Procedural 3D Modeling Using Geometry Nodes in Blender

Procedural 3D Modeling Using Geometry Nodes in Blender

by Siemen Lens
Released March 2023
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781804612552

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Book description

An easy-to-follow, illustrated guide to learning the geometry nodes editor and various other facets of geometry nodes through simple exercises that progress to more challenging projects Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Key Features

  • Develop a creative mathematical thinking of the modeling workflow
  • Understand how Blender and geometry nodes store and manage the data that you are handling
  • Learn different scatter methods and how to use them

Book Description

For anyone working in the computer graphics industry, understanding how to use Blender’s new geometry nodes tools to manipulate and generate 3D geometry in a node-based workflow is an essential skill. In this book, you’ll learn how to use the basic and intermediate features of geometry nodes that are a crucial part of your Blender roadmap.

You’ll start by understanding the different node inputs and outputs followed by the basic nodes you’ll need throughout your geometry nodes projects. The book will show you how the node system works and enable you to put your newfound knowledge to use through exercises that involve modifying curves, meshes, and more. You’ll work on a range of interesting projects such as creating a procedural plant, where you’ll use nodes to generate the intricate details and variations of a plant in a procedural manner, and a spiderweb generator to refine your skills of cleaning up a node tree. Finally, you’ll build a procedural LED panel using geometry nodes to generate the look of an LED panel.

By the end of this book, you’ll be able to overcome any geometry node issue confidently and make complicated geometry node trees exactly how you need them.

What you will learn

  • Discover the different node inputs and outputs that geometry nodes have to offer
  • Get the hang of the flow of the geometry node system
  • Understand the common nodes you'll be using along with their functions in the geometry node editor
  • Modify basic mesh primitives using the node system inside Blender
  • Scatter and modify objects aligned onto a curve
  • Become familiar with the more advanced nodes in the geometry nodes system
  • Link geometry and material nodes editors using named attributes
  • Implement your new-found knowledge of nodes in real-world projects

Who this book is for

If you are a CG Artist or follow modeling careers like that of an environment artist or even a CG generalist in the cinematography industry and you are looking to get into learning a node-based modeling workflow using Geometry Nodes in Blender, this is the perfect book for you. You will need a basic knowledge of the fundamentals of Blender, for example, knowing the specific workflow of material nodes and being able to apply this knowledge to your projects. To get the most out of this book, you should have a basic understanding of Blender's shortcut system and some modeling experience.

Table of contents

  1. Procedural 3D Modeling Using Geometry Nodes in Blender
  2. Foreword
  3. Contributors
  4. About the author
  5. About the reviewers
  6. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What this book covers
    3. To get the most out of this book
    4. Download the supporting files
    5. Download the color images
    6. Conventions used
    7. Get in touch
    8. Share your thoughts
    9. Download a free PDF copy of this book
  7. Part 1 – Familiarizing Yourself with the Node System
  8. Chapter 1: An Introduction to Geometry Nodes
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding the Geometry Node system
    3. In what situations are Geometry Nodes applicable?
    4. Understanding the Geometry Node editor
      1. Exploring the standard Geometry Nodes blocks
    5. The different node connections and how to use them
      1. Exploring different shapes
      2. Exploring different node connection colors
      3. Multi-connection inputs
    6. Exercise – accessing the Geometry Node system
    7. Summary
  9. Chapter 2: Understanding the Functionality of Basic Nodes
    1. What are basic nodes?
    2. Exploring Mesh nodes
      1. The Subdivision Surface node
      2. The Join Geometry node
      3. The Set Shade Smooth node
      4. The Extrude Mesh node
    3. Understanding how to manipulate Points
      1. The Distribute Points on Faces node
      2. The Mesh to Points node
      3. The Instance on Points node
    4. Instance nodes
      1. Translating Instances
      2. The Geometry to Instance node
      3. The Realize Instances node
      4. The Curve to Mesh node
      5. The Mesh to Volume node
      6. Volume to Mesh
    5. Summary
  10. Chapter 3: Must-Have Add-ons for Building Node Trees
    1. Exploring must-have add-ons
    2. The Node Wrangler add-on
      1. How to use the add-on
      2. Shortcuts
    3. The Node Arrange add-on
      1. How to use the add-on
    4. Exercise – how to install add-ons in Blender
      1. Enabling add-ons
  11. Part 2 – Creating a Mesh in the Geometry Node System
  12. Chapter 4: Making Use of Node Primitives
    1. Introduction to Node Primitives
      1. Why use Node Primitives?
      2. Where can you find Node Primitives?
    2. Mesh nodes
      1. Where can you find Mesh Primitive Nodes?
      2. The Cube Primitive Node
      3. The Grid Primitive Node
      4. The UV Sphere Primitive Node
      5. The Ico Sphere Primitive Node
      6. The Mesh Line Primitive Node
      7. The Cone and Cylinder Primitive Nodes
    3. Curve nodes
      1. Where can you find Curve Primitive Node?
      2. The Curve Line Primitive Node
      3. The Curve Circle Primitive Node
      4. The Bezier Segment Primitive Node
      5. The Star Primitive Node
      6. The Spiral Primitive Node
    4. Exercise – your first Geometry Nodes project
    5. Summary
  13. Chapter 5: Distributing Instances onto a Mesh
    1. Distributing the points on a Grid primitive
      1. Exploring the nodes we will be using
      2. Building up the node tree
    2. Instancing objects on points
    3. Randomizing instances
    4. Experimenting with Group Inputs
      1. How to utilize Group Inputs?
    5. Exercise – creating a grassy field
      1. Sketching the idea
      2. The nodes we will need
      3. Modeling the terrain
      4. Modeling a blade of grass
      5. Setting up your Geometry Node editor
      6. Distributing and instancing the points
      7. Randomizing the grass
      8. Linking a material to your mesh
      9. Cleaning up your node tree
      10. Using Group Inputs to add sliders to the modifier
    6. Summary
  14. Chapter 6: Working with the Spreadsheet in Blender
    1. Introduction to the Spreadsheet
      1. What does the Spreadsheet do?
      2. Exploring the different datasets in Spreadsheet
      3. Filtering items using the Spreadsheet
    2. Demonstrating how the Spreadsheet can be useful
      1. Introducing the nodes you’ll need
      2. Building the structure of the node tree
    3. Exercise – creating a rotated tesseract cube
      1. Sketching the basic idea
      2. Introducing the nodes you’ll need
      3. Building the node tree
      4. Adding a material to your tesseract cube
    4. Summary
  15. Chapter 7: Creating and Modifying Text in the Geometry Node Editor
    1. Introducing strings
    2. The various nodes we will use in this chapter
      1. Where can you find String nodes?
      2. Introducing you to the different String nodes
    3. Converting strings into a usable mesh
      1. The String to Curves node
      2. The Fill Curve node
      3. The Extrude Mesh node
    4. Exercise – making a procedural countdown
      1. Sketching the basic idea
      2. Exploring the nodes required to make a procedural countdown
      3. Building the node tree
    5. Summary
  16. Part 3 – Modifying Meshes and Curves in the Geometry Node System
  17. Chapter 8: Editing Curves with Nodes
    1. Adding noise to your Curves
      1. Offset by Random values
      2. Offset by Noise Textures
    2. Giving thickness to your Curves
      1. Basic thickness control
      2. Advanced thickness control
    3. Exercise – making a simple lightning bolt
      1. Sketching the basic idea
      2. Making the node tree
    4. Summary
  18. Chapter 9: Manipulating a Mesh Using Geometry Nodes
    1. Extruding your mesh
      1. Demonstrating the Extrude Mesh node
    2. Using Booleans in your mesh
      1. Demonstrating the Difference mode
    3. Adding noise to your mesh
      1. Demonstrating how to add noise to your mesh
    4. Exercise – making a procedural tree
      1. Making the node tree
    5. Summary
  19. Part 4 – Hands-On Projects Involving Advanced Workflow Techniques
  20. Chapter 10: Creating a Procedural Plant Generator
    1. Creating the node tree
      1. Creating the stem
      2. Creating the leaves
    2. Utilizing group inputs
      1. What inputs will we include?
      2. Renaming the group inputs
    3. Summary
  21. Chapter 11: Creating a Procedural Spiderweb Generator
    1. Creating a scene in our Viewport
    2. Creating our node tree
      1. What’s a convex hull?
      2. Creating a convex hull around our objects
      3. Making a wireframe from the convex hull
      4. Adding detail and randomization
    3. Group inputs
    4. Organizing your node tree using Reroutes
    5. Summary
  22. Chapter 12: Constructing a Procedural LED Panel
    1. What are named attributes?
    2. How do LED panels work?
    3. Creating the node tree
      1. Creating a single subpixel
      2. Creating an array of pixels
      3. Creating an array for every subpixel
      4. Storing the RGB values in named attributes
      5. Creating materials
      6. Linking the named attributes to the materials
    4. Adding group inputs to the node tree
    5. Summary
  23. Part 5 – Best Practices to Improve Your Workflow
  24. Chapter 13: Tips and Tricks for the Geometry Node Editor
    1. Converting a mesh to a wireframe
    2. Remeshing in the Geometry Node editor
    3. Using volumes to model in the editor
    4. Aligning instanced objects along a normal
    5. Linking weight paint with Geometry Nodes
    6. Making use of geometry proximity
      1. Manual calculation
      2. Using the Geometry Proximity node
    7. Exercise – making two meshes merge together
    8. Summary
  25. Chapter 14: Troubleshooting the Most Common Problems in Geometry Nodes
    1. Exploring the most common problems in Geometry Nodes
      1. My shading behaves weirdly
      2. My node tree is very slow
    2. Common mistakes when working with Geometry Nodes
      1. When the chosen material doesn’t appear on the model
      2. Applying a modifier makes parts of the mesh disappear
    3. Summary
  26. Appendix
  27. Important Shortcuts
  28. Index
    1. Why subscribe?
  29. Other Books You May Enjoy
    1. Packt is searching for authors like you
    2. Download a free PDF copy of this book

Product information

  • Title: Procedural 3D Modeling Using Geometry Nodes in Blender
  • Author(s): Siemen Lens
  • Release date: March 2023
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781804612552