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Blender Mega Thread

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  • Daf57
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    Daf57 polycounter lvl 9
    Hi @f1r3w4rr10r - yes, talking about that spot. Right - retopo it is then. Thanks!
  • xrg
  • gnoop
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    gnoop polycounter
    Daf57 said:
    Hey guys,
    Is there a way to avoid the pinching seen in images below? The object was created with curve circle, subdivided 2 points and deleted segment - then extruded to form the straight bit. Then added bevel for thickness. Less bevel will help but I need the larger value. I did find that I can convert to mesh and do some topo tweaks but wondering if there is something to be done in the curve mode. Or maybe another method to get same result?

    Thanks! Daf

     

    I use skin modifier  over just edges instead of curves.    Together with subdivide   it's more controllable Imo



  • Daf57
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    Daf57 polycounter lvl 9
    Hey thanks, gnoop, I'll give that a try! :)
  • Udjani
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    I don't get it. Means that bools will finally be able to be merged precisely, without needing to offset things slightly?
  • eltarbos
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    eltarbos polycounter lvl 7
    Justo said:
    I don't get it. Means that bools will finally be able to be merged precisely, without needing to offset things slightly?

    Exactly.
    The new method is slower but it allows booleans with coplanar faces.
    Both methods will be available depending on your needs.
    It's already usable in newest 2.91 daily builds.
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    Booleans with coplanar faces, that was the term I was looking for :) That's awesome! Can't wait for the official release.
  • oglu
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    oglu polycount lvl 666
    Renderman for Blender. Thats a big move i like. Im ready for a testdrive. 
  • f1r3w4rr10r
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    f1r3w4rr10r polycounter lvl 9
    @oglu where did you see that? I didn't see it in the patch notes.
  • oglu
  • Mad_Llama
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    Mad_Llama polycounter lvl 6
    Anyone has any issues with the new 2.90 tool search? 
    I can't find some functions that I used to access via a search on previous versions, for example the tessellate addon, or some rigid body functions.
  • f1r3w4rr10r
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    f1r3w4rr10r polycounter lvl 9
    If it's an add-on, check that it is still enabled after the upgrade. Other than that, the command could have been renamed.
  • guitarguy00
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    guitarguy00 polycounter lvl 6
    Hey guys! So I am making a small model in Blender to learn the software and am up to unwrapping the object. I come from 3DS Max when I simply use the TexTools function "Assign smoothing groups to UV shells" and it sets up the model for baking but I can't do that in Blender. What is the best way of achieving this? Do I just have to make the entire object "Shade Smooth" and then manually select the UV seams and "Mark Sharp"? Is there a quicker way?

    Also what export settings should I have applied? I apply a Triangulate modifier on the object and  turn on "Tangent Space" in the export settings but is there anything else I should know about before baking in Marmoset Toolbag? Any help would be very much appreciated!
  • gnoop
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    gnoop polycounter
    guitarguy00   TexTools  works in Blender too.    there is same button there.

     Although  I  usually  use following procedure:

    1. object > set smooth
    2. in object data properties panel > Normals> auto smooth
    3.   I add a few sharp edges manually > rightclick> make sharp
    4,  apply  split modifiers that split all sharp edges
    5,  U > unwrap 
    6. Mesh> Clean up> merge by distance  for merging split edges back

    I also suggest  to buy UVpackmaster pro2 addon
  • Mad_Llama
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    Mad_Llama polycounter lvl 6
    If it's an add-on, check that it is still enabled after the upgrade. Other than that, the command could have been renamed.
    I can still use the addon, the GUI in the menus is there, just no commands for any of the actions. Which perhaps means that addon creators will have to update for 2.90?
  • guitarguy00
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    guitarguy00 polycounter lvl 6
    gnoop said:
    guitarguy00   TexTools  works in Blender too.    there is same button there.

     Although  I  usually  use following procedure:

    1. object > set smooth
    2. in object data properties panel > Normals> auto smooth
    3.   I add a few sharp edges manually > rightclick> make sharp
    4,  apply  split modifiers that split all sharp edges
    5,  U > unwrap 
    6. Mesh> Clean up> merge by distance  for merging split edges back

    I also suggest  to buy UVpackmaster pro2 addon
    Thank you! For some reason when I select the UV Smoothing option in Textools it just softens everything? Any idea how to fix this?
  • Daf57
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    Daf57 polycounter lvl 9

    Webinar is over and the news is out. New version and bridge will be out 1st quarter of 2021 - it will support 2.83 and above.


  • Daf57
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    Daf57 polycounter lvl 9
  • MACHIN3
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    MACHIN3 sublime tool
  • frmdbl
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    frmdbl polycounter
    Finally! If only I had the time to properly test it.
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    A question for the custom build enthusiasts :

    About a year or so ago the early iteration of the improved sculpt features was released in the form of the Pablo Dobarro "sculpt branch". It had new sculpt options, cursor settings, sculpt mode mesh filters, voxel remesh, and so on : 

    https://blender.community/c/graphicall/3cbbbc/
    https://blender.community/c/graphicall/dcbbbc/

    Most of these features are now part of the official releases. However these builds also had experimental support for polypaint from within Sculpt mode, using an alternate way of handling/storing vertex colors (and it also came with two operators to convert vertex color data back and forth between the two structures). Has this ever made its way to a recent release (2.83+ or 2.9) ? More specifically to any release with the new shift-R grid preview for remesh, or even better, to a release with the recent Multires Unsubdivide ?

    It is said to be part of the 2.9 codebase but I cannot seem to find a build with it : 

    TLDR : is there a recent build out there with the alternate sculpt paint brush and conversion operators ?

    [edit] : solved, see below.
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    Sometimes i can't see an object's UVs in the UV Editor when i enter Edit Mode. When this happens, I also cannot see the subobject-related toggle icons, like UV Sync Selection, vertices, edges, etc... This is because the mesh has no UVs, yes? Or is there any other reason why Blender would do this?
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Following-up on the above : turns out that it was there the whole time in 2.9 and 2.91 experimental builds, just hidden as a "developper feature" enabled in the preferences as it was pointed out to me in the Blenderartists thread. Once enabled it shows up as expected, along with the new data type. Also seems to require a flush of user preferences for the paint brush to operate.
  • f1r3w4rr10r
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    f1r3w4rr10r polycounter lvl 9
    @Justo That sounds to me like the sync setting for UVs. In the top left of the UV editor, there should be a button with two arrows. With it you can toggle between two modes:
    - always show all UVs and sync the selection between UV editor and 3D viewport
    - only show UVs of geo that is selected in the 3D viewport and allow separate selection of items in the UV editor
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    @Justo That sounds to me like the sync setting for UVs. In the top left of the UV editor, there should be a button with two arrows. With it you can toggle between two modes:
    - always show all UVs and sync the selection between UV editor and 3D viewport
    - only show UVs of geo that is selected in the 3D viewport and allow separate selection of items in the UV editor
    I know this, yeah. What I wanted to know is why is it that sometimes I don't see this button, nor any other ones related to subobject modes in the UV Editor, when I'm in Edit Mode with a mesh. I assume this is Blender trying to tell the user the mesh has no UVs, but maybe it was something else. Exporting these meshes into other DCC apps certainly show the meshes don't have UVs, so yeah, I suppose this is the only reason why Blender would do this.
  • f1r3w4rr10r
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    f1r3w4rr10r polycounter lvl 9
    To me this would be completely new that parts of the UI disappear, just because the model has no UVs. I mean normally you also just unwrap for the first time and don't have to manually create a UV layer.
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    @f1r3w4rr10r, @Justo : this is 100% the case and it's been like that since forever. If you go to edit mode on a mesh with no UVs, the UV window will not have these controls. Yet as soon as you create UV data, even from scratch, the controls will show up.



    UVs are just like Vertex Groups and Vertex Color data - these channels can be created, renamed, and deleted.

  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    So, it's been more than a year since 2.8 and I personally still find the new Collections to be very annoying and a waste of time.

    It's a constant juggle between using the interface of the M hotkey (to move objects in and out of collections), having to actually go dig inside the outliner and constantly having to collapse/expand collections to get a clean view of the whole thing just to be able to click the relevant eye icons to hide and unhide things ; and then also having to keep an eye on the little dots from the Collection Grid addon in the upper right corner of the screen (extremely useful addon/feature that is, but still a band-aid).

    Besides the "Collection Manager" addon (which attempts to replaces the M interface by a more complete one, but unfortunately way too complicated and busy), is there any addon out there that simply does ... this ? 



    Basically a single simple popup to hide/unhide collections and renaming them. This along with the regular M hotkey to move things in and out is all one would really need 99% of the time ...

    Also ... maybe there is some sort of way to force Alphabetical ordering of collection ? In the sense of, making sure that if two collection are present ("Anna" and "Bernard"), then they are guaranteed to be assigned slot 01 and 02 respectively. Because there are few things more annoying than searching for an item in a list that is not alphabetically ordered ...

    [edit] Ha, screw this, this is a deeply rooted UX mess anyways. Manually naming collections #1 #2 #3 #4 as "01" "02" "03" "04" and then handling the display of the collections with Collection Grid seems to be the only logical, consistent way of dealing with this in a way that doesn't waste user time.
  • Udjani
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    Udjani interpolator
    Ctrl Z also undo brush setting when sculpting, is there any way to turn that thing off? 
  • birb
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    birb interpolator
    Udjani said:
    Ctrl Z also undo brush setting when sculpting, is there any way to turn that thing off? 
    This is an old, highly annoying bug.
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    I was looking to open through a script a separate window that would have a UV editor, from no matter the workspace I'm currently in. From here, I was able to make a script that does it:
    # Call user prefs window bpy.ops.screen.userpref_show("INVOKE_DEFAULT") # Change area type area = bpy.context.window_manager.windows[-1].screen.areas[0] area.type = "TEXT_EDITOR" bpy.context.area.ui_type = 'UV' However, it uses the user prefs window, so if I want to open it while I have my UV Editor window open, this one will be replaced. More importantly, I also have no way of modifying the new window's size, which is something I would like to do.

    The first link I posted also proposes another method (which lets you resize the window just as I want) , but this is from an old version. The attribute 'display_mode' from RenderSettings no longer exists in my version of Blender. Is there another attribute I can use instead, or do you know another method of doing this?
  • birb
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    birb interpolator
    Justo said:
    I was looking to open through a script a separate window that would have a UV editor, from no matter the workspace I'm currently in. From here, I was able to make a script that does it:
            # Call user prefs window
            bpy.ops.screen.userpref_show("INVOKE_DEFAULT")
    
            # Change area type
            area = bpy.context.window_manager.windows[-1].screen.areas[0]
            area.type = "TEXT_EDITOR"
            bpy.context.area.ui_type = 'UV'
    However, it uses the user prefs window, so if I want to open it while I have my UV Editor window open, this one will be replaced. More importantly, I also have no way of modifying the new window's size, which is something I would like to do.

    The first link I posted also proposes another method (which lets you resize the window just as I want) , but this is from an old version. The attribute 'display_mode' from RenderSettings no longer exists in my version of Blender. Is there another attribute I can use instead, or do you know another method of doing this?

    I threw something together that works but has its own inconveniences.

    import bpy
    
    # Define your desired workspace here
    UV_WORKSPACE_ID = "UV Editing"
    
    bpy.ops.wm.window_new_main()
    bpy.context.window_manager.windows[-1].workspace = bpy.data.workspaces[UV_WORKSPACE_ID]
    <br>

    This will open a new main window and change it to the specified workspace. It's resizeable, not maximized, but here's the catch: Blender refuses to change the workspace of the new window, changing the one of the window that ran the script instead.

    I thought it had something to do with the script not waiting the operator to finish before changing the workspace so I wrote a lengthy workaround to ensure it only changed the workspace after the new window operator was done, only to see it keep changing the window that ran the script anyway.

    That's when I realized it didn't matter the windows[ID] I used the script always changed the active window, which is weird since if you do a bpy.context.window_manager.windows[-1].workspace.name in the console it'll list the correct workspace for window you want to target (the last one created). This might be a bug or something.
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Regarding things like efficiently accessing the UV editor window, or similar (like what you are attempting here with this new window and workspaces) : I've been trying to find an elegant way to do that myself and came to the conclusion that the best is to play along with the Blender limtations (that is to say : embracing the split viewport paradigm), while at the same time *not* playing along with some of the pre-made UX/UI elements, which are just a bunch of custom menus and shortcuts to python commands anyways.

    The switcher letting one change a viewport from one type to another (3D View, Dopesheet, UV editor, Image editor ...) is one of those things that got worse with 2.8 even if the change obviously came from a good intention. It's just not as well organized as before, and I am certain that everybody is having a harder time than before switching things quickly because the order and layout is just slower to browse and sort through (organizing things by themes "makes sense" for sure, but in practice it makes things slower and more frustrating to reach).

    So instead of using that, one can just run the commands directly from a custom popup (here built using Pie Menu Editor). It makes the switching of modes extremely fast and efficient. I'd recommend everyone to try it really.

    https://imgur.com/a/gE27N1i

    With that approach you only ever need two sub viewports : the main 3d view, and one multi-purpose area that you switch at will. This is obviously not an answer to your specific issue but it might be a good solution to your higher-level problem.
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    Yah, you're on the right track about my line of thought Pior. To me, the problem isn't the arguably longer-than-needed switching of spaces to do UVs or any different setup (I think switching workspaces is quite fine actually). The real gripe comes with all the wasted space, and the uncomfortable sense I get of feeling claustophobic in a divided viewport. 

    Diving the viewport in half for the UV Editor is too much - horizontal or vertical, there's so much wasted space at the sides or up/down. Then the model is left in a very tiny space, and often I feel I am doing a lot more clicks to navigate around the tiny viewport to look at the things i want to. Thus, I want a separate window.

    At work I use Maya, and managing windows there is a breeze. Perhaps if I was switching full time to Blender I would try to mold myself more to it, but at the current time I refuse to, given that I know I will keep working in Maya for the near future, and I will always have in the back of my mind that voice saying 'this is so silly'. I'm all for adopting other philosophies and being flexible, but I suppose I like pushing the limits of what's possible, and how much I can mold the programs to the way I, the user, wants to work :) 
  • Mad_Llama
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    Mad_Llama polycounter lvl 6
    I'm launching a pack of organic patterns directed towards 3D artists. I'd really appreciate if you guys could give this a look. There's an example .blend scene and you can get the substance nodes I made to create these :) https://gumroad.com/l/oTTGq 
  • Mad_Llama
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    Mad_Llama polycounter lvl 6
    Sorry I'm hijacking this thread. Really hope you guys like this. https://gumroad.com/l/oTTGq 
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    :) Those look great @Mad_Llama !

    Guys, what's your preferred method of turning UV seam edges to sharp for baking? I found this addon that turns UV border edges to Sharp, then applies an EdgeSplit modifier to those. The problem with this is that it doesn't clean the mesh first, so if I had some sharp edges set from before, these will remain after the operation. I can of course automate this, (there are also other scripts out there that do this), but I thought it'd be worthwhile to drop a comment here and ask for your personal way of doing things. 
  • mole420
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    mole420 polycounter lvl 10
    @Justo Textools has a tool to set mesh smoothing by UV islands "UV Smoothing" as well as countless other tools I rely on so I have always just used that 
  • Mad_Llama
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    Mad_Llama polycounter lvl 6
  • kio
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    kio polycounter lvl 15
    @Justo no addon or edgesplit needed - actually I keep things very simple. I just place seams (not sharp). When im done with unwrapping and layout - I just select all objects and do uv>seams from islands> mark sharp (uv editor) - just make sure to turn on autosmooth at 179° or so. To redo the sharp edges it's easy enough to just select all edges, clear sharp and  then rerun seams from islands again.
  • gnoop
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    gnoop polycounter
    pior said:
    So, it's been more than a year since 2.8 and I personally still find the new Collections to be very annoying and a waste of time.


    I hate new collection system too.  it's a perfect example of  "better is enemy of good"

    I found  those two panels helpful although


    That QCD panel appears with check box checked in   in preferences>addons>collection manager 
    It works close to old Blender layers.
    Still those two are totally not in sync  since top one does on/off  for check boxes of collections
    and bottom  one   do it  only for  "eye"  

     You are consonantly puzzled anyway
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Yeah, as said on my end I've decided to just always name them according to their internal number (hence forcing proper alphabetical order everywhere) ; and also using the RN addon for the dots (same functionality as the Collection Manager widget, just better looking imho :))



    - - - - -

    Another question : at this time, what is the best/most efficient way to quickly create strips of polygons on a surface ? Similarly to what Retopoflow does here : 
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/markets-rails/uploads/1533048649070-rf-2.0_polystrips.gif

    I've had bad experience with this addon in the past so I'd like to find another, more reliable way of doing just that (doesn't need to be tweakable after the fact). Thanks !



  • birb
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    birb interpolator
    pior said:
    *snip*

    Another question : at this time, what is the best/most efficient way to quickly create strips of polygons on a surface ? Similarly to what Retopoflow does here : 
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/markets-rails/uploads/1533048649070-rf-2.0_polystrips.gif

    I've had bad experience with this addon in the past so I'd like to find another, more reliable way of doing just that (doesn't need to be tweakable after the fact). Thanks !
    The fastest way I can think of is:

    1. Add a curve, go into edit mode, delete it.
    2. Set an Extrude distance in the Geometry panel.
    3. Select draw tool, set Projection Depth to Surface and draw your path.
    4. Tilt it to better fit the underlying geometry.

    But it can look stinky if you don't fiddle with settings to configure the stroke as it'll catch any trembling of hand, and the auto generated planes may not stick well to the underlying geometry. Poly type is precise but beaks into too many planes, bezier is smoother but doesn't work very well on highly curved surfaces. Doing Draw in Poly > Bezier Conversion > Decimate has a higher fidelity but adds steps. This is more like the (vanilla) poor man's alternative to that addon.
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    @pior Perhaps Polyquilt suits your needs?
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Hey @birb , that's actually very cool ! I tend to like raw polygons most of the time, but here the Decimate and Twist tools make the spline approach very much worth it. And combined with the Draw tool it's all quite fluid really. Thanks !

    @Justo : some interesting things in there for sure, but not quite what I am after. Thanks though !

  • guitarguy00
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    guitarguy00 polycounter lvl 6
    Any idea why I am getting a seam here in the gold section? I am using tri-planar projection in Painter and I hardened that edge in Blender. The UV is a perfect even strip also. Is there a setting in blender that I am forgetting to apply before export? 




    It doesn't show up in the immediate bake in Toolbag:

    Any help would be very much appreciated.
  • birb
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    birb interpolator
    @guitarguy00 Did you bake and export any normals in Blender? If yes check the Y direction.
  • guitarguy00
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    guitarguy00 polycounter lvl 6
    birb said:
    @guitarguy00 Did you bake and export any normals in Blender? If yes check the Y direction.
    Hey there! No, I baked it out in Marmoset. I triangulated the Low Poly meshes on export, selected "Tangent Space" and exported. Smoothing set to "Normals Only". Am I missing something? Could the Autosmooth settings be wrong?

    I have taken the Mesh into 3DS and applied Smoothing Groups to UVs via Textools and I can see some shading changes in that area. 
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    "I hardened that edge"
    Why would you put a hard edge (the harshest, most abrupt change of shading possible) in the middle of a perfectly smooth surface ? You're basically asking for a low res texture to compensate for an infinitely sharp shading discontinuity. There is zero reason to do that.

    "... and applied Smoothing Groups to UVs"
    Just because there are tools to do that, doesn't mean that you should.
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