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Course

Geometry Nodes from Scratch
feed Course Overview
Basics keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Theory - Basics

    Free
  2. 02

    Example - Rock Generator

Data Structure keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Theory - Data Structure

  2. 02

    Example - Simple Rock Scattering

Fields keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Theory - Fields

  2. 02

    Example - Advanced Rock Scattering

  3. 03

    Example - Tree Generator

Attribute Propagation keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Theory - Attribute Propagation

  2. 02

    Example - Grass Tuft Generator

Files keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file Low Poly Assets visibility_off
  2. insert_drive_file Low Poly Example Scene visibility_off
  3. insert_drive_file Array Tools visibility_off
  4. insert_drive_file Doodle Cloud visibility_off
  5. insert_drive_file Spaceship Generator visibility_off
  6. insert_drive_file Geometry Components Demo visibility_off

Course

Geometry Nodes from Scratch
Basics keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Theory - Basics

    Free
  2. 02

    Example - Rock Generator

Data Structure keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Theory - Data Structure

  2. 02

    Example - Simple Rock Scattering

Fields keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Theory - Fields

  2. 02

    Example - Advanced Rock Scattering

  3. 03

    Example - Tree Generator

Attribute Propagation keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Theory - Attribute Propagation

  2. 02

    Example - Grass Tuft Generator

Files keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file Low Poly Assets
  2. insert_drive_file Low Poly Example Scene
  3. insert_drive_file Array Tools Free
  4. insert_drive_file Doodle Cloud Free
  5. insert_drive_file Spaceship Generator Free
  6. insert_drive_file Geometry Components Demo

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Data Structure

Example - Simple Rock Scattering

May 16th, 2022

info License: CC-BY
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Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes Publisher

Download the file created in this video here: simple_rocks_scattering.file.blend

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34 comments

Fatih Pehlevan
Fatih Pehlevan May 23rd, 2022

Wow Simon! Given the fact that you made this example digestible all the way through is something to appreciate. This is the best tutorial I've seen on geometry nodes so far. Really god job. Bravo!

Lucas Long
Lucas Long June 14th, 2022

Thank you for making these tutorials! I was struggling a bit with the fundamentals of Geo Nodes, but I feel like I'm starting to understand more now thanks to your tutorials.

Paul Spooner
Paul Spooner May 22nd, 2022

I downloaded the example file, but it seems to come up as the Blender default scene. Do I need a special version of Blender? I'm running 3.1.2 right now.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes May 22nd, 2022

@Paul Spooner Blender 3.1.2 is also what I have been using for the files of this course. For me the downloaded file works just fine in that version. I re-uploaded the file to be sure. Right now I don't see areason why it would behave like that for you. Can you try again?And do you get any error messages from Blender?

Paul Spooner
Paul Spooner May 23rd, 2022

@Simon Thommes The problem was on my Linux box. Just opened it in 3.0.0 on Win10 and it worked fine. Clean installed 3.1.2 and that worked too. Guess the problem is with my Linux system, or the download didn't finish. Will take a look this afternoon.

Paul Spooner
Paul Spooner May 24th, 2022

@Paul Spooner Turns out the download on my Linux box was 110 Bytes, so looks like that was the problem. I just figured you had a super optimized save file! Downloaded the full 1.8 MB and it worked fine. Thanks!

Nicholas Cliffe
Nicholas Cliffe May 27th, 2022

Oh my gosh.. when you named the node tree rock scattering twice I had to rewind so many times because I thought I was missing something! lol so funny.. Great video.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes May 27th, 2022

@Nicholas Cliffe Oh, I must have messed that up in editing, my bad

claudio Silberman
claudio Silberman May 31st, 2022

Thanks Simon for the course, is there any specific reason why did you separate the terrain deformation from the rock scattering into two geometry nodes?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes June 1st, 2022

@claudio Silberman It's good practice to separate logical steps that have value on their own into individual node trees. That means you can use them in isolation on other objects and while working you can disable/exchange them easily without having to shuffle nodes around.

claudio Silberman
claudio Silberman June 1st, 2022

@Simon Thommes  thanks, and I also saw in the next chapter that  you use multiple set position and by having the scattering in a different node it's always on the surface

Eimantas Vaičiūnas
Eimantas Vaičiūnas July 27th, 2022

I am using Blender 3.2.1 and it seems that it doesn't have the "Scale" Geometry Node anymore. What I did instead was append "Math" node (with "Multiply" operation) followed by another "Combine XYZ" node. My setup was as following: "Float Curve" -> "Combine XYZ" -> "Math" -> "Combine XYZ" -> "Set Position".

Eimantas Vaičiūnas
Eimantas Vaičiūnas July 27th, 2022

And then "Math" node's value attribute allowed me to scale the "hills" on the plane just like in the video.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes July 27th, 2022

@Eimantas Vaičiūnas The Scale node is actually just a Vector Math node with its mode set to Scale. It doesn't show up as such in the general node search or the add menu, but when you drag and search from a node link (like I do in the video) the search is more granular, so it will also suggest different modes and in-/outputs of a node.

Eimantas Vaičiūnas
Eimantas Vaičiūnas July 28th, 2022

@Simon Thommes This is a neat trick. Thanks! TIL :)

Cap Amr Karam
Cap Amr Karam Oct. 19th, 2022

Really WOW 😍

Pierre Schiller
Pierre Schiller Nov. 11th, 2022

Quick question: On (-18:05) - Why wasn't it subdivided using GN?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes Nov. 11th, 2022

@David Rivera Not sure what you mean. Are you sure that's the right timestamp?

Pierre Schiller
Pierre Schiller Nov. 11th, 2022

@Simon Thommes it's on 1:11. When you create the mesh grid.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes Nov. 11th, 2022

@David Rivera Ah I see, yes.Part of this setup is that I want to be able to manually draw in a density mask. If you do the subdivision procedurally, that means that the original data that you can actually manually adjust  (edit mode etc.), doesn't change. So the resolution of the plane to paint on would be way to low to paint a usable mask.

Pierre Schiller
Pierre Schiller Nov. 11th, 2022

@Simon Thommes Great. Thank you for the reply. In regards of my other question: How can the user see how "fast" the GN was computed (processed) in time?

Pierre Schiller
Pierre Schiller Nov. 11th, 2022

Also, I'm very interested to know how can I measure the computational speed with one node setup to another. Where can I see how much computational time a node tree used (the full created geometry node)?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes Nov. 14th, 2022

@David Rivera You have ti enable the Timings overlay in the overlay settings of the node editor. The time that is shown for the group output is an approximation of the total execution time of the node-tree.

Joseph Naughton
Joseph Naughton Nov. 14th, 2022

Great tutorial.

Joseph Naughton
Joseph Naughton Nov. 14th, 2022

In the end, my large rocks were intersecting with my medium/small rocks in some places. Is this a consequence of the way you set up the node tree? If so, do you recommend a way of having them not intersect?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes Nov. 14th, 2022

@Joseph Naughton The next video in this series should address this issue, it's taking the same base setup and adding on top of it for a slightly more advanced workflow. You can use the proximity node to remove points that are too close to other points. Just keep in mind that the scale randomization messes with the radius as well.

Joseph Naughton
Joseph Naughton Nov. 14th, 2022

@Simon Thommes  I just watched then realised it was addressed there. Thank you!!

Ingmar Franz
Ingmar Franz Jan. 2nd, 2023

I've tried the object scattering with vertex painting instead of weight painting using pure red (1,0,0), green (0,1,0) and blue (0,0,1). With a math node set to "Greater than", the different color channels are tested whether their values are bigger than 0. However, I discovered that I needed actually a "Threshold" value slightly bigger than 0 (I used 0.0001, just below the "Spreadsheet's" precision) because my objects for the blue painted areas got also displayed in red and green areas with a "Threshold" value of exactly 0 for testing the blue color channel. File can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zvxnjuf23sd6mbq/Geometry-Nodes_Instancing_with_Vertex-Colors_1Jan2023_7.blend?dl=0

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes Jan. 3rd, 2023

@Ingmar Franz I think this has to do with the data type of the color. When I convert the color attribute back to Byte Color which is the default for vertex colors  it seems to work fine without increasing the threshold.

Ingmar Franz
Ingmar Franz Jan. 3rd, 2023

@Simon Thommes Thanks a lot for your answer! So, this surprising result with the "Math Node" is probably a calculation artifact. But how can I know when to use which type of precision. I just found this in the Blender 3.5 Manual (https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/3.5/modeling/meshes/properties/object_data.html#creating-a-new-color-attribute):%C2%A0                                       Data Type

The data type to represent colors internally.

Color

RGBA color with floating-point precision.

Byte Color

RGBA color with 8-bit precision.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes Jan. 4th, 2023

@Ingmar Franz What that means is how much data is stored for each channel of the color. 32bit floating point is 4 times as much data as the byte color (8bit). So you are using up a lot more data but get higher precision. In most cases when you are painting a color map byte color will usually be enough, but when you are working with data where you need accuracy, like normal or position vectors for example. It is better to opt for 32bit.

But regardless of that the issue that you identified might actually be a bug. I'm a bit surprised that this happens, as in theory true 0 should be possible with both types of color and the channels should be independent of each other. My guess is that this is an issue with vertex painting that only manifests itself with the higher precision of 32bit color.

It would be very useful if you could create a bug report via Help - Report a Bug with the file you prepared and describing the issue!

Ingmar Franz
Ingmar Franz Jan. 4th, 2023

@Simon Thommes Thanks a lot for the explanations. I've created a bug report here: https://developer.blender.org/T103657%C2%A0 PS: I've just realized that creating a bug report from inside Blender automatically enters your system informations. But why doing it the easy way if it can be also done complicated (as I did before) 😉😁.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes Jan. 5th, 2023

@Ingmar Franz Thanks for making the report! Yes, that's why that is the way I recommend people to do it. Another tip about that: You can also upload images, videos and files simply with drag'n drop into the text field. Working at the Blender Studio I've made several dozens of reports by now :D

Ingmar Franz
Ingmar Franz Jan. 5th, 2023

@Simon Thommes Thank you, that's another good tip! My free Dropbox account is just 200 MB from it's maximum limit 😉.

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