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Blender
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A community for users of the awesome, open source, free, animation, modeling, procedural generating, sculpting, texturing, compositing, and rendering software; Blender.
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Let me know your thoughts, I'm always keen for feedback ๐
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This book SUCKED. And not due to its informational value!!!
It was because the pages tended to pop off. It's a shitty binding, see?
The publisher, Not a Number (aka Blender's custodian corp) issued a recall, and offered to do spiral binding on these things. I was a university entrant. Book swappage could have been expensive. Didn't do it.
So I have a book that creaks. Half of it dedicated to turbo rad late 1990s art.
("Blender v1.5 Manual", by Ton Roosendaal, published by Not a Number in 1998, ISBN 90-76519-01-3)
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Hello yall ! I am asking for your opinion on node editing, more precisely on creating straight paths with reroute nodes.
I find the built-in way of creating straight paths with reroute quite weird. If I'm not mistaken, it is :
- Click-drag to create the connection
- Shift + Right-click-drag to create a reroute.
- G and drag to place the reroute (repeat until path is made of 90ยฐ angles)
Now when it's time to clean up messy noodles, it makes sense : you don't need the first step and you can join multiple noodles with the Shift + Right-click-drag to go quicker. But when I create straight path from the start, I find it weird to first make the full path and then divide it.
I would have liked a feature to 'extrude' from reroute nodes so I can build the straight path step by step instead, so I made a small script to add this as a shortcut : when i press 'E', it adds a reroute connected to the last reroute/node selected. I'll try to add a gif to show what I mean, and I'll leave the code if anyone wants to try.
My question is : am I alone on this or does it make sense ? Did you too find the way reroute works a bit weird or did it always made perfect sense to you ? Or do you avoid straight paths entirely ? (Or is there some other way to work with reroutes that i'm not aware of ?)
Anyway, here is the code if needed (to use it, save it in a .py file, and in the Preferences/Addons tab, choose Install from disk and select your file) :
bl_info = {
"name" : "Extrude Noodles",
"blender" : (3, 60, 0),
"category" : "Node",
}
import bpy
class NodeConnectedReroute(bpy.types.Operator):
bl_idname = "node.add_connected_reroute"
bl_label = "Add connected reroute (Extrude) V4"
bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}
def execute(self, context) :
# Get node tree
nt = context.material.node_tree
# Get active node
node = bpy.context.active_node
# OPTION A - Create a not connected reroute
# in case there is no active node or it's not selected or it has no outputs
if not node or not node.select or not node.outputs.keys() :
bpy.ops.node.add_node(use_transform=True, type="NodeReroute")
return bpy.ops.transform.translate('INVOKE_DEFAULT')
# OPTION B - Create a reroute and link it to the active and selected node
# Add a reroute and connect it to current node first output
bpy.ops.node.add_node(use_transform=True, type="NodeReroute")
reroute = bpy.context.active_node
nt.links.new(reroute.inputs[0], node.outputs[0])
return bpy.ops.transform.translate('INVOKE_DEFAULT') # Returns that calls for movement.
def menu_func(self, context) :
self.layout.operator(NodeConnectedReroute.bl_idname)
# Store keymaps outside any function to access it any time
addon_keymaps = []
# When addon is enabled
def register() :
# Register the operator
bpy.utils.register_class(NodeConnectedReroute)
# Register its menu function in the correct menu
bpy.types.NODE_MT_node.remove(menu_func)
bpy.types.NODE_MT_node.append(menu_func)
# Create addon map
wm = bpy.context.window_manager
# Check if keyconfigs are available
kc = wm.keyconfigs.addon
if kc :
# Create a keymap in Node Editor context
km = wm.keyconfigs.addon.keymaps.new(name="Node Editor", space_type='NODE_EDITOR')
# Add a keymap item for simple extrude
kmi = km.keymap_items.new(NodeConnectedReroute.bl_idname, 'E', 'PRESS')
addon_keymaps.append((km, kmi))
# When addon is disabled
def unregister() :
# Do register in reverse order
for km, kmi in addon_keymaps:
km.keymap_items.remove(kmi)
addon_keymaps.clear()
bpy.utils.unregister_class(NodeConnectedReroute)
bpy.types.NODE_MT_node.remove(menu_func)
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Hi, guys! ๐๐ผ When I try to switch to Material preview in Blender my program crashes!
Who knows what can I do with it? ๐ค
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Hi all, I wanted to show some snippets of a project I'm working on. Something I'm calling GuitarNodes, a Geometry Nodes setup for making a procedurally customizable guitar that's easy to animate in Blender.
Here's a brief showcase of the features I've put into it:
Modular Parts
With Menu Switch nodes, it's easy to have swappable parts for the guitar. I've only (crudely) modeled one set at the time, but it's easy to see how a user could keep individual parts in separate collections to switch through. I also plan to make a second (crude) set to alternate between
Body
- Simply choose what body mesh you want
- Can be translated and rotated with gizmos
Headstock
- Choose desired headstock
- Origin for object is at the nut so that it attaches directly to fretboard
Tuning Pegs
- Note that there is a difference between L and R pegs
- Follows an adjustable guide mesh to stick to headstock
- Guide mesh can have individual rows of points(pegs) spaced apart more/less in X direction with gizmos
- Can switch between a guide mesh and curve, where the curve is for in-line pegs
- I don't have the line nodes done yet but it'll behave similarly
- String ends can be adjusted in normal Z direction to match custom peg height
- Can switch between a guide mesh and curve, where the curve is for in-line pegs
- Guide mesh can have individual rows of points(pegs) spaced apart more/less in X direction with gizmos
Output Jack
- Can be rotated, follows a guide empty and faces the normal of the guitar body
- Could also be modular if that's a detail you want to have
Tone Knobs
- Follows a guide curve that resamples to fit number of knobs
- You can edit this curve shape in order to arrange the knobs to your liking
- Will also be modular, such that you can change all of the knobs
Bridge
- Also modular
- Bridge can be moved in Y direction across the body with gizmo
- String ends can be adjusted in Z direction to match custom bridge height with gizmo
Saddle
- Automatically connects strings to bridge
- Also modular
- Can be rotated with gizmo
Neck and Fretboard
- Uses profile curves at nut, 12th fret, and end of fretboard
- Adjustable fret count
- Frets are spaced formulaically
- Minimal UI
- Shows measurement of string scale and the fretboard
Strings
- Adjustable count
- Adjustable gauges
- Tuning-based frequency oscillation in X direction (menu switch)
- Flip string order for left/right handed
- Adjustable oscillation intensity for varied strumming
- Adjustable fretted note values per string
- As the fretted note gets higher, the center of string oscillation moves accordingly
- As the fretted note gets higher, the oscillation frequency increases accordingly
Next plans (v0.8ish - 1.0):
- Adding Z-dimension to oscillation for more realism
- Add per-fret string translation that slightly increases string frequency for bending
- Custom guitar body, drawn with grease pencil (shoutout to Joey C for the inspiration!)
- I need help getting the points which the Tone Knobs instance at: they currently do not rotate to point the Z in the normal direction of the body. Instead, they all seem to match the first point's Z direction only. I want each point to recognize the normal of the nearest faces it's stuck to
- Adding a moveable pickguard whose Z-axis points in the body's normal direction
- Probably going to use a guide empty
- Might also implement custom designs with grease pencil
- Adjustable Z-direction with gizmo
- Player UI
- Shows chord chart for finger placements based on the current lowest fretted note
- Outlier high fretted notes will be shown next to the chart
- Shows chord chart for finger placements based on the current lowest fretted note
Further out plans
- Simulation nodes for strings, so that you can have oscillation decay over time
- Simulation nodes that interact with a plectrum object, so they can be literally strummed (probably gonna need a bit of help, too!)
- Better procedural materials
- Is it possible to use a For Each Element zone to change string material based on its position/diameter (i.e. thicker strings are wound)
- How much of this requires knowledge of handling UVs through geo nodes?
- Simulation nodes for painting custom materials on guitar (or just a good setup for other users to vertex paint it)
- Possible driver UI that changes a lot of these values, so that you don't have to go into the nodes to change things
- Want to implement a tablature-style tracker
- Automatically keys the string fret values to match the song's rhythm, accounting for framerate
- Implement a whammy bar that affects strings
- Any other feedback that I like enough to implement myself
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Just a little project to reacquaint myself with sculpting after some time away from Blender. I'm pretty proud with how this one turned out.
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To be honest, I'm incredibly pleased with the result. I spent half a day with the overall structure, and in general learning how to blender, and another half with actual sculpting. I made many mistakes and had to go back. I even messed-up in the end. This is too heavy I believe, and the topology is terrible because I wasn't constantly re-meshing (I wasn't paying much attention to the tutorial)
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