How do I get perfectly even distribution of array objects on a curve?
I made a basic scene: bezier circle and cube.
Array modifier on the cube set to any of the Fit Curve/Length/Count…
How the heck do I get accurate placement so I know it is perfect?
I turned on Stretch and Bounds Clamp but now I have this stupid double box I can’t get rid of.
Is there something I am missing? Is there not an easy way to distribute X number of objects perfectly evenly along a curve/circle ( - yes I know I could use same count boxes and circle verts and attach the boxes to the verts but that method is not going to work for this. I need to be able to adjust on the fly)?
NFX_RadialArray is just the name @thorn gave to the file, it’s a custom geometry nodes setup, so technically it is still made with “stock” tools, you don’t need to install anything external.
Yeah, julper pretty much sums it up. It’s just a geometry node modifier, made in blender. Drop it on whatever object you have, set the controls, you’re done. And can always change the parameters later. The “NFX” is just a prefix I put on all the setups i make, so that I can organize and recognize them.
Insofar as “The available (stock) tools aren’t sufficient enough to handle this?” - in terms of the regular array (or screw, etc) modifers - in my opinion, no.
Neither is that popular “instance on a point and rotate it around” technique that was popular years ago that youtube people strangely still show off as a great solution.
I don’t know why but I do not like Geometry Nodes. I’ve completely avoided even attempting to learn them. The lack of feedback per node is painful. I am too used to Touch Designer and Houdini.
“that was popular years ago” that’s still how I operate. In Blender, at least.
I’d suggest putting aside the initial dislike and diving in. It was one of the first features I started trying to learn when I started using blender a couple years ago. It’s not houdini, but hell powerful for what it is.
But FWIW - you don’t even have to know how to create nodes, to use one. It’s just drag and drop and go.
I spent so long in Blender pre-nodes that even shading with nodes is not something I enjoy.
I can do some basic stuff with Geometry Nodes - I just don’t like it. Like why can’t I turn on and off a flag and have the viewport show me what’s happening up to and including the flagged node? Feedback is painful.
I do appreciate the input, and the node download! Now I just have to figure out how to use it with the rest of what I am doing.
Clearly, I don’t even know the most basic tricks like M for Mute. Blender makes me enough money that I’m one of the few who contribute to the dev fund, yet I’ve never used a geometry node in a project.
A lack of resources that make sense is an issue. I’ve found one video that has helped but most tutorials are paint-by-number exercises and don’t have any real operational knowledge to share. They know how to make pretty pictures… they don’t know how it works or can’t explain it in a way that I can understand enough to then apply the concepts elsewhere.
Harry Blends on YouTube has the first video I’ve seen that doesn’t just throw away the spreadsheet as a useless bunch of numbers but instead uses it to teach. Finally! A video that makes sense! But that only came out 3 weeks ago and there isn’t any more. Yet.
M for Mute is also something I have to memorize. Unless I am missing something there’s no button or visual indicator that M for Mute is even possible… Mute itself is buried 2 levels deep in a drop-down menu. That’s something that should be front and center. A little button in the title bar to bypass/mute, maybe? This is way beyond the scope of this post, however.
I’ll agree that it can feel intimidating at first. But, the way I started was to approach it like a simple building block.
Day one, I just wanted to cover a cube with other cubes. That taught me a few nodes.
Next time, I wanted the cubes to be varied in size. More nodes learned. Then rotated. Then with different colors.
By the time I was there, I had basic knowledge of the tools. Then you start chaining them, adding another…before you know it, you have something interesting. Then you start thinking “I wonder if I can…” and it gets really fun when you can.
TLDR is - don’t try to start by cooking a 7 course meal. Start by chopping a couple veggies and making a salsa.
I guess I can do some geonodes basics because everything you listed as basics I can already do (up to the chaining together part). But the “I wonder if I can” in my head doesn’t ever point me to geonodes. I would never have thought to use geonodes as a way to replace the tools I was trying to use. Repeating things around an arc is one of the first things I ever learned in Blender (1.6, maybe?). Replacing that with some geometry nodes is not a switch my brain has ever been ready to make.
Honestly what I am trying to do would probably be much easier with geonodes than traditional (?) (menu?) (not sure what to call older, non-geonode tools) tools. It was stupid simple in Houdini (I like to try and duplicate projects between apps just to see what I can get out of them).
Node concepts are similar/familiar across most of the apps I use. VVVV, Fusion, Nuke, Houdini, Max, PureData, TouchDesigner, the nodes basically work the same. Some apps like MeshRoom the nodes seem kinda pointless. The level of feedback generally determines how quickly I can be successful. I’ve built some pretty complex interactive installations using Touch Designer + PureData. Touch Designer is wonderful, PureData not so much. (PD is powerful, just not really fun to use)
By the way: if using a circle curve then do not use bezier… it is not a circle but a nurbs curve can build a perfect circle.
But then Fit Curve feature depends on the resolution of the curve… and so you got problems on a circle… because the feature isn’t using the “perfect” length…
Nice setup, thanks! That switch options for object/collection is a nice idea. I replaced the deprecated “rotate euler” node with the current “rotate rotation”. (although it worked with the old one)
I ended up having to deliver the project from Houdini. Blender was taking too much time to figure out why things aren’t working. What should have been a simple manipulation of a few curves and circles turns into rotating objects around nulls and modifier stacks a mile long. Houdini did everything super-fast and easy.
I appreciate all the input and assistance, but I was unable to succeed.
Now I am trying to learn Geometry Nodes and frustrated at the way things have to be done in Blender. Still trying to figure out things that should be simple like beveling a specific edge. What a nightmare just trying to select the edge.
Isn’t this always the case… if one is accustomed to one tool and another one works in a slighly different way or in fact differently then someone has to learn this before getting acceptabel results ?
Also a simple rotation (like i showed) is a circle(by the defiition of circle/circular) but the approach bezier “circle” *is not… (as several mathematical papers show… NURBS can, but why use them when a rotation is the direct implementation of a circle…)
