Access Topology Like a Pro with Blender's New Mesh Topology Nodes

In this video we learn 3 of the new mesh topology nodes by creating a bolted panel nodegroup!
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[@fotistsantilas39]

The fact you explain the vector maths with simple sketches makes all the difference. Amazing tutorial. Thank you

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Happy to help!

[@marc.levinson]

I keep coming back to your videos because they're just so comprehensive and clear.

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Glad you like them!

[@gLittle807]

This vid is very helpful - thanks! As of Blender v. 3.5 the Field At Index node has become the Evaluate at Index node (had to go searching for that info!)

[@zboy303]

This is amazing stuff. Exactly the kind of low-level awesomeness I've been looking for. Going to take another few re-watches before I understand this, though!

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Awesome, more to come!

[@LawrenceAaronLuther]

Great thorough and articulate explanations, many thanks

[@georgeflores3361]

Thats crazy... Great Video mate!

[@_blender_man_]

nice speed up option for bolted surfaces :) ! Grate tutorial ! thanks again!

[@user-it1fi8xx3n]

Just amazing tutorial! Thank you!

[@SanctusArt]

Great tutorial and great nodes to play with. Thank you

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Thanks Sanctus!

[@UHStudio]

Nice technique and thanks for explaining more conisely how the new nodes work!

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Glad it was helpful. These topology nodes can be a little tricky.

[@bagoquarks]

In 3.5 the 'Field at Index' node appears to be called 'Evaluate at Index'. The 3.5 documentation uses both names which is confusing. Search docs on 'Evaluate at Index'.

[@bzikarius]

Very good tutorial and examples!

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Thanks!

[@lopoisaac]

Thanks! This is going to be very useful for the Nodevember challenge! 😊

[@JohnnyMatthews]

I hope so. Gonna see some crazy stuff this year.

[@pitched7401]

Awesome explanations! I think in your example you didn't need sample index and could have used "evaluate on domain" to get the face corner domain. Sample Index allows for a specific context, which isn't needed here.

[@eclecticgamer5144]

Thanks for this. I'm going to try and make a node-group that will replace the ultra-slow "mesh boolean" ops command node.

[@sebbosebbo9794]

my rusty vector knowleadge hits hard... back to basic..great tut...

[@theforest8882]

Thanks I needed this

[@JohnnyMatthews]

I was hoping it would be helpful

Oh wow, great tutorial!

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it :)

[@vstreet7583]

Just BRILLIANT! Thank you! Dg

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@visualsbymilo]

Such a great video, Johnny! Previously, I would've just added a single bolt then used mirror modifiers to place them in all the corners 😂 - oh man I love geometry nodes!

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Thanks, I knew it was a little harder way to do this, but I figured it was a good way to show the nodes.

[@n2killu]

@@JohnnyMatthews It works for n-gons tho, so it’s better.

[@nowerman6112]

@@JohnnyMatthews harder but more powerful too 🤯

[@ahmadb.e.k4629]

That is so helpful

[@user-ih1jl8dk8e]

Hey thank you so much for this video !! very clear and grounded and simple. I tried to implement this workflow with a point that is external to the geometry. Maybe you know why i'm having issue when integrating sample nearest (face) --> corners of face --> vertex of corners --> field of index --> sample index ? The idea is to hook an external point to the closest face, and use attributes to transfer to animated same topology mesh

[@stefanguiton]

Great new nodes!

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Yeah not ones you will need every day, but essential when you do.

[@laodeharjudin9580]

The Best Tutorials as Alwayss

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Aww thanks 😊

[@MalmqvistM]

Love this! This is the stuff I’m looking to learn. For example Im trying to find the topmost edge for each mesh island and suspect I can use the mesh island index. Just can’t figure it out yet…

[@JohnnyMatthews]

I submitted a patch for a 'grouped statistics' node that would do your topmost edge case. But it has been languishing for a long time.

[@SJChannel]

Thanks, this tutorial was very helpful. Have you had any success using the Curve Topology nodes? I have spent hours trying to do something simple with the Points of Curve node, and I cannot get it to do anything.

[@catwithlonghair1850]

very good tutorial. :^)

[@Mr_Steve3D]

This was very good! Keep the same format plz.

[@JohnnyMatthews]

That's the plan!

[@nickpendragon5391]

Great video. 🙂 Is there any way to know if a normal is facing inward or outward?

[@niquedegraaff]

Thank you. How would you create a simple window frame and window using this technique? But then use a value (ft or mm) and stays consistent? I tried doing duplicate the faces, and then scale, but the result is then that it creates uneven frame thickness around when the original object is scaled.

[@aimanbryan1424]

Your buddy Erindale recommended your channel. 🥰

[@Pro_Data]

Awsome video. Can this technique be used to create an offset faces or mesh?

[@genesis2303]

Moar!!! Moar selection tuts!!!

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Doing my best!

[@jamesmcclintock3728]

SWEEET VECTOR BRAIN JUICE

[@LawrenceAaronLuther]

amen brother

[@JohnnyMatthews]

🤣🤣🤣

[@manumanohar640]

This is Awesome 🥰😍😍😍 Can you make a video on all mesh topology nodes and how does they work . is very difficult to understand those node😘😘

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Yeah, that’s on my list.

[@wholebitmedia]

I know this is kinda outside the scope of this tutorial but was using the point position along the normalized edge to place an instance there(IOP). After realizing and then using a mesh boolean union to join with the original object that's edge was used the boolean union failed. Is there something I should(don') know about realizing instances for boolean union operations?

[@petrnovy6196]

Great tutorial as usual. Since we have access to face corner attribute now, it might be possible to make "Shade auto-smooth" node group. Any idea how to achieve it? 🙃

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Thanks! Glad you liked it. I’m not sure about your question, I’ve not looked into that yet.

[@3drwny]

Super Thanks you :)

[@JohnnyMatthews]

You’re welcome!

[@JoeRussell-oj7xm]

This is a really confusing but vital part of geometry nodes, your explanations helped although I am not exactly accessing topology like a pro yet. As a side note what I would really really like is a Dissolve node, my workarounds for that are too complex. Do you think we'll get one anytime soon?

[@wholebitmedia]

You could use a scene time node to delete geometry based on a selection of face index(s) that are less than the scene time and use a multiply to control the rate.

[@davidffortesmeireles5328]

WOW

[@danielbotelho4696]

How did you split the mesh at 5:58?

[@bagoquarks]

Used Edit Mode in the 3D Viewport, probably the Knife Tool. Geometry Nodes were not involved.

[@xaviervicens5217]

Inspired 😅🤣😂

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Go make something awesome!

[@eternalguy6023]

❤ Can you make a video on attribute static use case

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Not sure I follow your request.

[@eternalguy6023]

@@JohnnyMatthews 😊it's ok❤

[@shak-king9174]

I am still looking for tut like this 😢

[@neilcollins7371]

I might be missing something but wouldn't it be easier just to use the extrude face node (with an offset of 0) and then scale that face as you can select the "top" vertices and then just use those to place the points on?

[@JohnnyMatthews]

I’m sure you could make that work.

[@neilcollins7371]

@@JohnnyMatthews Cool. Good to know Im not mad. Im just trying to find a reason where I would use this instead. It would be really cool if you could select the corners of a mesh but only if the angle of the edges coming off it was a value you could input (so you would only select the Index of say the corners of a subdivided mesh). Thanks so much for the quick reply, really appreciated.

[@neilcollins7371]

@@JohnnyMatthews Just had a play. Should have realised that the scale node will scale everything equally so this will only work for square panels. Might have to rething that one then so your method seems cleaner. 👍

[@_evildoer]

Something I noticed about this is that the "vertex of corner" nodes aren't doing anything. You can remove them and it works the same.

[@JohnnyMatthews]

That’s probably because the vertex position and edge corner position are the same. I guess if there was other data that was only on the vertex it might make a difference.

[@lucian6172]

I don't get it. You already have the index and you can use it directly. Why so many extra complications ?

[@nowherebrain]

yeah geometry nodes "seem" awesome, but terminology and functionality make it seems like you have to have a doctorate in "blender geometry nodes"... which is why I simply don't use them. I don't really do anything procedural anyway so...whatever. The fact still remains though, not user friendly(beginner). I'm no blender beginner, been using blender since 2.27 or maybe earlier....

[@JohnnyMatthews]

It is complex to be sure. These nodes are pretty Low level. As more complex nodes are shared as assets and even included in some default asset packs it will be more beginner friendly.

[@zboy303]

Have been learning GN for well over a year and yes, this is not a beginner tutorial by any stretch. Blender devs have exposed these low-level nodes so that the community can build exactly what they want from them and I think this is the right approach. But there are far simpler GN setups that will get you used to the workflow before diving in to this kind of stuff.

[@nowherebrain]

@@JohnnyMatthews This is also my thinking. I know I sound a bit on the negative side, but I'm just pointing legitimate issues out. Worst thing that can happen to a new user is to try to jump in immediately and not be able to get anything accomplished...thus pushing them to use other software.

[@juryrigging]

​@@nowherebrain I'm a beginner. While I've had Blender installed for over a decade, and have been watching tutorials on a variety of subjects for a couple of years, I only actually started touching it recently (and went straight to alpha versions. I know, I'm crazy). I'm not particularly great with maths and logic. While perhaps not standard, my point of view is a bit different to yours. I'm getting into geometry nodes knowing I'm jumping in at the deep end of a more advanced workflow. While you obviously don't want every tool in a given software to be complicated, I don't think every tool needs to be aimed at the beginner. And this a tool that is still in its infancy, with things constantly being reworked (the "old transfer attribute node" Johnny mentions is only old for 3.4, and is still in the current stable release, for example*). We're basically seeing the frontier of geometry nodes, wild and dangerous where anything can happen. As it matures and the low-level node base has become more settled, more beginner friendly workflows will arise. But it takes time, and real world use of the low-level nodes to get there, which is the stage we are at. * speaking of transfer attribute, @Johnny Matthews is there a video somewhere covering everything this node has been split up into in 3.4?

[@fakecubed]

@@nowherebrain You can do a ton of basic stuff fairly easily with geometry nodes without needing to know a lot of math or the underlying data structures. Those are the nodes Blender devs introduced first, for the most part. Recently they've been adding more advanced nodes that do require a deeper understanding of math and data structures to understand and use. But don't let the recent additions scare you off. There's tons of cool stuff you can do without touching any of them. A good place to start might just be some basic scattering. You can use it as a replacement for a lot of the old particle system, but what you can do with it is so much more, and I find it a lot easier to work with. You can do a lot of neat stuff with curves too, without a ton of complicated node trees.

[@EngineerNick]

Hey there, where did you find documentation? Is this just spreading by word of mouth? The official docs are very much not helpful :( Thank you for the awesome video :)

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Well, I added them to a node tree and viewed the results in the spreadsheet view. Then just kind of worked backwards from there. Although since I do know how mesh data is stored under the hood of Blender, it may have influenced my understanding.

[@bagoquarks]

In 3.5 the 'Field at Index' node appears to be called 'Evaluate at Index' if that helps. The 3.5 documentation uses both names which is confusing.

[@felixbea5383]

It's a good tutorial but I don't see how those new tools could be useful. I mean, otherwise we can do that same model with just a few node...

[@JohnnyMatthews]

These are low level nodes to be sure. One thing is getting the corners of a face in loop order. This information is otherwise inaccessible.

[@syntax_error6882]

pfiou !! not so easy ..

[@JohnnyMatthews]

Yeah, that one was a little rough.

[@fladoodel]

Videos to slow

[@Hubertoser]

*Sigh* Every month i have to learn new geonode stuff.. not to mention the constant renameing and deleting of nodes..

[@IvanMax33]

So overcomplicated realization from blender... Even 3dsmax mcg is simpler than that, lets not even talk about houdini or grasshopper The tutor is great though! Thank you!