Tag: Interface

How to transfer settings and add-ons from an old to a new version of Blender

Blender is very dynamically developed, so new versions of the program appear regularly. However, having downloaded the next release from the Blender website, we always need to configure it in a convenient way.

In order not to manually reset all personal user settings and reinstall all add-ons, we can quickly transfer settings and add-ons from the previous version to the new version of Blender.

  1. When we start Blender for the first time, in the splash screen we can press the “Load 2.xx Settings” button.

Continue reading “How to transfer settings and add-ons from an old to a new version of Blender”

How to make node connections in Blender 2.8 not straight, but curving as before

In Blender 2.8 node connectors in the “Shader Editor” window are straight by default, unlike earlier versions, where they bent curving. To return the usual connections bend, change the following settings:

  • Open the “Preferences” window
  • Switch to “Themes”
  • Expand the “Node Editor” tree branch
  • In the “Node Curving” field, set the value greater than 0. 0 means straight lines, the larger – the greater bend. A value of 4 corresponds to the bend that was in Blender 2.7x versions.

Edit Source

For those who want to know “how Blender works” to write their own scripts and add-ons, the developers have provided a very convenient option – the ability to view any element source code in a single click.

To see the source code of any element: open the “Text Editor” window; then simply click on the desired element with the right mouse button and select “Edit Source”.

Continue reading “Edit Source”

Add-ons reload through the F8 key shot

Add-ons are not reloaded by pressing the F8 key in the Preferences – Add-ons window in Blender 2.83. The add-ons reload function call with this key shot was no longer tied starting with Blender 2.80.

To bind the add-ons reloading to the F8 key shot again:

  1. Open the “Preferences” window
  2. Open the the “Keymap” section
  3. Expand the “Screen – Screen (Global)” branch
  4. Press the “Add new” button at the bottom of the list
  5. In the operator identifier field, type “script.reload”
  6. Click on the keyboard field and press F8 to bind this key to the specified operator call
  7. Press the “Save Preferences” button to save new settings

Where did the code completion in the python console in Blender 2.82 disappear

In Blender 2.81 and earlier, you could see the possible code completion by pressing “ctrl + space” in the python console. This key-shot shows nothing in Blender 2.82.

Code autocompletion in the python console was not removed in 2.82, it was moved to the “tab” key.

User interface elements alignment by columns

Interface elements in custom user panels often do not correspond to each other in size. As a result – the overall panel layout does not look beautiful. As an example, let’s create a custom panel and place an operator button and an input text field on it.

Can we make it more accurate?

Continue reading “User interface elements alignment by columns”

How to open folders by a single click in Blender 2.8x

When opening files through the “File Browser” in Blender 2.8x, directories (folders) are opened with mouse double-click. This change has been made for better compatibility with the standards (directories are opened by double-clicking in most file managers, for example, in the Windows Explorer), but this is not always convenient.

To make the folders opening  by a single click:

Continue reading “How to open folders by a single click in Blender 2.8x”

Some Blender tuning

A few settings that can make your work in Blender a little bit convenient.

Viewport window

Remove the default cube. Each time you open a new scene, you delete it. Let’s do it once.

Remove the lamp light source. In most scenes, you will adjust the lighting in a completely new way.

Put the camera in a separate collection and hide it from the viewport (click on the “eye” in the outliner window), now the camera does not interfere with the scene.

Continue reading “Some Blender tuning”

How to enable gradient background in the viewport window

To enable gradient background in the “3D View” window you need:

  • open the “Preferences” window
  • press the “Themes” button
  • in the “3D View” – “Theme Space” -” Gradient Colors” section on the “Use Gradient” checkbox
  • and tune the gradient colors “Gradient HighOff” (top color) and “Gradient Low” (bottom color)
  • press the “Save Preferences” button to save changes

Vertex selection fine tuning in Blender 2.8x

In Blender 2.79, mesh vertices were highlighted in the “tweak” selection mode by holding down the “shift” key and a slight cursor movement with the right mouse button pressed. This allows quickly add vertexes to the selection without aiming each vertex with sniper accuracy.

In Blender 2.8x, this method has become unavailable due to the left click selection change. For those users who remained on “the right click select”, nothing has changed, everything works as before. The “tweak” selection was broken only for those who switched to the left click selection.

To use the “tweak” selection with the left click select, you need to make the following changes into the keyboard shortcut settings:

Continue reading “Vertex selection fine tuning in Blender 2.8x”

How to split and join Blender interface windows thruough the python API

A set of operators is provided in Blender for manipulating with the location of its interface windows.

To split the current window (using the current context) into two in a specified ratio, we need to execute the following operator:

With:

  • direction – set the splitting direction (‘HORIZONTAL’ or ‘VERTICAL’)
  • factor – percentage ratio of splitting windows

Continue reading “How to split and join Blender interface windows thruough the python API”

How to start render in the main window in Blender 2.81

Render starts in a new window in Blender 2.81 by default. And there is no more render display mode settings in the “Render” menu. These settings were moved into the “Preferences”. To configure render execution window – open the “Preferences” window, press the “Interface” button and in the “Temporary Windows” configure the “Render In” parameter as you need.

How to open the File Manager in the main window in Blender 2.81

In Blender 2.81 the File Browser opens in a new window by default. To configure it always open in the current window – open the “Preferences” window, press the “Interface” button and in the “Temporary Windows” group change the “File Browser” parameter to “Full Screen”.

How to make the panel with system disks expanded by default in Blender 2.80 File Browser window

The panel with system disks list is collapsed in the “File Browser” window by default. But some times it is not convenient.

Not to expand it manually every time we can make a simple modification:

Continue reading “How to make the panel with system disks expanded by default in Blender 2.80 File Browser window”