Is possible to set the auto smooth to be 180° by default instead of 30°?
I was able to do this with the Pie Menu Editor Addon (might be some similar way to do it with vanilla Blender). I have a custom pie menu with an Auto Smooth item. I put in the following command:
@FrankPolygon mega thumbs up! The Shrink/Flatten is indeed the tool I was needing Thank you!
To anyone who has worked with ZBrush, Keyshot and Blender: I was curious to know if you thought Blender was a viable replacement for Keyshot as a character sculpt renderer, and its GoB flexibility. I'm not looking to make something very complex materials-wise. The one thing I want to be able to do is import ZBrush models in Blender, create some simple mats in Blender and apply them to the individual mesh elements, and then be able to constantly reimport my ZBrush model into Blender, meshes constantly updating while keeping the materials I created and applied in Blender intact, so that i dont need to reassign things each re-import. Cant believe its 2019 and Pixologic hasnt dealt with this yet in their KSBridge feature...
that culls backfacing poygons, I meant something more like this:
Where the backfacing polys have inverted shading - which is probably a quirk of the way shading was handled but I found it useful. Matcap in 2.80 does a similar thing, but I was just wondering if there was a way to do it for the "studio" lighting.
To anyone who has worked with ZBrush, Keyshot and Blender: I was curious to know if you thought Blender was a viable replacement for Keyshot as a character sculpt renderer, and its GoB flexibility. I'm not looking to make something very complex materials-wise. The one thing I want to be able to do is import ZBrush models in Blender, create some simple mats in Blender and apply them to the individual mesh elements, and then be able to constantly reimport my ZBrush model into Blender, meshes constantly updating while keeping the materials I created and applied in Blender intact, so that i dont need to reassign things each re-import. Cant believe its 2019 and Pixologic hasnt dealt with this yet in their KSBridge feature...
Ummmm materials arnt that much of a problem in KS if you reimport the zB model into the same KS scene. The materials are still there. I dont remember if you have to reapply them. Its been a while. You can get a heavy hipoly from zB into KS without much effort. Anyhow materials and decals are pretty super in KS and the quick transfer between the apps is kinda painless. KS is perfect for product presentation and also for development. You can also move spotlights at the hotspot location on the model.
Going between zB and Blender is a bit hinky atm. With the current GoB there is no position info transfer as far as I know. Models come into Blender at the origin, which means working with the figure at origin height, not standing on the grid. Unless there is a GoB addon update I missed. Also fbx export differs a great deal with GoB sizes. Depending on the res of your zB model mostly you would have to decimate a copy of the figure to work on it in Blender as well.
Yup, you do. And depending on how many pieces your model has, this can become quite the time-consuming endeavor. That is precisely what I was looking to avoid by switching to Blender.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts - it seems that Blender still has some issues to deal with to be at the same level as KS is with Zbrush integration. I'll probably finish my current personal piece in KS, then put it in Blender to see how it fares.
I wonder if one could create a plugin to convert material assigned vertex to vertex groups with the materials names and then reapply them based on these names after you use the Mesh transfer based on topology? I'm not sure if that'd be possible if the mesh altered too much, but who knows. I mean, materials are applied to faces, but I think it could work, or at least speed up the process.
I wonder if one could create a plugin to convert material assigned vertex to vertex groups with the materials names and then reapply them based on these names after you use the Mesh transfer based on topology? I'm not sure if that'd be possible if the mesh altered too much, but who knows. I mean, materials are applied to faces, but I think it could work, or at least speed up the process.
As far as I understand, the issue comes from ZBrush in that it assigns new material IDs to each mesh each time anything is altered. I am only repeating what I read in other forums, but KeyShot, which receives new material IDs each time, doesnt know what to do and assigns wrong materials to wrong meshes. I tried with so many setups, buttons and toggles too...Really frustrating.
Updating meshes works like a charm, even between new sessions. Materials...not so much.
Has anyone heard about plans to add pre-selection highlighting? All I've found are very old user discussions on it. Using Houdini, I've recently discovered how awesome Shortest Path selection can be for UV mapping, which I believe Blender has, but it's useless without pre-selection highlighting as well.
Check out this video. It still needs to be ported, but I understand that a more logical approach would be the devs to optimize the backend in order to a be able to work with higher density meshes. Similar how edit mode performance had to be tweaked to support multiple object editing at the same time.
They don't seem to have near by UV sprints in mind thought.
@LuisCherubini I hate when you link this because I don't think it will ever be ported to 2.80..... It looks like one of the most useful addons for Blender and one that would make me think about actually using Blender for unwrapping at some stage.
@darkmag07 Thanks, I did mention that feature in my original request and that It wasn't quite what I was looking for. It seems perhaps this might not be something I can do easily.
Does anyone knows of a good workaround or addon for parametric primitives? As far as I know you can only change e.g. the cylinder prefab during its creation.
Would love to keep it nondestructive like in max where I can set precise values.
Does anyone knows of a good workaround or addon for parametric primitives? As far as I know you can only change e.g. the cylinder prefab during its creation.
Would love to keep it nondestructive like in max where I can set precise values.
@LuisCherubini I hate when you link this because I don't think it will ever be ported to 2.80..... It looks like one of the most useful addons for Blender and one that would make me think about actually using Blender for unwrapping at some stage.
Yeah, it only works on low poly geo tho, needs some improvement, but this tweet from 1 month ago gave me some hopes? We shall see. [tweet]
blender 2.79 mocap tool is not yet converted to 2.8
auto-rig pro seems to have such a functionality but I don't think it works just from deformation-bone to deformation-bone
Also I could manually (or write a script) add copy-transforms or copy-rotation constraints on all the bones but I'm hoping for something automatic and already existing.
cheers!
Edit: how can I move all deformation bones into a new armature (with the correct hierarchy just without any non deformation bones)?
How do I activate the Loop Cut and Slide tool through python? bpy.ops.mesh.loopcut_slide() doesn't seem to do the trick because it needs parameters, and the line found in the docs doesn't work either :L
Most of your python questions can probably be answered by looking at the addons you use already. For instance, you can look at how SmartEdge in MACHIN3tools calls Loop Cut. And for more advanced questions, stackexchange will more than likely give you better and faster answers.
Totally forgot Machin3tools did that. Thanks for the tip! Stackexchange though seems like a hit&miss hodgepodge in regards to answers and their quality, but I guess it doesn't hurt to try more places if one doesn't deliver. And in any case, the people who check this thread have consistently delivered very informative answers usually.
EDIT: bpy.ops.mesh.loopcut_slide('INVOKE_DEFAULT') So using that invokes the tool correctly, awesome! However, slide function doesn't seem to work after setting the number of loops with the first click. Currently looking for the answer in the docs...
EDIT2: Oh weird, so using it like this only allows the slide if I click and hold during the first click, which is different from the standard behaviour of two clicks needed.
You're right Rafa, sorry, i'm a dummass. Sometimes learning so much new stuff so fast pushes the first things I read out of my brain. Thanks for the link
Hi everyone, I created new UIs for Blender 2.81+ focused on reducing eye strain that are the spiritual successor of the Amarant and Greentooth themes. Its available as red, green and blue accent colors. You can get it now on gumroad or artstation.
I was looking into RizomUV as an alternative to my current workflow, their tools are excellent, I need to try them out.
Started using it with a Max bridge some months back. It is very good. Blender UV tools/workflow is just not up to scratch. I don't care what the fanboys say, I've been unwrapping models as far back as when Max didn't even have an unwrap modifier. I've unwrapped in Modo, Maya, Rizom, and Headus, and Blender UV tools/workflow needs a lot of work.
@musashidan this is so true. But I have to say if you treat the unwrap-function like the relax-function and use pin-verts as normal-verts it gets to a point where I woulds say it's enough to do the basics. But there is a lot of room for improvements...
@Justo could it be you have to call this when the mouse is over a 3dview area? Bit confused about this myself..
Hi @rollin ! I unfortunately do not quite remember this post you mentioned, although I certainly do recall messing around with the various tools for retargeting/linked constraints in 2.7x.
That said my needs rarely go beyond posing (as opposed to actually animating). I feel like interacting with the raw armature is actually the smoothest way to pose, as the position lock allows to rotate bones extremely quickly by just click-dragging away from them - very much like posing an action figure or a stop motion puppet. Haven't tried any of that in 2.8 though.
cheers @pior ! Thx for writing. I did solve my issue by writing a small tool which does simply clone the selected bones of my source armature into a target armature and applying rotation constraints automatically.
Another topic. Is there a more direct (aka max-like) way of editing the pivot of an object? I find it super unintuitive to counter rotate - apply transforms - rotate back
Natively, that would be by either placing the 3D cursor the way you want the pivot to be, and Object>Set Origin>3D cursor. Or merging with a proxy object with the desired transform.
Natively, that would be by either placing the 3D cursor the way you want the pivot to be, and Object>Set Origin>3D cursor. Or merging with a proxy object with the desired transform.
How to assign a duplicated material to an object. (blender 2.8).
I have 2 light Planes named : 1 and 2. I made a emissive material (m1) and assigned it to 1. Then II duplicated this material (m1), but I cant rename it to m2. Neither can i figure out how to assign it to - light plane number 2. Already googled. still cant understand.
Maybe op's confusion comes from other software like Maya where Hypershade can show material graphs of multiple materials in the same view. In Blender you are only looking at the graph of the selected material.
Some questions. I'm coming from Modo, and thinking about doing some of the modeling tasks in Blender in the future (love the Hardops/ Boxcutter tools).
I'm not sure if Blender really can compete with Modos modeling tools.
Maybe you can tell me if Blender can:
- deform polygons with a falloff. Not talking about sculpting - Blender can obviously do that - but I select a couple of polygons, select a transform tool (move, rotate), and the tool does not only transform the selected polygons, but connected (or unconnected in the same mesh object) polygons are also influenced, but with a smooth falloff/ distance slider ('Soft Selection Transform' tool in Modo). Can Blender 2.8 do something similar?
- what if I want to select polygons in edit mode, activate the move tool, then want to re-position the move tool widget without affecting the selected polygons? Can I move the transform widget independently from the selected polygons?
- can I create custom palettes/ windows/ a list of custom buttons within Blender easily (I'm not a programmer) and put the tools into it that I need most frequently? For example, if I'd like to have a button for e.g. 'Mesh -> Separate -> Selection', can I place a button for that function somewhere in the UI, or do I need to navigate through the menu each time/ create a keyboard shortcut for it?
generally: Can I create buttons for any sub-entry of the menus (Select, Add, Mesh ect) at the top left of the viewport?
- is there a way to convert an object to a subdivision surface, and convert it back to polygons with the click of a button (TAB key in Modo, '3' key in Maya), or is it strictly necessary to assign a modifier?
- can I select two or more unconnected polygon islands in the same mesh, then transform all of them simultaneously, each of them in their own individual local space? Meaning, e.g. scale all selected islands simultaneously to the center of each selected island (not to the center of all the selections combined)?
- deform polygons with a falloff. Not talking about sculpting - Blender can obviously do that - but I select a couple of polygons, select a transform tool (move, rotate), and the tool does not only transform the selected polygons, but connected (or unconnected in the same mesh object) polygons are also influenced, but with a smooth falloff ('Soft Selection Transform' tool in Modo). Can Blender 2.8 do something similar?
[...]
With your description, i think you can look the PEO (Proportionnal).
- can I create custom palettes/ windows/ a list of custom buttons within
Blender easily (I'm not a programmer) and put the tools into it that I
need most frequently? For example, if I'd like to have a button for e.g.
'Mesh -> Separate -> Selection', can I place a button for that
function somewhere in the UI, or do I need to navigate through the menu
each time/ create a keyboard shortcut for it?
[...]
Look the Quick Favoris menu. Hovewer, write a simple addon/macro script is not complicate, but no user friendly like Maya/Max.
About all other questions, not simple to quickly take an answer. I'm look if i can find a video.
[...] - what if I want to select polygons in edit mode, activate the move tool, then want to re-position the move tool widget without affecting the selected polygons? Can I move the transform widget independently from the selected polygons? [...]
No, you can't move the widget, but you have a 3D cursor, that an another way to work with an pivot object and more. Look the documentation.
- deform polygons with a falloff. Not talking about sculpting - Blender can obviously do that - but I select a couple of polygons, select a transform tool (move, rotate), and the tool does not only transform the selected polygons, but connected (or unconnected in the same mesh object) polygons are also influenced, but with a smooth falloff ('Soft Selection Transform' tool in Modo). Can Blender 2.8 do something similar?
Proportional Editing, yeah. If you only want to affect the select polygons, the closest thing I can think of that that is the fastest is select your polygons, and in Hops menu Add Modifier>Lattice. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done a lot of times.
- what if I want to select polygons in edit mode, activate the move tool, then want to re-position the move tool widget without affecting the selected polygons? Can I move the transform widget independently from the selected polygons?
- can I create custom palettes/ windows/ a list of custom buttons within Blender easily (I'm not a programmer) and put the tools into it that I need most frequently? For example, if I'd like to have a button for e.g. 'Mesh -> Separate -> Selection', can I place a button for that function somewhere in the UI, or do I need to navigate through the menu each time/ create a keyboard shortcut for it?
Of course you can! You can create custom scripts and operators that you activate with shortcuts, or panels that pop up from the left tab. Maxivz Tools is a free addon that you could reverse-engineer to create your own tab with buttons. But I think it's faster to just use shortcuts. There's also that HOps Helper popup window, so it's all there for you to dig into if you want to. But no, AFAIK there is no easy Zbrush-like way of creating palettes with buttons inside without coding.
- is there a way to convert an object to a subdivision surface, and convert it back to polygons with the click of a button (TAB key in Modo, '3' key in Maya), or is it strictly necessary to assign a modifier?
Don't know the proper answer to this one. What I do is have a script assign a SubD modifier to an object if it doesnt have one, then switch it on&off if it does have one
- can I select two or more unconnected polygon islands in the same mesh, then transform all of them simultaneously, each of them in their own individual local space? Meaning, e.g. scale all selected islands simultaneously to the center of each selected island (not to the center of all the selections combined)?
Someone should correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe by all means the 3D Cursor does have an orientation. In Preferences>KeyMap, the Set 3D Cursor command will display an Orientation dropdown menu, in which you can set its default behaviour. I do not know how to change this from outside this window though.
Replies
bpy.ops.object.shade_smooth(); C.object.data.use_auto_smooth = True; C.object.data.auto_smooth_angle = 3.14159
To anyone who has worked with ZBrush, Keyshot and Blender: I was curious to know if you thought Blender was a viable replacement for Keyshot as a character sculpt renderer, and its GoB flexibility. I'm not looking to make something very complex materials-wise. The one thing I want to be able to do is import ZBrush models in Blender, create some simple mats in Blender and apply them to the individual mesh elements, and then be able to constantly reimport my ZBrush model into Blender, meshes constantly updating while keeping the materials I created and applied in Blender intact, so that i dont need to reassign things each re-import. Cant believe its 2019 and Pixologic hasnt dealt with this yet in their KSBridge feature...
Going between zB and Blender is a bit hinky atm. With the current GoB there is no position info transfer as far as I know. Models come into Blender at the origin, which means working with the figure at origin height, not standing on the grid. Unless there is a GoB addon update I missed. Also fbx export differs a great deal with GoB sizes. Depending on the res of your zB model mostly you would have to decimate a copy of the figure to work on it in Blender as well.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts - it seems that Blender still has some issues to deal with to be at the same level as KS is with Zbrush integration. I'll probably finish my current personal piece in KS, then put it in Blender to see how it fares.
Updating meshes works like a charm, even between new sessions. Materials...not so much.
It still needs to be ported, but I understand that a more logical approach would be the devs to optimize the backend in order to a be able to work with higher density meshes. Similar how edit mode performance had to be tweaked to support multiple object editing at the same time.
They don't seem to have near by UV sprints in mind thought.
You got to click "this video" my man. Something called a hyperlink
Working good.
Yeah, it only works on low poly geo tho, needs some improvement, but this tweet from 1 month ago gave me some hopes? We shall see.
[tweet]
I was looking into RizomUV as an alternative to my current workflow, their tools are excellent, I need to try them out.
EDIT: bpy.ops.mesh.loopcut_slide('INVOKE_DEFAULT') So using that invokes the tool correctly, awesome!
EDIT2: Oh weird, so using it like this only allows the slide if I click and hold during the first click, which is different from the standard behaviour of two clicks needed.
That said my needs rarely go beyond posing (as opposed to actually animating). I feel like interacting with the raw armature is actually the smoothest way to pose, as the position lock allows to rotate bones extremely quickly by just click-dragging away from them - very much like posing an action figure or a stop motion puppet. Haven't tried any of that in 2.8 though.
I did solve my issue by writing a small tool which does simply clone the selected bones of my source armature into a target armature and applying rotation constraints automatically.
Another topic. Is there a more direct (aka max-like) way of editing the pivot of an object? I find it super unintuitive to counter rotate - apply transforms - rotate back
But there is an addon dedicated to that too. Could do with some improvements but the functionality is sound.
https://blendermarket.com/products/pivot-transform
I have 2 light Planes named : 1 and 2.
I made a emissive material (m1) and assigned it to 1.
Then II duplicated this material (m1), but I cant rename it to m2. Neither can i figure out how to assign it to - light plane number 2.
Already googled. still cant understand.
I somehow made it work by using the "material specials button" > copy and then paste (didnt understand what was going on, but it worked).
I followed both your suggestions today. So the confusion is somewhat cleared. Thanks once again.
Trying out rendering in Blender cycles.
I'm not sure if Blender really can compete with Modos modeling tools.
Maybe you can tell me if Blender can:
- deform polygons with a falloff. Not talking about sculpting - Blender can obviously do that - but I select a couple of polygons, select a transform tool (move, rotate), and the tool does not only transform the selected polygons, but connected (or unconnected in the same mesh object) polygons are also influenced, but with a smooth falloff/ distance slider ('Soft Selection Transform' tool in Modo). Can Blender 2.8 do something similar?
- what if I want to select polygons in edit mode, activate the move tool, then want to re-position the move tool widget without affecting the selected polygons? Can I move the transform widget independently from the selected polygons?
- can I create custom palettes/ windows/ a list of custom buttons within Blender easily (I'm not a programmer) and put the tools into it that I need most frequently? For example, if I'd like to have a button for e.g. 'Mesh -> Separate -> Selection', can I place a button for that function somewhere in the UI, or do I need to navigate through the menu each time/ create a keyboard shortcut for it?
generally: Can I create buttons for any sub-entry of the menus (Select, Add, Mesh ect) at the top left of the viewport?
- is there a way to convert an object to a subdivision surface, and convert it back to polygons with the click of a button (TAB key in Modo, '3' key in Maya), or is it strictly necessary to assign a modifier?
- can I select two or more unconnected polygon islands in the same mesh, then transform all of them simultaneously, each of them in their own individual local space? Meaning, e.g. scale all selected islands simultaneously to the center of each selected island (not to the center of all the selections combined)?
- what if I want to select polygons in edit mode, activate the move tool, then want to re-position the move tool widget without affecting the selected polygons? Can I move the transform widget independently from the selected polygons?