I think you probably have the viewport set to ‘render only’. Open the properties region of the 3d view by pressing ‘n’ while your mouse is in the 3d view. Find the display panel and deselect the ‘only render’ toggle button. (see image)
Sorry for the frustration. Somehow you must have saved that as the startup file. If you ever run a mysterious problem like that again try loading the factory settings from the file menu to reset everything to normal.
Saving the current layout as the startup file can be one cause it to open like that. File -> save startup file. File -> load factory settings to get default settings back (temporarily until saved).
User preferences and the startup file have to be saved separately, depending on if you want to save the layout/UI as startup file, or just the settings.
Always use visuals with questions. Show the whole interface with screenshots, no scaling/cropping. Check the tutorial linked in my signature.
I did find though, earlier today, the File/Factory Settings route which got me back to the default page.
But now I can’t seem to find a File menu on any of the headers - only View/Select/Add/Object - so I’m stuck again!
I have to say, this is a really challenging piece of software to get around in!
All I really want to do, at the moment, is find a way to hand write some directions onto a video I have made.
I’ve been trying to follow a tutorial (Envatotuts) called ‘How to Scribble over a video in Blender’ by Karan Shah but I think some important stages have been left out - so I haven’t gotten any further.
“But now I can’t seem to find a File menu on any of the headers - only View/Select/Add/Object” - this means you’ve managed to close all windows except 3d View.
In the upper right corner should be a triangular striped thingie which does bring out a new window if you pull it by mouse.
Menu [File, Render, Window, Help] belongs to the Info window; you can change types of windows using first icon on the left on window’s status bar - look for the blue circle with white ‘i’ on it.
Reinstalling wont help because you still have saved preferences which are used by a new installation - check where Blender’s user preferences are kept on your OS, delete these files and Blender will return to the initial state.
Is this only Blender’s window? Isn’t there one covered by one called by Menu -View - Duplicate Area into New Window? Ctrl - Up or Down arrows do not help either?
Alt-F10 as a last resort?
What does it look like if you open Blender application by itself? If it’s normal view: Menus, 3dview, Cube, then Ctrl-Alt-U should bring User Preferences window. In File tab uncheck Load UI, close User Prefs and try opening your project file. This will load data but leave UI as it is by default.
If you want to become 3d-artist, you should learn to love frustration.
Thanks ArMan. Blender seems to be pretty amazing - but it is definitely the hardest programme to work in I have so far come across.
But I will persevere!
Is this only Blender’s window? Isn’t there one covered by one called by Menu -View - Duplicate Area into New Window?
Hi eppo - you are absolutely right - there is another window underneath the first one. Thanks for that.
What I am trying to do is simply hand write some comments/directions on top of a little video I made.
I wrote the texts in another application.
Changed them from .tiffs into .png’s with transparent backgrounds.
Processed them in the Blender Video Sequence Editor, but, as you can see from the screenshot below, the red text still has a white background rather than a transparent one.
I’ve watched & read so much instructional material but I still can’t seem to get a good result.
Could anyone suggest a good, reasonably easy way to achieve this please?
In case if you haven’t found how-to yet - example.
Note that you can get a lot more if you add another Scene strip where you animate overlays. Use Render -> Shading - Transparent instead of default Sky.
Yeh, I found out how to add some font text, but what I’m trying to do is ‘hand write’ onto a video - like a scribble or an arrow to point up something.
I hand wrote some directions into the Flipaclip animation app (using a stylus on a Samsung Galaxy tab) & made the background transparent in Pixelmator.
Then exported it to a .png & dragged that into Blender.
But, as you can see from the screenshot, the background behind the red handwriting is showing up white. So the transparency aspect is obviously not working.
That’s what I’m really looking for - how to ‘hand write’ immediate directions/marks over the video, without any background showing through.
