving the model to the world origin, but that causes another problem - now all my model pieces are overlapping each other in a cluttered, unworkable mess.  Is there a way for me to link to my model pieces without having to move everything to the world origin?

Seems like there is a way to do it.  Once you add your object to a collection, you then move the 3d cursor to the place where you would like the origin to be, go into the Properties/Object Properties/Collections panel and then select Set Offset From Cursor from the drop down menu.

Manual Approach (No Python Script)
Lets assume you have Blender File [A].  We will create one additional File[B]
These steps will move objects to the world origin.  Keep this technique in mind.

Cursor to world origin
Select objects and Move Selection to Origin.  If items are parented then Blender manages this.

Next part

Perform you work of Modelling in File[A] as usual.
Copy File[A] to new Blender File[B]. [A] and [B] have distinct names.
In File[B] use the move technique from above. File [B] is now the processed file with world origins at [0,0,0]. Save File[B].
You may need to delete a previous File[B].
You do not want to visually model with File[B] because many objects
are near the origin.
File[B] is the target of the file append or link

If often use local mode with numeric keypad /
I am not saying I agree with your analysis of the problem. People
often make copies of files for archive purposes.  File [A] could also have a Python script.  The script or driver can set values on the delta transform or the primary transform in a particular  location.
See the first comment below for additional.


How to find pixels which are getting occluded in the next frame? I have 3D model of a scene with several objects that are transformed from one keyframe to another one (translation, rotation, scaling). This scene will be rendered as animation with write_still=True so the final results are images per each frame. I am interested in finding pixels that are visible in one frame but are occluded in the next frame. A simple example could be something like this:

First frame ----------- > Second frame

In this example, the colorful plane is fully visible in the first frame but is getting behind the gray square in the second frame, so not only the bottom left corner of it is occluded now, but part of the background near the gray square is also occluded by the colorful square. In the next image, the occluded areas are highlighted white. I would like to have a binary mask that shows which pixels from the first frame will be occluded in the next frame. The final goal is to do this by Python interface, but any suggestion to solve this is very appreciated.

Please note that objects are 3D, they might rotate or scale too. Lighting will change and the camera motion is also involved. A more complete example is as follows:

First frame

Second frame

Occlusion map

Please see the panel ... object relations pass index. This information can be examined in the compositor.  This is generated in the object index render pass for Cycles. You must enable that pass.

There is also Cryptomatte.


Can not find unlink object data in Blender 2.8 Currently using Blender 2.8 and I would normally hit "U" to unlink object data from  linked duplicates I can't seem to find it anymore. Searched the word "unlink" in the preferences but nothing comes up except for remove from linked collection.

As of the official release of Blender 2.80, 'unlinking' of objects is called 'Make Single User'.

Select object(s)
Go to the 3d viewport menu: Object-->Relations-->Make Single User-->Object & Data
After selecting that menu item, a pop-up appears where you may choose Selected Object(s) or All

Si hiciste duplicados con shift D.
Selecciona el duplicado a separar.
En modo objeto, ir a objeto.
Parent
Clear parent
De esa forma el objeto duplicado queda limpio de las propiedades heredadas y se le puede editar por ejemplo el color de material.


How to make all keyframe scene visible objects, visible in the renderer for each keyframe I need urgent help on this for a project that's due. I didn't know there was a camera renderer that also need to be altered i thought it was scene view the whole time. (there's probably a script that does the job,but i can't find it), so all my objects that weren't meant to be visible all show at the start and i could go to that small camera icon each time and set the visibility keyframe manually but it would take way too long.
I have camera, texts from blender, plane from blender, plane with images and a armature installed from https://www.blendswap.com/blends/view/76197

Here are all the objects in the dopesheet. At the moment all i could think of to solve this problem would be scripting,but the documentation is bad, so i need expertise.

Someone could have mentioned a quick fix... the openGL renderer uses the scene view and i spent the whole of last night trying to figure out ways until today. Thanks a lot guys.


How to model medical cloth wrapping? I am modeling a gun and from a concept that I found on the web. The gun has little strips of cloth around its handle. I'm not sure what the best way to model them is. As you can see, the straps are overlapping each other, bending, curving, and folding.

How can I model this? I would rather not use a cloth simulation.

It's suppose to be high poly model

Here is a way to do it:

step 1: get a plane parallel to what you want to wrap.

step 2: extrude the plane around the object

step 3: Add a solidify modifier

step 4: Add a loop that runs across all the faces and pull it inwards using Alt+s

step 5: Add extra support loops

step 6: Set every face to smooth shading and add a subdivision surface modifier

This is just to get the average shape, you can of course make a even simple shape if you need a lowpoly model. However once you got the basic shape set up (possibly try to use Edge Loops to help you) you can try to sculpt more details aound each ring by adding even more edge loops to add every single bend in every stripe. In theory you don't need to model each single bend since you can achieve that with pretty good texturing.

To get a realistic work get some piece of wood with a shape similiar to your hand gun, really wrap it with stripes, and take a photo and work on that.


Good strategies for camera matching I've been blocking out the shapes of a rather visually complex interior. I used fSpy to match the camera to the perspective.

I've got some of the shapes blocked out, but finding the correct scale, orientation, and location of each part has proven to be extremely time consuming. Thus far, I have been just messing with the elements and moving then around and doing tiny little adjustments until it finally clicks in place.

For you folks that have more experience with this, is there a better way?

Are there any strategies to make this process more streamlined and easier?

Thanks in advance

What you are doing should be pretty easy, you should be using the fspy blender plugin BLAM.  Blenderguru did a video using a similar plugin to model a hallway:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb6rSMAooDs&t=160s

Hopefully you just need to tweak your workflow a bit.


Exporting only 1 object at a time to .stl using blender script python I have a scene with multiple objects and I want to export them individually as .stl meshes.

Right now, it is just a cube and a plane, for simplicity. The cube is resting on the plane.

I've tried the following script to loop through the objects in the scene and export them individually as .stls:

cube.select=True
plane.select=True
names = [ob.name for ob in bpy.context.selected_objects]
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')

for name in names:
    obj = bpy.data.objects[name]
    bpy.context.scene.objects.active = obj
    stl_path = os.path.join('C://Users/deden/Desktop/', name + '.stl')
    bpy.ops.export_mesh.stl(filepath=stl_path)

However, when I do this, both .stl files contain both the cube and the the plane. I am trying to have a separate .stl file for both the cube and the plane.

Can anybody help me with this?

I've seen a couple other stack posts but keep getting the same problem..

Set the use_selection property

To export only the selection, set the use_selection property to True. Also select object before and deselect after.

2.79 and prior.

Export all selected objects to individual stl

import bpy
context = bpy.context
obs = context.selected_objects  # makes a "snapshot" copy of property
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
scene = context.scene
for ob in obs:
    scene.objects.active = ob
    ob.select = True
    stl_path = os.path.join('C://Users/deden/Desktop/', name + '.stl')
    bpy.ops.export_mesh.stl(
            filepath=stl_path,
            use_selection=True)
    ob.select = False

>= 2.80

2.8 version.  Exports all mesh objects in scene to stl.

import bpy
from pathlib import Path

context = bpy.context
scene = context.scene
viewlayer = context.view_layer

obs = [o for o in scene.objects if o.type == 'MESH']
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')

path = Path("/tmp")
for ob in obs:
    viewlayer.objects.active = ob
    ob.select_set(True)
    stl_path = path / f"{ob.name}.stl"
    bpy.ops.export_mesh.stl(
            filepath=str(stl_path),
            use_selection=True)
    ob.select_set(False)

The STL exporter doesn't have an option like "selected objects only". So, you have to deal with the exporter code to get this done.
Another idea is to hide other objects to a dedicated inactive scene while exporting.


Blender as 3D real-time visualizer I am new to Blender and 3D graphics in general, and would like to know whether the software is the right choice for the following task: I would like to visualize position data coming from an external simulation (think many many cars driving around, possibly with lights) in real-time while adding lights and textures (e.g. a CAD model of a city, street lamps, etc.). At the same time, I would like to be able to zoom, pan, and rotate the view.

If possible, I also would like to eventually render the entire animation (maybe with higher quality effects, in this case position data can be extracted from a CSV, and the rendering does not have to be real-time).

The idea would be to be able to control the location of the cars and some of the parameters (e.g. the intensity of the car lights) from the external simulation. The scene would probably be created before directly in Blender (or just imported using compatible 3d-models). Ideally, the scene is embedded in an external graphical interface (e.g. a simplified 3d view that only allows to zoom and pan).

Is Blender the right software for this? If so, do you have any hints to get started (e.g. reads the section about Phython API, etc.).

Thank you very much,
Fede

The short answer is "yes."

The longer answer is "it depends on exactly how you want to do it."

If you can be a bit more specific about what kind of data you're wanting to import, that'd be really helpful. You can get just about anything you want into Blender, but it might be simpler to pre-process it with another application. Knowing what that is and where it comes from will help us to make some recommendations.

If you can be a bit more specific about your intended result, that'd be really helpful. Blender can do real-time 3D as well as feature-film-quality video... and anything in between. More information will make it easier to be more helpful.

As for the best place to start, I would NOT (perhaps surprisingly) recommend studying the Python API. It has a Python API. That's really about all you need to know. It can do anything Python can do, so technically you can literally do almost anything you want with Blender. You might even be able to write an Operating System with it... though I don't know how much help Blender would be in that process.

Generically, the best place to start would be the Blender Manual. Figure out what Blender does and how it does it. Then you will have a much better idea of whether or not you want to use it for your project.

Hope that helps!


Is there a way to add fake thickness to an alpha image texture? I'm using Cycles I want to add thickness to a texture with alpha transparency like @rich-sedman do in his nice answer here:
How can I make a hexagonal grill?
But this time with an image texture (jpg+mask or png/tiff) not a mathematically generated one.
It can be separated planes or solidify modifier, I don't mind, even if solidify would be better.
I've already seen things about parallax mapping but not sure it's suitable and as good as this one.

Edit 1

A reference image of what kind of texture I use
https://www.textures.com/download/metalvarious0044/61614
The point of my question is that it can be seen from a side angle and not looks like a paper sheet.

Resolved

The answer of Rich is working, it's not perfect, no material on the volume, quite expensive and volume don't seem to work with UVmaps, only generated or object so for array it's complicate. But if it's not for a close shot it makes the joke.

There is another way - using a similar technique to the procedural hex shader defined here to displace additional Image Textures to "fill in" the faked depth.

The following nodes will generate the required offset based on the surface Normal, the Incoming ray, and the 'depth' behind the image plane :

The output vector can be used as an offset to the Image Texture coordinates and used to mix between a Transparent and Diffuse shader to project a faked "shadow" where the back surface would reside based on the specified 'depth'.

Taking this a step further we can "fill in" the depth by generating multiple 'layers' at different depths - eg, 8 layers at 0.125, 0.250, 0.375, 0.500, 0.625, 0.750, 0.875, 1.000 - by varying the 'Factor' of the MixRGB Subtract node.

Since the faked depth is generated on the image plane (it's all one flat surface rather than additional geometry), the surface normal is the same for the projected 'edges' as it is for the rest of the image. For additional realism we need to be able to generate a faked Normal for the projected layers and for this we need to be able to detect the 'direction' of the closest edge for any point in the original image.

To achieve this, take the Alpha channel from the original image and pass it through a Blur filter in an external graphics package such as Gimp (you could potentially use Blender compositor nodes to do this and save as a separate image but it's far simpler to use a tool more suited to the job).

Passing this blurred image into a Bump node will generate a Normal for each point - which will tend to point "outwards" towards the edge of the alpha "island" for each pixel in the image.

We can use the Cross Product vector math node to generate a faked normal based on the bump map that is perpendicular to the actual surface normal and is pointing in the direction of the closest edge from that point.

The Cross Product produces a vector that is perpendicular to both of the input vectors. Therefore, the first Cross Product with Normal produces a vector that is along the surface but that is at 90 degrees to the bump map generated 'normal' while the second Cross Product produces a vector that is at 90 degrees to that (so it's in the direction of the 'bump') which is also at 90 degrees to the surface normal (so it's along the direction of the surface) - ie, the Normal of the 'edge' of the projection.

The generated Normal can then be applied to each of the 'layers' to build up into the associated 'edge'.

Note that the 'edge' will not be correctly shadowed since the 'image' is still only rendered on a single plane - ie, it will not cast shadows on itself and shadows on other geometry will be limited to rays that pass through the image plane. it will also become distorted when viewed at progressively shallower angles. Note also that this will only work be effective if the 'layers' are sufficiently close together to prevent the rays traveling too far 'into' the image (otherwise the normal will be calculated for the opposite edge). However, it can produce quite pleasing results providing the viewing angle is not too shallow.

Note that there are multiple Image Texture nodes and each must be set appropriately - the 'main' Image Texture and the first column should be set to the actual image while the second column set to the 'blurred alpha' image.

Here's the final result :

Despite appearances there is no additional geometry here - the depth is purely faked and the only geometry is the plane.

Blend file attached

While not suited to UV mapping (since the material cannot determine the scale or orientation of the face), it can be used with Object coordinates to allow the pattern to be repeated (change the Image Texture nodes to Repeat). Also, the Color of the Diffuse shaders can be fed from each 'layer' image rather than being set to a single color - so that the 'surface' color bleeds back along the projected surface. This can produce the following effect :

using bump maps can kind of do what you want, I recommend just adding a solidify modifier, that's the best path


Python 2 library support I am working with Blender 2.78 where plugins are apparently programmed in python 3. However I will need a custom library programmed in python 2 to be accessed from my plugin. As there seem to be python 2 and python 3 in /blender/2.78/python/lib, is there now a way of using python 2 libraries in my plugin?

"script.py" is the name of your script:

2to3 -w script.py

https://docs.python.org/2/library/2to3.html


Call operator with tweak popup window I'm making a panel with buttons to do different actions for modeling. One one of my button I want to merge vertex by distance when I click on it, but merge to center when I CTRL + Click.

I got this working just fine except that I would like my regular click to show the context panel that shows up when you call with from Vertex -> Merge Vertices -> By Distance where you can adjust the threshold and what not.

I mean this window:

I noticed that when I call the function with

row.operator("mesh.remove_doubles")

the context panel does show up, but when I call it inside invoke to get the event.CTRL it does not show up.

def invoke(self, context, event):
    if event.ctrl:
        bpy.ops.mesh.merge(type='CENTER')
    else:
        bpy.ops.mesh.remove_doubles()

    return {'FINISHED'}

Any way to run the same method in the invoke ?
Thanks!

Ok so that's what ended up having that works the way I wanted

import bpy

class Weld(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "edit.weld"
    bl_label = "Weld"
    bl_description = "Weld vertices by distance\nHold CTRL to weld at center"
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}

    merge_dist: bpy.props.FloatProperty(
        name="Merge Distance",
        description="Merge Distance",
        min=0.0,
        step=0.1,
        default=0.02
    )

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):

        if context.active_object.mode != 'EDIT':
            return False
        if len(context.selected_objects) < 1:
            return False

        return True

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        if event.ctrl:
            bpy.ops.mesh.merge(type='CENTER')
            return{'PASS_THROUGH'}
        else:
            return{'FINISHED'}

    def execute(self, context):
        bpy.ops.mesh.remove_doubles(threshold=self.merge_dist)
        return {'FINISHED'}


is it possible to assign a filter to apply only on a specified material I found out this custom filter with a bloom effect giving a glow effect. My question is, is it possible to make the filter specific to a specific material making it the only one glowing to simulate light glow?

Yes it is. Use material IDs to mask certain areas of the image.
I think the manual page gives you all the information and examples you need:

https://www.blender.org/manual/compositing/types/converter/id_mask.html


How would I go about UV mapping this object? I just modeled this object that I'm going to be using in a bathroom. I tried importing it into Unreal Engine but when I do the mesh becomes black after light building. People said I have to create a UV lightmap so I looked up tutorials but first I need to UV unwrap twice since Unreal Engine takes the second UV as the lightmap. I have no clue where to start UV mapping since the urinal part dips in. I understand the top sensor part since its just circles and spheres, but its the other part I'm confused about.

Object mode:

https://gyazo.com/788809e77f70e60108258f7820b38c36

Edit Mode:
https://gyazo.com/ecbdebe1bdebc22820bbe4fab8123176

Here's a view from the inside:
Object Mode:

https://gyazo.com/0ca128321a4e9b5726f2f4e6304865b0

Edit Mode:

https://gyazo.com/5e0349a89a71de55d54bad68987847f9

Can someone please just say where I should mark seems?

Never mind everyone I did a UV Smart Project and it looks like this:

Would this be good for making the light map and stop the overlapping?


How can I mirror bone rotations? I have a rigged character. And like most character models, I have modeled it in the "T-pose". Now I want to create an idle animation, so the arms need to be resting by the character's side. I selected both the upper arms and tried to rotate the arms simultaneously. This causes the one arm to lift and the other one to rest

Like so:

I was wondering if there's a way to mirror the rotation? Most of the material I could find regarding this simply "Flips" the armature.

Thanks in advance.

R to set rotation mode

Ctrl+M to set mirror mode

In this case X key twice

You'll see two red lines cross over your character in front view.


How can I connect the armature to my mesh without blender crashing? I am trying to make the armature the parent to the mesh with automatic weights but every time I try blender stops responding and has to be closed? Am I doing something wrong?

I'm running Blender v2.76 on the cycles render

Try to remove subsurf modifier on you mesh before you apply the armature.

Else the armature will use the subsurfed model (much more vertices).

I have noticed this problem a couple of times. As best as I could tell it was down to either the mesh not having enough geometry for Blender to figure out the weighting or it was due to part of the armature not being 'inside' the mesh. On both occasions I was able to resolve the issue with some tweaking.


How can I create veins on skin I have this character's arm.

I want to have some veins in this pattern with a shape-key, meaning that the basis would be without the veins and when the shape-key is on, the veins would appear. I also don't want to have too many vertices, my computer isn't the best, and I have many other meshes in scene.

Any ideas on how to do this?

I'd do it in the material via a normal map / bump map.


what would be the equivalent tool to this in blender https://help.maxon.net/us/index.html#TOOLMAGNET
it acts like a sculpting brush in blender but u can select faces and only affect them it also has fall off
heres a showcase of the tool compared to soft selection aka proportional editing
https://youtu.be/JArOaI8dC8M?t=791

You can use the "proportional editing" hiding all the part of the mesh (H) you don't want to move.
here the process:


Render result is completely blank A scene I made is not rendering, at all.
This grey screen stays the same and nothing changes.

Here are my settings:
 [

Possible causes for blank output on rendering
Please follow the links in blue for further details
1 - No Surfaces

Make sure Surfaces is enabled otherwise Cycles has no geometry to render

2 - Objects have been disabled for rendering

Objects might have been disabled for rendering in the Outliner. To fix enable the camera icon in the outliner

The Eye icon is to toggle object visibility on the 3D viewport.
The Arrow Icon toggles selectability.
The Camera Icon toggles Rendering.

3 - Lights

There are no lights in scene.

To fix add some lights.

Lights are set at 0 power. To fix change the values to a higher number.

Lights have been disabled for rendering.

Enable the camera icon in outliner window.

The lights might might be blocked by objects in the scene

Lights have incorrect Shader Nodes with incoherent output

4 - Strips on the VSE

There are strips present in VSE and the Sequencer box enabled in Post-Processing. The VSE takes precedence over scene rendering.

To fix clear the strips on the VSE or disable the Sequencer box.

5 - Object or camera are in a different render layer

Objects might be in a layer that is not included as in the render Layers

To fix include the layer where the objects are as part of the render layers.
How Render Layers work

6 - Camera is blocked

The camera might be behind a wall or another object

An object in front of the camera might be restricted from viewport display, making the issue not apparent in the viewport or render preview.

Camera clipping might prevent surfaces very close to the camera from showing in the viewport but still prevent it from rendering correctly

If Backface Culling is enabled in the viewport surfaces might not block view in the viewport but still show in render.

7 - Camera is set incorrectly

The rendered image is that of the active camera's view. Not necessarily the view you have active in the 3d vieport. Press Numpad 0 to show camera view.

Active camera is aiming in a different direction.

Wrong camera being rendered.

You can have multiple cameras in the scene, but only one can be set as the active camera for rendering. Check that you are using the correct one.
In the Properties Window you can determine which camera is the active one

Or select the camera you want to make active in the viewport and press Ctrl+Numpad 0 to select the active camera.
8 - Object as Camera

An object in the scene has been set as camera.

To fix set the active camera back to an actual camera object.

9 - Output node disconnected

Output node in compositor might be disconnected. The composite node is the final output (not the viewer node).

10 - Wrong exposure

Film exposure is set to 0 (Cycles)
Unless you have a good reason to change it. This should be set at 1.

11 - Clip Distance

The clip distance for the camera is set incorrectly.
Make sure that you set the clip start and clip end so that the camera can see within a distance range that encompasses the scene. Geometry that is too close or further away than the set parameters will not render.

If your scene is too large or too small, if the scene is not within the range defined by the clip distance, then the camera will not "see the scene". Enable Display Limits on the camera to visualize the clip range.

12 - The scene is completely out of focus (blurry)

Focus for the camera set to 0 and lens aperture (f-stop) is set to a low value.

The scene is so out of focus that you only see gray or some color that is predominant in the scene.
To fix, change the distance value to the actual distance form the camera to your object, and maybe try a higher number for the f-stop.
To find where your camera is focusing you can enable display->Limits. If you move the focus you'll see a cross mark that indicates where the focus point is:

A trick you can do is use an empty. Move the empty to the place you want the camera to focus on and select the empty (or any other object as the focus target).

Also read also this related post: Why does my object not sow up ?

Additionally I found that the focus needs to be set to a specific object in the depth of field pane. If no object is set, you will get a blank screen


How to subdivide concave face into quads I'm aware of bpy.ops.mesh.vert_connect_concave() and the result is similar to what I'm looking to implement. However, with bpy.ops.mesh.vert_connect_concave(), it adds edges to an already existing vertex.

This is an example of a selected concave face.

This is what I'm hoping to achieve. The "cuts" could go either vertically or horizontally.

I was thinking of going through every outside vertex and performing the concave test. If it passes, add an edge, or add new vertices and edges.

Is there an algorithm for this? The constraint is that the edges are always straight: vertical or horizontal. Think floor plans without any diagonals.

Edit: Fixed order of images

Edit: Wording

Edit: Would adding edges in all four directions to every vertex that has an interior angle greater than 180 be a better solution?

Download TinyCAD script from GitHub:
https://github.com/zeffii/mesh_tiny_cad

File > User Preferences > Add-ons > Install from file...
choose the zip file

Edit mode + Edge select > C
select an edge, and another one you'd like it to extend to.
Right-click to finalize selection.

W to bring up specials menu > TinyCAD > VTX | AUTO

I'm not having much luck with this script over here.
I'm not a pro at it, but I'm hoping it gets you in the right direction.

You might need to tweak it, but at least if gives something to start from.
Or file a bug-report on GitHub, if it's not doing what you need.

I've used a similar feature in drafting class, so I get what you're going for.
Hope it does better for you.


How to combine a voxelmap of cubes? I'm expanding on this question I asked previously.

I'm working on a programming idea and I'm prototyping it in Blender. I need to create a map from a series of blocks. As seen below.

I then want to select and remove all faces on the interior where a face is duplicated. In my previous answer, one user suggested a two step process to select the interior faces:

Remove Doubles
Select > Select all by trait > Interior Faces

But that doesn't scale up. If I make a larger object, interior faces includes a lot of incorrect selections.

Is there a way to remove the double-sided faces on the inside of this mesh without using scripting?

try these videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L3gxMC5AqY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcM7wBlvA4c

They won't solve your problem but they will highlight the fact that there's no answer to your problem because it hasn't been created. I believe it will require some scripting and creativity to get what you are after.

I was looking for an answer to this for hours. The best I could come up with is to do join functions and then clean up the results. Boolean functions will not work because the faces being exactly in the same location will cause rounding errors.

Edit: oh, someone made a script: How to combine multiple cubes with double faces?

Edit: Oh, Blender 2.81 will have a voxel re-mesher? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEnRAgvIsf8


Blender 2.8 stuck on some selection mode - no idea what it is I'm in object mode, there's a circle around the cursor - exactly like what would be there if circle select were active, but it's not active.
Single click on things does nothing, I need to double-click to select anything.
And hitting C simply enables the normal circle select.
I have no idea how to turn it off.
BTW - it only applies to this project, none other. So I think I just hit some key by mistake - Thanks.

Tap the 'W' key.

I'm suffering this problem right now. I was using 2.82 while following a tutorial based on 2.78, and heard "tap W" to get a menu to pop up for doing something.  Nope, not in 2.8 and later. These days, 'W' turns on this permanent circle select mode.

Under the Show Overlays button, there is an option button to Outline Selected. This turns that off and on. Took a while to find it.


Blender 2.80 and Windows 7 I try to open Blender 2.80 on Windows 7 and nothing happens.

I have never had problems with previous versions on my machine, it works perfectly under Ubuntu (my second machine).

Does someone have an idea ?

It seems like you possibly are trying to use the same blender download file for both Ubuntu and Windows, in which case you would need to download the windows file for blender 2.8: https://builder.blender.org/download/, although with the level of detail you have provided it is rather hard to tell. Could you state what machine you are using, where you downloaded the blender file from, and anything else that is non-orthodox about your setup.


How to create customizable Cycles Cel/Toon shader, that generates shadows? I have successfully created a highly customizable Cel/Toon shader for Blender Eevee. The shader has lots of features, including but not limited to: Multiple light sources support, tone shape manipulation, various specular options, rimlightning or hatching.

One of the most important features (which I did not realize up until now) is that the shader reacts on shadows. One monkey head casts shadow on the other.

I would like to recreate this shader in Cycles with all of it's features. However I hit a brick wall right at the start. Using the Toon BSDF within Cycles is a simple enough solution, but I could not figure out how to include features like hatching in the shadows or tone shape change.

I believe creating a custom cel shader is the only option to get the similar effects. So I made the basic dot product between an incoming light vector and surface normal. Unfortunately, this shader no longer respects the shadows generated by other objects (no shadows on the lower monkey head). Also, the shader does not really respects the incoming light, but rather only the position of the light object. The light source could be replaced by an empty object which produces the same result.

I have scouted lots of websites and tested lots of alternatives to this node setup, but I could not get the shadows to show up. The only solution that worked for me is this old thread, with a link to OSL shader. While the shader does generate shadows, I don't know OSL, therefore I can't really customize the code.
Is there really a way to make a true toon shader material in Cycles?
So I guess my questions for today are:

How to make a Cycles Cel/Toon shader, that generates shadows on other objects, without using Toon BSDF?
How to make the Cycles Cel/Toon shader respect the incoming light? (it's direction, color and strenght)
Are there any other difficulties in making the customizable Cel/Toon shader that I might run into?

bence bu görselleri elde etmek için eevee veya cycles yerine compositing kullanılabilir. bu şekilde render modun eevee veya cycles farketmek sızın istediğin gibi ve gölgeli bir şekilde oluşturabilirsin.

I think eevee or loop instead of compositing can be used to achieve this instead. This way you can create the way you want and in a shaded way, regardless of whether your render mode is eevee or the cycles.
translate by: translate.google.com


Is there any way to align this circle? I would like to align a circle with the edge under it. But every time I try to rotate it around the z-axis, it never gets perfectly aligned and overall this "window" has some curves in it.

I want it to be rotated the same way as the edges around it as if they were the same plane.

You can do something like this:
click on the edge you to to align, in order so 3d cursor will be there-->add a plane and scale it a bit--> select the object you want to move--> enable snap during transform (small magnet icon) and select snap to face--> press G to grab and X,Y ou Z to move on that axis. Once it is close to the plane, will snap onto it. press enter, deactivate the magnet and delect the plane


trying to make a wavy edge I'm a beginner in blender and was looking around for learning the basics. I found some videos on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Gb1VK98Wc) (the last 10 minutes have what I'm trying to do) and at the end of one a donut is made but the icing is supposed to be wavy on the edge. so when I select the bottom layers and put the setting on random and pull down there are no waves being made. rather the entier layer is stretched down and the top half gets wavy. then when I hide the top half and only use the bottom row of vertices they still just get stretched downwards. any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Two possible scenarios:

Did you select every single vertices on the bottom ring? If so, stop. Just select one vertex when using the proportional editing tool for this. Use the scroll wheel to increase the fall off of the proportional editing tool.

Do you have the subsurface modifier enabled? If not, the random function will make it jagged.


Saving startup file does not effect startup When I save my startup file using either Ctrl+U or File -> Defaults -> Save Startup File, the next time I open Blender, the original startup file opens.

I'm using Blender 2.82 on Ubuntu 20.04, and I downloaded Blender as a snap.

I'm assuming the issue is that the actual blender startup file isn't located at ~/.config/blender/2.82/config/startup.blend.  When I look at this file manually, it is changing, and when I open it with blender, it is the file I'd like to open at startup, but this isn't what opens at startup.

Assuming that I'm correct, and it's actually using a different default location for the startup.blend, I searched for the file it's actually opening.  There are startup.blend files that exist in the following locations, but they don't appear to be what it's opening:

/snap/blender/37/2.82/scripts/startup/bl_app_templates_system/2D_Animation/startup.blend
/snap/blender/37/2.82/scripts/startup/bl_app_templates_system/Sculpting/startup.blend
/snap/blender/37/2.82/scripts/startup/bl_app_templates_system/VFX/startup.blend
/snap/blender/37/2.82/scripts/startup/bl_app_templates_system/Video_Editing/startup.blend

At this point, I'm either wrong about what the problem is, or I need to tell blender where to get its startup.blend from.

Blender is located at:

$ which blender
/snap/bin/blender

So the question is:
How do I edit my startup file, so that it holds the configuration, since the default doesn't seem to work?

I believe it's a bug of blender I reported here, which already fixed in the current development branch and will be backported to 2.83 LTS version (fix included in version >= 2.83.4). For a workaround, after you do save your startup file, then navigate to preferences dialog and do any setting to get userpref.blend file generated in the blender user config folder, then it should works.

You need to select the default settings (like whether to import previous keybindings, theme, etc) on the first splash screen, then you will be able to set your default file.


Video with 50 FPS slightly off I created a video and exported it in MPEG4 format with H264 encoder and 50 FPS.
When I import this file to Camtasia 2020 into a project with 50 FPS I notice a stuttering in the video. When I go frame by frame I can see that Camtasia is doubling some frames. Increasing the FPS to 50.95 in Blender makes the playback better, but still not perfect.
The file information (right click, properties) shows the exact same frame rate I set in Blender.
Now I am wondering if that is a Blender or Camtasia problem and how to fix it.
Can someone help?
Thanks and best regards,
Michael

It is most probably a problem with blender. You shouldn't have set it to 50 FPS though. You should have gone with 60 FPS. If you still need it in 50 fps, I would say you should render it in frame-by-frame form and then import it to Camtasia 2020 and arrange it in the order you want. Make each frame last 0.02 seconds. Then see, it will probably work. If it still feels a bit rough, you can smoothen it using the tool you have. I am not very sure though, this is my best guess. If you face any issues, please comment. Hope the answer helps.


modeling screw plastic cover for 3d printing Hello I have been using blender for a little while now and while I am quite confident at modeling "normal" objects I am now stuck at the right way to model a plastic cover for assembly screws that is shaped like an angled screw cap. But pictures are surely more explicative than my words (see below). what's the best way to approach this modeling?

If you have already modeled the solid piece, maybe you could delete the faces you don't need (on the second photo the face "under" and "right side" ) and use the "SOLIDIFY" modifier ? find the good value for thickness, apply the modifier. Then you can add the hinges by extruding some faces.
If this can help ?


Mesh moving incorrectly with bones I'm not very good at Blender, but I know the basics. But when I tried making my first rig, things didn't go so well.
This is what it looked like before I moved a bone

And then when I tried to move a bone, it did this.

Please help me out here

epsilonn,
I have seen the rig and the object and it really doesn't look good. It is very common and happens to a lot of people. If you are going with joining one part which is a separate object with the rig, it is not supposed to happen. If you don't understand, imagine the front is one object and the back arm is one object and both are connected to the same thing. This provides fewer problems but is kinda tiresome. If you have done this, this shouldn't happen. But if you went with the common method of making the whole body as 1 object and using automatic weights to parent it, then this problem occurs. Luckily, it is easy to fix. I will share the link to the youtube video. It's below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9S-jhBIEiU
If you are using a version below blender 2.8, here's the link for that version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl4qTgwQwYw
If it still doesn't work, then you have to sadly delete the whole model and the rig and start over again. There's no other option if weight painting doesn't work.


how to set x position to selected vertices I want to make sure vertices of an entire edge loop have the same x position.

I've selected the vertices, set pivot center to individual origins and typed 0 in the x position transform in properties.

They don't move to 0.

What am I missing here?

Thank you.

After selecting the loop that you want to position, you can drag your mouse over the X value in the properties menu (it shows up when you press the N key)

If you have vertices that are offset from the center but their average X value is zero (as shown):

You can use the following keystrokes to set the x position of each vertex to zero :

S+X+0

This is easy. Just do as above to get them alligned S X 0 or S Y 0 etc. To get the all to a specific place just hit tab go into edit mode. Select the vertices or edges you want. Press N to bring up Transform menu. Change the Median from Local to Global and type in your position in x, y or z


Recreate water bevel I am trying make it so when an object interacts with a plan, it creates a bevel effect show in the attached photo.
Is this possible?

Here is one way using a Warp Modifier
Your surface must be highly subdivided, it will contain the modifier. In the gif below this is the plane object.
The modifier stack is as follows:

The from and to fields in the warp modifier are the important pieces here.
The modifier pulls from point a to point b, thus creating the effect shown in the gif below. By animating the cube to move toward the empty, as well as the strength parameter of the modifier it exaggerates the effect. This should get you in the direction you are looking for.

You could do something like this - Inset the "water surface" a few times around the edge of the glass (for a classic meniscus), and also scale/inset the circle in the center of the "water" to match the shape of the brush and inset it a few times as well.

Then select the main (midgap) water surface turn on proportional editing, and shrink the edit circle until it's small enough that it only affects the water. Move the selected area down and the rings on the edge of the glass and around the brush will start to curve. Position it where you think looks good, and turn any subsurface modifiers back on.

The final result looks like this (I know the glass and reflections are terrible - I made it super fast):


Boolean and bad topology I am working on a scene with differents buildings, pierced with arch-shaped windows.
Given the number of windows, using the boolean modifier would allow me to do it quickly. But since once applied, it generates a bad topology, it becomes difficult to edit the mesh afterwards.

Is there a way to use the Boolean modifier while preserving the topology? if not, do you have any tips to quickly model these windows without using it?

Go to sculpting remesh is on top or right bar depending on tool aligment. remember to use adaptation this one is useful where you have lot of flats check out quads too

before bollen add loop cut where new elements should be.
And if you want nicer mesh after all use blender new remesh tool from sculpt tools its great!


Mirror object with animation I am making an aircraft for Flight Simulator and I need basically get the flaps from one wing copied to the other wing with the animations, if it is possible, how can I do it ?

You can simply use the Mirror modifier.

Object Mode: Select the flaps.
In the Properties panel, click the wrench icon.  Add Modifier, Mirror.

At the bottom, Mirror Object: select your plane object.

Axis will depend upon orientation of scene.
I believe X is the correct orientation in your image.

click Apply, and you're set.

I think that no need to use mirror, as you can duplicate the mesh by pressing "shift + D" then make a snap by pressing " S " then -1 .


Fluid simulation render works in viewport, but fluid is missing in image render Fluid Simulation render works in viewport, but will not render the same.
The viewport produces the image I am trying to capture, but whenever I try to render an image, the fluid is missing. All the objects are visible to both the viewport and render engine.

If the name of you water input is [Sphere] it may have its render capability turned off in the outliner.  Please turn on the render setting in the outliner.  That  is the one that looks like a camera.


How can I make a node setup, where only round emitter glows outside the image? How can I make a light source glow and that only this glow surrounds the emitter?

I tried the following compositor setups:
In this setup the emitter (white) is blurred, so that it glows outside the image. But, what I don't want, the red piece is also blurred to outside the image

In this setup, the red piece is not blurred, but the glow of the emitter (white) doesn't glow outside the image either.

How can I make a setup, where the emitter glows outside the image, but red piece doesn't?

You could enable an emission pass in the render layers tab:

Then blur and overlay the Emit pass:

This selects by color and has colored alpha over.  In case you do not want to use white light objects and object id.  White ignored. Blue is selected and yellow is cast.

Nodes


How to make a net of nodes in blender? How can I make a net of nodes like this:

Here's the reference video example: https://youtu.be/rTzGMcOd8D0?t=7
I know it's possible by extruding the curves and joining them. But I want to make it quick.

I think the link @Computer Guy provided solves the problem, but as the link-only answers may become invalid I post a step by step solution how to do it (which uses the Wireframe Modifier, dupliverts/particle system and Camera DOF).

Create a mesh you want (in my case I use a poor Suzanne again :)) and triangulate it with Ctrl+T. You don't need to do it though if you want to have a quad based wire.

With the object selected go to the Modifiers header and give it a Wireframe Modifier. Set its thickness as you like.

Select your mesh and give it an Emission shader in a Node Editor (material). Set its Strenght value as you like. Also set the World color to pure black.

Now select your mesh, press Shift+S-->Cursor to Selected. Add a Sphere there (make sure it shares the same origin point as your mesh). Scale it as you want then press Ctrl+A-->Rot&Scale to apply transformations to it.

Now select newly added Sphere, then your mesh and press Ctrl+P-->Set Parent To-->Object. Select your mesh in Object Mode and go to the Object header-->Duplication panel and press the Verts button.
NOTE: You may achieve the similar result using the Particle System, but I won't cover it now (maybe I'll edit my answer to explain it later).

Set a material of a Sphere as pictured below (mix an Emission and Transparent shaders). Play with the Factor of a Mix Shader to fit the reference.

With your mesh selected in the Object Mode press Shift+Ctrl+A to make the duplicated Spheres a real/editable objects.

Finally select your Camera, go to the Camera Data header-->Depth of Field panel. Use a dropper icon to select one of the spheres that is closest to the camera and increase the camera's Radius size a bit. It'll blur the background as in the reference you provided.

You can create an IcoSphere.
It is the best object you can start from.
Go moving the vertices.
Use the K key to create more edges.
And Mesh>>Faces>>wire frame to turn it to lines you can render.
Some Images below...


How to illuminate the darkness inside glass objects in Cycles? My model has a clear plastic (or glass) dome with objects inside.  The objects appear dark.  I've tried the glass shader with color 100% RGB, with very small IOR, and using just a refraction shader.

I know Cycles has problems with caustics, but I just want broad illumination to fall clean through the glass.  The light-to-column path can ignore refraction, but is blocked or tremendously attenuated. The camera-column path needs refraction, and seems to work fine anyway.

This demo image offers all optical paths of interest:

light upon object, seen directly
light upon object, seen through glass (looks okay)
light through glass onto object, seen directly. This is the shadow on
the lit side of the column just below the glass tubing.  I expect
full illumination, but there is shadow.  There is some light, but
it's diffuse light from the floor.
light through glass onto object, seen through glass. This

I did at one point try non-progressive rendering, and find extremely coarse light where there shouldn't be shadow, but this is not a practical way to make nice images. I've even tried cranking up certain sampling settings to many thousands, but still get bad noise though less, at the cost of long render times. I  would like to finish my creations sometime before "Star Trek, the Generation After the Next" becomes real life, if you know what I mean.  The next image is an example. I think Transmission in Sampling was 5000, but not sure.

I'm using Cycles in Blender 2.67 on a quad core Linux machine, 16GB RAM. Machine limits have never been a problem for 3D rendering.

Possibly, I screwed up some setting when I made my startup file, and just need to fix it. OTOH maybe this is just a limitation of path tracing, or of the way Cycles does it. If that's the case, what to real-world Blender artists do when they need to produce images on a budget and schedule?  What is the practical real-world fix?

This may be caused by Cycles's rendering of caustics.
From the wiki, Glass and Transparent Shadows:

Glass and Transparent Shadows
With caustics disabled, glass will miss shadows, and with filter glossy they might be too soft. We can make a glass shader that will use a Glass BSDF when viewed directly, and a Transparent BSDF when viewed indirectly. The Transparent BSDF can be used for transparent shadows to find light sources straight through surfaces, and will give properly-colored shadows, but without the caustics. The Light Path node is used to determine when to use which of the two shaders.

To clarify the node setup a bit:

The Light Path node determines the type of the current ray being traced. For each socket, it outputs a 0 if it is not that type or a 1 if it is. Thus, getting the maximum of those two values is equivalent to a boolean inclusive-or operation. The Maximum node will therefore output a 1 if the ray Is Shadow Ray or if it Is Reflection Ray; this will cause the transparent BSDF to be used (as it is the bottom input of the Mix Shader). Otherwise, it will output a 0, and the top shader (the glass shader) will be used.

The following diagram demonstrates some of the various ray types:

The node setup used is part of a node group called "TrickyGlass," which you can see at the top. A node group is a reusable chunk of nodes that can be parameterized just like any other nodes – in this case, with the three inputs on the left – and output, in this case, a shader. Thus, you can use this setup in a node tree like any other shader node.

Here's an image using just a regular glass shader:

And after switching to the TrickyGlass node group:

It's simple. Set Roughness value of Glass shader to 0.03, and Color Management to Log, and select a look. Be sure that glass is two-sided. I'm serious.


How to import a grease pencil draw into another grease pencil file? I want to copy a 3D wire frame I made by grease pencil and paste or import it into another 3D wire flame. so that I can compare those two...work on both of them in the same 2D animation tab
Don't know how to do it...

blender 2.8  Mac pro user

Anyone trying to import grease pencil drawing into another grease pencil file:

Click File --> Append
Select the Grease Pencil File you want to import -->
A new menu of directories pops up, select COLLECTION -->
A new list of collections pops up --> select COLLECTION again.
Done, your Grease Pencil object should now be "in" another Grease Pencil canvas.

Additional resources on stackexchange. They did not help me, but might help you:
How do i copy material from one .blend file to another?
How can I reuse existing materials, objects, etc from an existing .blend?

Reference:
How To Import Grease Pencil Object

I'm just a beginner, but if what you wish to bring into your new blender work area is a .blend file, you can "append" (otherwise known as import) the file from the File menu in the upper left.  I believe that you must be in "Object" mode when doing so.  If I'm wrong or I misunderstood, my apologies.  Perhaps this will help:  Additional link info


Tileable Building UV mapping problem Right now, I am making a building in Blender that can be tiled but I am having trouble unwrapping the UVs for the model. I have used Blender for quite awhile now but I am still not entirely familiar with it, especially in unwrapping UVs. While I do think I have kind of wrapped my head around it, there are some things that I still do not understand.

I have attached a photo as well as the .blend file for the model.

MelbourneBrickBuilding.blend

I need to know how I can go about unwrapping the top of the model that has been highlighted. If you look closely at some of the faces, particularly the one at the very bottom in the middle, the grid has sort of been warped across one corner to the other. Why is this happening? I also cannot figure out why some of the other faces appear warped and stretched as well. I just cannot seem to be able to mark the right seams in order to fix it.

Can somebody please help?
Thanks!

Goolog

The less planar the shape is in 3D the more distortion their unwrap will result in the UV island. While planning and marking the seams always try to imagine how easy it would be to fold the shape out of paper. After all you can fold a flat shape into 3D cube perfectly, but only if you get the seams right.

That being said if you add seams in the corners of the top part you can get pretty good unwrap results. Here I further corrected some irregularity by first unwrapping all the top row quads without seams and pinning (P key) the straight line in the UV editor to guide the unwrapping algorithm. Taking from here you could also scale the vertical ends to be on same axis if that suits your purpose (better for lightmap, less accurate for texture).

Unwrapping isn't the only option for UVs though. A quick and dirty way to map non-organic shapes with OK results is to use "cube project" or use multiple "project from view" commands. If you got a lot of work to do, you might want to take advantage of this and only bother with more precise and time consuming methods when it makes a big difference.

Learning UV mapping takes time but hopefully this gives you a some initial clue on how unwrapping works.

This might be a very inadequate answer as I've never touched UVs in blender. But I suspect a simple planar map would do the trick.


BLAM add-on does not work with Blender 2.79 I tried installing both the latest version(v 0.6) and the original one. I downloaded the zip file and then clicked on the install addon from file button. Turns out it does not show in the addons list at all.
   I don't know whats the error. A few days ago there was some kind of numpy error in Animation nodes as well. To fix that, I uninstalled and then reinstalled Blender. When I tried installing BLAM, it still does not work.
Any help is appreciated.

Thanks everyone for the help. Apparently it was not BLAM which had the problem. The problem was with the version of Blender 2.79 that I was using. Apparently it had a lot of bugs that I would keep run into which the previous versions did not have. I downloaded the recent Blender 2.79a (release candidate) which worked for me.

With some plugins, you just need to update the header info.

So unzip it, edit blam.py:line 26 'blender': (2, 6, 2),
change it to read 'blender': (2, 7, 9),
then in Blender:  File > User Prefs > Install from file > blam.py

I haven't tried it, so I can't guarantee your results,
but I believe this'll get you there.

Otherwise, file a bug report at the github page  https://github.com/stuffmatic/blam


Activate face by script I want to activate the biggest face by a script.
It's no problem to locate and get the data, but how can I activate it in Editor?

# Activate biggest face exclusivly:
import bpy
import operator

# List of Polygons of (first) selected object:
pgList = bpy.context.selected_objects[0].data.polygons

# sort and get biggest face:
pgMax = sorted(pgList, key=operator.attrgetter('area'), reverse=True)[0]
print("{0:} Polygons, largest = {1:.2f},   selected = {2:}".format(len(pgList),pgMax.area,pgMax.select))

# How do I activate this Polygon?
# The results are very random. Sometimes selected, sometimes not, sometimes Blender chrashes.
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode = 'EDIT')
bpy.ops.mesh.select_all(action='DESELECT')
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode = 'OBJECT')
pgMax.select=True
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode = 'EDIT')

#Later i'ld like to create a TransformOrientationSystem. But this will be next problem.
#pgMax ....  .transform.create_orientation(use=True)
# erzeuge dazu ein lokales Bezugssystem

```

Set the active face

To set the active face

me.polygons.active = <index of face>

or via bmesh

bm.faces.active = <BMFace>

Bmesh

Can use bmesh  in edit mode, bound to the object being edited. Takes away the need to toggle modes

Notice I set the mode to face.  Otherwise would need to flush the selection.

import bpy
import bmesh
context = bpy.context

context.tool_settings.mesh_select_mode = (False, False, True) # faces
ob = context.edit_object
me = ob.data

bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

faces = sorted(bm.faces, key=lambda f:f.calc_area())
bf = faces.pop()
bf.select = True
for f in faces:
    f.select = False
bm.faces.active = bf
bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)

In object mode can set all to false by looping or via

import bpy
context = bpy.context
context.tool_settings.mesh_select_mode = (False, False, True) # faces
# deselect all polygons

ob = context.object
me = ob.data
all_false  = [False] * len(me.polygons)
mp = sorted(me.polygons, key=lambda p: p.area).pop()
me.polygons.foreach_set("select", all_false)
mp.select = True
me.polygons.active = mp.index

set random active face in python without toggle mode

Is the active object and zeroth selected object always the same?

So there was just missing 1 Line:

     pgList.active=pgMax.index

But changing the object.mode after sorting the list chrashed my index.

It works in this order:

import bpy

# List of Polygons of (first) selected object:
pgList = bpy.context.selected_objects[0].data.polygons

bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode = 'EDIT')
bpy.ops.mesh.select_all(action='DESELECT')
   # didnt work for me: ... foreach_set("select", [False] * len(me.polygons))

bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode = 'OBJECT')
# sort and get biggest face:
pgMax = sorted(pgList, key=lambda p: p.area, reverse=True)[0]
    # !Dont change object.mode now, or index will crash!
print("{0:} Polygons, largest = {1:.2f},   selected = {2:}".format(len(pgList)
    ,pgMax.area,pgMax.select))

pgMax.select=True
pgList.active=pgMax.index  # <<<== this was missing

bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode = 'EDIT')

#Later i'ld like to create a TransformOrientationSystem. But this will be next problem.
#pgMax ....  .transform.create_orientation(use=True)
# erzeuge dazu ein lokales Bezugssystem
```


How would you cut a shape out of an object using another object? Coming from SketchUp one of the tools I miss most is the circle draw tool which lets you draw a circle on any face and then you could extrude it in/out. The only tool that I know of that comes close to this is the knife tool but this would be very impractical to cut out with the knife

Example:

Is there any tool in blender that can match this function? also how could you do this with squares?

Knife Project Tool

The tool you are looking for is the Knife Project tool. Here's how to use it:

Create your cube that you want to put the circle on
Add a circle curve: SHIFTA -> Curve -> Circle
Position the circle in front of the face you want to put the circle on, as shown here (highlighted in green):

Now go to the viewport where the circle visually appears where you want your circle to be on your cube, like this:

Now select the circle, then hold down SHIFT and select the cube.
Switch into Edit mode
Tools panel (T) -> Mesh Tools section -> Add section -> click Knife Project
(Note: In 2.70, the Mesh Tools section is located in the Tools tab)

This will result in the cube now having a circular hole in the front face:

If you now want to fill the hole with a face, select all the vertices of the hole and press F.

NOTE: In this example, the circle is considered the Knife, which is kind of like a cookie cutter, or perhaps even a bullet, and so when you click on the Knife Project button, what Blender does is it projects/shoots the knife (here the circle) from the visual angle in your active viewport. So, make sure you have the knife visually lined up so that when it projects/shoots onto your destination object, it will make the circle right where you want it. Here are two examples of projecting from different angles:

An interesting note is that in the example above where the knife is visually at an angle, the resulting face on the destination object is NOT automatically deleted (see the highlighted face on the lower example.)

Also, you can indeed use any shape as a knife:

In addition to learning Blender's native boolean operations, I highly recommend you check out a free add-on called BoolTool (version 0.2)
Here is the link to the add-on.

Here are my notes for using the BoolTool add-on.
It makes booleans so easy that you can use Blender like ShadowBox in ZBrush.

Q: How do I use the BoolTool Add-On?

A:

Create a cube.
Duplicate the cube (Shift+D).
Drag the duplicated cube (Brush object) so that it intersects with the original cube (Canvas object).
Shift+Right-click click to add the original cube (Canvas object) to the duplicate cube's (Brush object's) selection.
In the BoolTool Tab in the ToolShelf, under Brush, click either Union, Intersection or Difference (or click on each one to see what they do). You will now see the Brush object perform according to the selected operation under the Brush Menu.

Making a Brush object works great as a mask to cut in or add detail. The Canvas properties will affect the Canvas object. With the Canvas object selected you can also use the Brush properties which will obviously affect the Brush object. You can modify the Brush object in the 3D View such as scaling it or duplicating it to make multiple brushes. By selecting the Canvas object you can also manipulate a selected brush object in the Brush properties such as hiding it, applying it or removing it.

If you don't want to make a Brush, you can simply select what would ordinarily be the Brush object and then add the Canvas object to the selection and then just press the operation under Direct and a boolean operation will be performed. The results of the boolean operation will be stored in the active selection (the last selected object) and you can have multiple objects that act as Brush objects.

Here are the hotkeys as found in the Object menu:
Brush Union = Ctrl+Numpad Plus
Brush Difference = Ctrl+Numpad Minus
Brush Intersection = Ctrl+Numpad Asterisk
Direct Union = Ctrl+Shift+Numpad Plus
Direct Difference = Ctrl+Shift+Numpad Minus
Direct Intersection = Ctrl+Shift+Numpad Asterisk

Note: BoolTool will automatically convert Curve objects to mesh objects when you apply it as a Brush or Direct Boolean operation.

To use the Draw Poly Brush:

Switch to the view that you want to work such as Front view and then click on Draw Poly Brush. You will have a grease pencil that you can use to draw lines.
Simply click where you want each point to be. You don't need to close the poly. The two open endpoints will automatically be closed.
When finished drawing, press Enter and the polygon will be created.

Poly Brush size will scale the depth of the polygon. You can use the Poly Brush as a Brush or Directly.

Inside the BoolTool add-on's Preferences, you can check Fast Transformations (marked experimental and disabled by default).
Fast Transformations replaces the G/R/S hotkeys for a new custom version that handles Boolean operations faster. The Blender viewport can struggle with high poly models when trying to carve out parts of the canvas. With this enabled, there will be a new option in the Brush properties that says 'Fast Vis', which when used, will allow the visibility to be changed on the fly. Use it if your workflow is being bogged down.

Note: with Fast Vis on, it will be enabled for all the brushes.


Rendering a tracked scene without background I've tracked a scene in Blender so that I could animate and adjust material lighting to an object placed in the scene. Once the footage was tracked, I set up a tracking scene and set the background.

Once I was happy with my animation I wanted to render with Cycles just the object animated without the footage in the background. Where can I disable the rendering of the footage?

Unchecking Compositing in the Properties editor > Render tab > Post Processing rollout did solve the problem.
Side note: you can go to the compositing nodes in the Node editor (or choose "Compositing" screen layout) and change/remove the Source Movie to remove video from render.

pre-compose the layer with the 3d track without the background.
open pre-composed layer. export


Is there a way to bake ambient occlusion map as strong as in viewport shading ambient occlusion? Every time I bake AO map, I get this kind of intensity:

Whereas I'd like to get this kind of strength:

I am not really sure how to make it stronger because every time I change settings, nothing really changes (in blender render).

The viewport AO uses different engine than the bake AO function (Blender Internal or Cycles in 2.79 Blender), so the settings for the viewport AO are not used in the Bake.

The viewport AO is multiplied by 5, so if you take your baked AO into Photoshop or another editor and you play with the levels of the image (or you multiply 5 these images on top of each other) you get similar result.

Selected to Active does not have impact on the strength of AO, only from which object it will get calculated.

In your bake options you have 'Selected to Active' enabled. For ambient occlusion, you should just be able to bake the ambient occlusion of your object without baking it from another object. Unchecking this option should result in a more intense bake, as well as make the settings work as expected.


Brush looks blocky/low resolution when painting textures (Pic included) I'm sure this is something silly I'm doing wrong here but I can't find a solution at all. My texture is 2048x2048 and I'm trying to paint details on it.

When I draw the brush looks blocky/pixelated though. The stroke looks like it has a low resolution. The smaller the radius the worse it looks and painting side to side looks better than when painting up and down.

Here is a picture:

If someone could try to help me out here, that would be great.

in texture paint mode go to your left panel and go to options and deselect occlude in project paint


Is radeon r4 compatible with Blender 2.8? Hey everybody I was just wondering would AMD radeon r4 be compatible for openCL? Since it is integrated, openGL is out of the question. Specifically do you know what GCN architecture the r4 is? Any help is appreciated.

Open->Blender->Preference->System->Cycles Compute Device <- select AMD R4 Graphics, and set OpenSubdiv compute: -> GLSL Transform Feedback <- select, next step - render primitive scene WAIT title render next step select GLSL (recommended## Heading ##) or OpenMP.(recommended) or OpenMP


change cryptomatte setitings with python I am trying to turn passes on and off via python. But I can't find out how to change the cryptomatte settings:

this is what the info panel shows when I click on Cryptomatte - Object:

bpy.context.scene.use_pass_crypto_object = True

it returns this:

AttributeError: 'Scene' object has no attribute 'use_pass_crypto_object'

so I tried each of these lines, but none of them work:

bpy.context.scene.view_layers["View Layer"].use_pass_crypto_object = False

bpy.context.scene.render.use_pass_crypto_object = False

bpy.context.scene.use_pass_crypto_object = False

This one doesnt throw an error, but also does nothing, and it is not a UI refresh issue:

bpy.context.scene.cycles.pass_crypto_accurate = False

Does somebody know how to access it?
Thanks!

View the UI source

In User Preferences > Interface > Display turn on developer extras. Sounds like you already have.  When the path in button hover is dodgy, if available click view source on a field of interest.

In this case it opens addons/cycles/ui.py in text editor at or around the CryptoMatte draw panel where this leaps out

cycles_view_layer = context.view_layer.cycles

Off to the python console:

>>> cycles_view_layer
bpy.data.scenes['Scene']...CyclesRenderLayerSettings

>>> cycles_view_layer.use_pass_crypto_
                                      asset
                                      material
                                      object
>>> cycles_view_layer.use_pass_crypto_object
True

>>> cycles_view_layer.pass_crypto_
                                  accurate
                                  depth
>>> cycles_view_layer.pass_crypto_depth
6

>>> cycles_view_layer.pass_crypto_depth = 10
>>>

can put in accurate mode with

cycles_view_layer.pass_crypto_accurate = True

Some more fiddling, the property is displayed as belonging to scene

>>> cycles_view_layer.id_data
bpy.data.scenes['Scene']

>>> C.scene.view_layers['RenderLayer'].cycles
bpy.data.scenes['Scene']...CyclesRenderLayerSettings

>>> cycles_view_layer
bpy.data.scenes['Scene']...CyclesRenderLayerSettings

>>> C.scene.view_layers['RenderLayer'].cycles is cycles_view_layer
False

>>> C.scene.view_layers['RenderLayer'].cycles == cycles_view_layer
True

solution from batFinger:

from bpy import context
cycles_view_layer = context.view_layer.cycles
cycles_view_layer.use_pass_crypto_object=False

thanks!


Per-Vertex lighting in GLSL? How can I achieve per-vertex lighting (like in single/multi-texture shading) in GLSL with all of the other GLSL features (like buffer shadows, texture layers, etc.)? Bonus points if it can be done in the viewport.

I could bake the lights to v-cols but that is not realtime and I don't get any of the GLSL features (or hemi lamps for the matter) with single/multi-texture shading.

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?389535-Light-shader-GLSL&p=3005199&viewfull=1#post3005199

looks like there is a example of what you seek in this thread
"
Hey, I add a few shader examples to the file: Light(1).blend
-reduce code for hemi light.
-lighting for all lightypes (use properties)

By the way will the lightype patch (with or without compatibility) find his way into official Blender in the future?

-different kinds of normalmapping like in Blender
-Vertex lighting (useful for things that don't need detailed lighting to get better performance)
-functions for all specular shading methods that are available in blender

And I make an example with lighting and a diffuse texture. I don't get it like in Blender maybe someone can help?

"

.blend inside thread


Black pixels in render when using Cycles material I already tried adding more subivisions, tweaked the light bouncing parameters, etc, but I cannot get rid of the black pixels when using  Cycles material copied from a YouTube video.

Here is the source if someone wants to check it out:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1541106/spots.blend

Thanks!

I am not getting those spots when I render the scene.  Perhaps try rendering with the CPU instead of the GPU.

I rendered with the CPU.  My results:

Have you happened to read ? https://www.blenderguru.com/articles/7-ways-get-rid-fireflies/

When I use glossy shaders, I get a lot noise like stuff, and stuff from this article has helped me a lot.

Based on the screen caps, because the file actually crashed for me, I noticed your samples look kinda low. If your willing to let your computer crunch for awhile, up the samples and picture should look better.

And I never rely on the viewport rendering, that gives you a rough idea how it all come out, and lets you change things in real time because it isn't going ham on making a purty picture. But if your going to submit this to something, you gotta see the finished polished product.

Hope this helps.


How do I know if Blender is making use of CUDA to render? I am using Blender 2.69 from the Linux Mint Software Manager on a system with a GTX 950, just checking to see if it will recognize CUDA. After some work, I've gotten the CUDA drivers from Nvidia installed and now there is an option to use CUDA as the compute device in the user preferences. I also selected GPU compute in the properties panel. I rendered a short, one minute clip of video using Cycles Render and monitored my GPU usage in Nvidia X Server settings. It didn't seem like the GPU was being used much (hovering 5-10%) but the video did render a little quicker than I expected.

How can I know for sure if Blender is using my GPU to the fullest to render?

If you have properly set up CUDA and selected GPU Compute in the Render Properties panel then Blender should be using your GPU.  (Though I have seen instances where having two different Blender files open separately and both rendering switches the GPU one to CPU mid-render.)

Probably the easiest way to make sure that Blender is utilizing your GPU is to use some sort of monitoring program.

My Favorite is NZXT CAM, it's pretty sleek and works very well.  CAM monitors and gives graphs of CPU and GPU load, temperature, voltage draws, and fan speeds.  It also shows which programs are using the most load.

HW Monitor is another very popular choice, it doesn't have all the options that CAM has though.  It basically just shows you the current values, minimum, and maximum of each spec.

OK, nevermind.

I ran the BMW benchmark and it maxed out my GPU. The video is just a very simple render.

It's working.


Low Poly Model Creation Workflow Hi from a new total newbie blender user. I want to learn how to create at least “fine” low poly models, something like here.

I have heard that some people create high-poly models and then create low-poly models from them. Other people go straight for low poly.

Can you give me some links or just explain me a basic workflow for low poly model creation, please?

As far as I understood, low poly modelling means that you model your meshes using a very low number of polygons (not that you optimize your high poly model).
In this video you can see the workflow, it's very simple and fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YALV3HqfdLY
Basically this is the process:

start with a basic shape, go to edit mode and edit it
you can extrude, inset, bevel, loop cut, knife..
proportional editing is also useful sometimes
looptools' relax could be also a nice tool to learn
color (with a simple palette)
done!

When you hear about people using a high poly -> low poly workflow for their models, "low poly" is usually referring to, say, the type of model you would see in a video game: Realistic models with not too many polygons, using normal maps baked from a high poly model to keep some of the details. If you're making a stylistically low poly object, here are some tips: Take advantage of the Decimate modifier; you can sculpt something for example and decimate it to a low-poly object. It depends though, for structural and man-made objects, your low-poly should really just use primitives (cylinders, cubes, etc). For some details such as cracks in rocks, you can use the knife tool to cut out triangle-shaped wedges and delete the faces.
There are really a couple different styles I've seen under the general "low poly" category, but in general, I find that for organic objects like an animal or terrain, use tris/decimate to tris. For things like the lighthouse in your linked album, use a normal quad workflow. Lastly, remember that when adding primitives, a menu will pop up (or press F6) which allows you to lower the number of segments on a cylinder for example.
The main thing which determines whether low poly art looks good or not is just proportions. You don't have to focus on texturing, UV's or complex materials, so the basic shapes and outlines of objects are all that there is to focus on. This can just require alot of tweaking. There are tons of tutorials online; I would recommend Grant Abbitt's to start.


How can I change the Render Regions background display mode? I regularly use the handy Render Regions feature of Blender, but I have noticed that no matter what mode you are in before entering Render mode, the background mode for the parts of the scene outside the lines is always solid. I want to know if there is a way to change that to Textured mode.

Here is an example of what I mean. I am in Texture mode, with a render region set up.

However, when I enter rendered mode the plane on the right loses it's texture, and is now completely solid, obviously being displayed in Solid mode.

Is there a way to change this behavior? And if not, what workarounds are there?

Sadly, this appears to be impossible*.

*Blender is open source, you could always add the feature ;D (I mean isn't that the whole point of open source)

This is what the API says:

use_render_border:
Use a region within the frame size for rendered viewport (when not viewing through the camera)

When using this you only see the "render" image inside the render_border

That means that it is impossible to do what you are asking, as the RNA automatically changes the viewport display mode outside of the render_border.


ANT Landscape erode option? I have just updated to Blender 2.79 and was playing around with the updated ANT landscape add-on when I noticed a new option called Landscape Eroder, this has the potential to be really cool but I can't seem to get it to erode the landscape mesh. All it does is sit for a while processing and before spiting out vertex groups.

What do I with these? They are vertex groups so I can't use them in materials and their doesn't seem to be another part of the add-on that can use them.

Edit: Here is some extra information. All I did was add a landscape with the ANT add-on, the only thing I changed from the default vales is the x and y subdivisions, which I changed to 256 by 256. Then I ran the landscape eroder tool from the landscape tools section of tools panel, leaving it on the default values. It then proceeds to hang for a few seconds, apparently processing, as blender's CPU usage jumps. Afterward the only change is the addition of 10 new vertex groups and the model being triangulated. I am using Blender 2.79 on a mid 2015 Retina Display iMac running OS X 10.11.6.

If you want to create world with erosion try world machine : Download it here. The demo version allows you to export the landscape in low resolution. (You can cheat it by exporting smaller tiles (instead of a big one))


Rendering AMD Radeon R7 360 I am using this graphic card, but I don't know how to render via this GPU?
Is it possible? And how to do it because I don't see in options to choose my GPU.
Tnx

The opencl support needed to use an AMD card is not 100%. The list of supported cards hasn't been updated for a while, with some other cards also being reported to work to varying degrees.

First check that your gpu drivers are up to date. The opencl libraries provide the list of available hardware that blender uses to offer available GPU options.

While I'm not sure if the devs are interested in bug reports relating to opencl, they generally appreciate reports of what hardware works and what doesn't.

Go to File -User preference
Select system (to the Right on the menu).
Comtute device(down to the left, on the menu) - select CUDA, then your graphic card.
Then use Cycles Render, go to Render-> Device-> select GPU instead of CPU.


Hair physics and/or particle edit with particles rendered as objects I'm trying to make a creature with feathers and therefore will be rendering hair particles as an object. However, I would like the particles to be able to be combed/ react to gravity ect. It seems like you can only do such things when the hair particles are rendered as strands. Is that true?

Figured it out, I've just got to bake the simulation before I change the render type to object.


Use composite nodes in blender video sequence editor Can you use composite nodes in blender video sequence editor?

As in, no 3d elements in your scene, working exclusively within the video editing screen layout?

I am currently using Blender 2.76 RC 3.

While you can't use composite nodes directly in VSE strips, you can setup the compositor with an image sequence or video file input without adding any elements from the 3d scene.

Then in the VSE you can add a scene strip which gets the composited render results, so you can mix in audio and use any VSE specific features. You can also setup multiple scenes with different composite nodes and join them all in the VSE.

Yes, and that is the way to go for unlimited video tweaking. Follow this tutorial to make Blender VSE with compositor and keyframe-based node editor, along with standards strip effects, realtime.

2.79 : https://youtu.be/chIdSAR_8NY

2.80 : https://youtu.be/g1ZkPSLqGnU

https://github.com/cgvirus/Blender-Compositor-Disc-Cache-Realtime-Preview-Addon


Model turns Brown instead of a Texture I'm following a tutorial on YouTube but my model (and many others') turn brown when rendering (cycles render) instead of a wood texture. Here's what it looks like:

Interestingly, the text does have the texture:

EDIT Starts now: Here's the shader nodes:

And here's the .blend file!

I think I found the problem: instead of the texture - the same colour as the rendered model in the 'Render Layers' node, how do I fix this? This also happened after I started added the animation.

It turns out the answer is quite simple. All I needed to do is just go to the modifiers tab, scroll down to the 'Explode' section (I used a 'Quick Explode' animation, don't even ask me why it caused such a problem) and uncheck 'Cut Edges'. Thanks for the support and ideas, though, as this wouldn't be here for people who would need it in the future without all of your support.

Source:

You didn't UV unwrap your object. I run into this as well. Just go into Edit Mode, select everything and hit 'U' to unwrap. That should fix everything.


Hole in cylinder Topology I'm attempting to cut a neat hole in a cylinder using minimal topology. I've used an octagon for both the cylinder and the hole. On applying the subdivision surface modifier, the region near the hole curves out a bit intersecting with parts of other objects which isn't supposed to happen with a perfect cylindrical surface. How may I correct it?

When you create a low poly cylinder and then add a subsurf it creates a high poly cylinder but with a smaller diameter because the surface will be inscribed into the low poly cylinder's volume.
You have to push inside a bit the loop of your hole:


How can I make the width/height of particles randomly? I know, how to control and randomize the size, position and color of the particles in a ParticleSystem:

But is it possible to randomize the width and height of the particles too, so that there are rectangles that have different sizes in this example?

Yes, you can have the different height and width of each other. By using Random Size.