How do I randomize a node group as multiple instances?

[Yeet]

Hi, so I have made a custom node tree for producing procedural trees. When I use the distribute points on faces to get multiple points on terrain and put my procedural tree node group as instance on points, for some reason the seed is the same across all instances. Is there a way to change this or is it a blender limitation? (the nodes going in the math add are just the nodes I would’ve put in the seed socket)

thx in advance

[zeroskilz]

Yes, that is how instances work - it has to be an exact copy or it wouldn’t be an instance.

You can create a “collection” of varied instances that you then instance using the “Pick Instance” option like demonstrated here:

How to instance varying geometry - geo nodes

Hello. Similar to Sterling’s suggestion, here dynamically generating a “collection” using a repeat zone and the Geometry to Instance node. Along with the “Pick Instance” option on the Instance on Points node you can then select an instance. Here it is just defaulting to the grid indices, but as mentioned by Sterling, you can control this using the Instance Index input. [image] This is a very bad generator, only for demonstration purposes. Note: you don’t need to use the Repeat Zone… …

You can use the “loop” iteration value to change the seed, or randomize seeds on points you then feed into the repeat zone.

Good luck.

[Yeet]

So, I have found this reply very helpful since I didn’t know of the existence of the “Repeat” node, and since I am too lazy to make a collection, I decided to make a node group that can make instances with different seeds. Here are the screenshots of them.

note that it works in Blender 4.1, haven’t tested in 4.0 and of course 4.2+ is not released yet. Don’t forget that these are all instances and they are not realized (for some reason my pc hates instances but eats geometry for breakfast).