Instance On Points
Puts a copy of one thing at every point of another.
scatter, copies, duplicate, spread, populate, clone, repeat- Category
- Modifiers
- Outputs
- mesh
- Runs live in
- no target yet
Give it a set of points and a shape, and you get the shape at every point. That is trees on a hillside, bricks around a tower, steps up a spiral, windows along a wall.
The copies are copies, not duplicates of the geometry, so a thousand of them cost far less than a thousand separate shapes. Rotation and Scale apply to each copy on its own, so wiring a random value into Scale gives you a scatter that varies instead of a field of identical clones.
Inputs
| Socket | Type | Wiring |
|---|---|---|
| points | geometry | |
| instances | geometry | |
| rotation | vector | one wire covers rotationX, rotationY, rotationZ |
| scale | vector | one wire covers scaleX, scaleY, scaleZ |
Parameters
| Name | Type | Default | Available when | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pick | all | random | cycle | all | always | |
| Pick Seed | number | 1 | Pick is random | |
| X | number | 0 | always | |
| Y | number | 0 | always | |
| Z | number | 0 | always | |
| X | number | 1 | always | |
| Y | number | 1 | always | |
| Z | number | 1 | always | |
| Orient | auto | tangent | flat | radial | surface | auto | always | How each copy is turned to suit the point it sits on. Tangent lines copies up with the direction of travel, which is what a brick or a fence post wants. Flat keeps them level even when the path climbs, which is what a stair tread wants. Radial faces them outward from the centre, for doors and windows around a tower. Surface stands them up on the ground beneath them, so trees lean with the slope. |
| alignNormal | checkbox | off | always |
1 of these 10 parameters only apply in some settings. The Available when column says which.
Watch out
If every copy looks identical, nothing is varying them. Wire a Random Value into Scale or Rotation, and give it a seed you can change.
Built with this node
- Addressing a grid after deleting part of itHow-to
- My copies are all the sameFix
- Repeat thingsHow-to
- Vary copiesHow-to
- Repeat One Shape Around a Ringteaches this
- Scatter Copies Over a Surfaceuses it
- Vary Copies by Where They Areuses it
- Make Every Copy Differentuses it
See also
- scatterPointsTo make the points in the first place, spread over a surface.
- fitToFacesWhen each copy should be reshaped to fit the cell it lands in, rather than staying rigid.