Dynamic Fence using Geometry Nodes (Blender Tutorial)

In this video, ‪@MartinKlekner‬ shows how to use Geometry Nodes to connect fence assets, make them adapt to the underlying terrain and dynamically change the size of the nearby assets. Let’s dive into the realm of GeoNodes!
⇨ Master 3D Environments course: bit.ly/b3d-environment-course-09
⇨ Project Files + Blender Shortcut PDF (email required): bit.ly/cgboost-resources-13
⇨ Blender Secrets E-book (affiliate): gumroad.com/a/436106355
LINKS
⇨ Fence assets on Blendswap: www.blendswap.com/blend/14644
⇨ AmbientCG (formerly CC0 Textures): ambientcg.com/
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
00:45 - One minute description
01:49 - Fence Assets
02:57 - Curve and Terrain base
04:35 - Scattering Fence Pieces on Curve
06:41 - Improving Dynamic Rotation
08:51 - Controllers and Outputs
10:20 - Distributing Points on Terrain
12:54 - Dynamic Scale Based on Proximity
16:36 - Outro
MY SYSTEM
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GPU: GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
RAM: 64 GB
FOLLOW CG BOOST
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#b3d #tutorial #geometrynodes

[@s1amvwbug]

So, much information. I’ll have to watch this several times to get the hang of the nodes you created. Thank you for posting this video!

[@MultiTommytomtom]

Thanks for this tutorial, I’ve been trying to put a curved wall on a landscape recently but just couldn’t get it to work, this method is perfect! :)

[@binyaminbass]

Thank you Martin! This is a very important addition to your epic course!

[@MartinKlekner]

Cheers!

[@HelloHiHola]

I believe this example will stand the test of time as GNs change; it's so eternal and easy to see how to apply to other scenes and covers a logical and wide scope of Nodes I never would have guessed existed. It makes GN less witchcraft and more like a tool for all.

[@scpk2246]

Hi CG Boost, you're obviously know what you're explaining - such a clear one! thank you!

[@MartinKlekner]

Glad you like it! Cheers 🥳

[@StanleyKubick1]

I really appreciate that you explain why every step is done, not just how it's done.

[@MartinKlekner]

Cheers! 🙂

[@ashokp9260]

The way you explain all steps and procedures is top-notch. Lucky that I found this channel. Thanks 🙏

[@MartinKlekner]

Cheers!

[@touchstone1682]

Thanks a lot for the one minute part. ID really like it if more people started doing that!

[@wrichards123]

Im still working through the master class and am constantly amazed.... thank you for all this, warped my skill set far ahead...

[@Salen0243]

Another great tutorial, thanks.

[@Masha_B]

Thanks, Martin, for this tutorial, it's really cool! ^^

[@MartinKlekner]

Thanks Masha!

[@paul-thys]

Thanks for this!

[@farazshababi1]

Thank you! Much needed tutorial!!

[@fordgud4dall]

Thank you for a well explained and clear tutorial

[@blend3d302]

insane stuff Martin, very good 👏 I'm definitely gonna be try this 😁

[@MartinKlekner]

Thank you!

[@mopozuJIko]

Have been looking for a way to make objects turn with the curve - thank you for a great explanation!

[@joliecat5463]

Thanks for the tutorial, for a beginner like me, it's great because I can follow every step.

[@judithdoppler2202]

Perfect!

[@polynormal4038]

Very nice!, thanks for sharing :)

[@frankreiser_recaremo]

I love it so much

[@cgboost]

We're glad :) ~ Daniel

[@MiguelRoque]

Thanks., it's a great video but maybe you can use collection cursor offset insted origin point to instanciate fences

[@tiagopesce]

used that concept to arrange stonemasonry in a lowpoly house i'm drawing, really speed up the detailing processes since i just need nurb lines along the base walls

[@mrCetus]

Note to others. Geometry nodes on nurbes path only works from blender3.0 onwards. Great tutorial btw!

[@shmuelisrl]

thanks for the quick for people who know what they are doing

[@cgboost]

You're very welcome! ~ Daniel

[@BlenderLowpoly]

Greate Tutorial, but if I whant use different fences in one time and I chose what I need, I can do? for example Type 1, Type 2 Type 3 etc.?

[@MartinKlekner]

Definitely possible, but it would require to join in more fence collections into the network and play with their positioning 🙂

[@MrGravicaper]

Thank you very much for a great lesson. It was very interesting. Do you have any ideas on how to make the grass and leaves move in the wind? The Unreal Engine 4 does this with a shader. This makes it possible to do very large scenes. Would it be very costly in performance in Blender to move vegetation with nodes? Or maybe you know some other way?

[@omghai2u]

u could make particle system of very ismple grass, and bind the top vertex of the grass to a vertex group, and then apply a displacement modifier to that vertex group with a large noise clouds pattern

[@MrGravicaper]

@@omghai2u Thank you very much! I will try to do it according to your advice.

[@byLeyve]

crazy

[@reklem2]

This is a cool technique. (btw, pet peeve, Euler is pronounced "oy-ler" not "ew-ler")

[@MartinKlekner]

Haha, thanks for the correction, Ill try better next time ;-)

[@allan-zt8vd]

cool

[@LuisRodriguez-gt9hx]

Hey Martin, I'm enjoying the 3D Environments course and starting thinking that it reminded me of a book called Deconstructing the Elements with 3D Studio Max. Any plans on doing a course where the different elements (fire, water, earth and wind) are used for different scenarios?

[@MartinKlekner]

Glad to hear that Luis! Cool idea :-) Currently Im thinking of different topics for my courses, but Ill keep this one in mind :-)

[@Bobsagit5]

Great tutorial is always Martin, thanks. When setting up the fence, is there any way to break the instance pattern? The example you set up has the same pieces 1-5 repeating in the same order. I imagine there is something you can plug in to the Instance Index input to add a bit of randomness? "Noise texture -> color ramp -> multiply by the number of objects -> instance index" seems to do something close to the desired effect.

[@Random_YT007]

Add a Random value node _> change type to integer -> min value =1 , max value = (total number of objects in your instance collection) -> instance index

[@mirohorvath]

It seems to work fine only in case terrain is flat-ish and curve straight-ish, right? I see gaps appearing as soon you edit curve or terrain.

[@MartinKlekner]

You just need to adjust the count of the fence pieces. However, in more extreme cases, yes, it works less reliably.

[@mirohorvath]

@@MartinKlekner There's a way how to make each instance to skew based on underlying terrain, but I understand that it may be "too advanced" in case it's used to render a still image eventually in other words one can't see whole fence from various angles.

[@MartinKlekner]

@@mirohorvath Yeah, agreed 😊 I wanted a technique that would be possible to present in 15 minute tutorial. But there’s so much one can do with geonodes, my head keeps spinning every time I work with them 😅

[@mirohorvath]

@@MartinKlekner Gotcha... yeah GN can be quite challenging, even head-aching sometimes 🤯

[@mirohorvath]

@@MartinKlekner btw. I tried to contact you on twitter, but couldn't send you PM so I did on FB, it's about possible meet-up of "Geo-Noders" in Prague :)

[@hamadhajri8582]

Hey my man always, i would really want to know how to do the good lighting you make !

[@cgboost]

Lighting like this can be achieved very quickly and easily using an HDRI. Just plug it in as an Environment Texture in the world settings and it should work straight away! You can find lots of these for free at places like polyhaven.com/ ~ Daniel

[@djebbarabderrahmene]

Why didn't you use the distance output of the geometry proximity ?

[@nebhoteproville]

I have an issue about your grass generation : There are not enough grass patches around the fence and the further ones are too big. I'd prefer to have a nice grass field with less and smaller patches around the fence. How do i proceed?

[@afjer]

You could just resample with length since all your fence assets have approximately the same dimensions.

[@sebastianosewolf2367]

what confuses me a bit, when I add a nurbspath I don't have these arrows like on yours I work on 3.2 tested also on 3.1 but no difference

[@OwlpawWarrior]

You can turn the path on in overlays menu in edit mode for the curve. At the very bottom there is "normals" checkbox

[@SaschQuasch]

Low poly grass question... how faces do you use? I tried 8 looks good but performance lacks.

[@waltage]

how to do uniform density lawn??

[@tj0vtj0v61]

Great Tutorial, but where did you get the grass?

[@MartinKlekner]

So many grass assets at Blendswap, some of the ones I use originated from there too.

[@karthithedeveloper]

how to convert all into mesh and import it as fbx

[@anshu56981]

I want to learn your courses but I can't understand English fully 😞😞

[@cgboost]

All our courses have English subtitles, maybe this helps a bit!?

[@simplemusic3311]

can you stretch the path so the fence is longer?

[@MartinKlekner]

Of course, just by playing with the underlying Bezier you can prolong however you like 🙂

[@Smartroid]

Where's the original tutorial? I can't find it nowhere

[@MartinKlekner]

What do you mean? This is the full one :)

[@makeitlastmedia]

​@@MartinKlekner whatttttttttt???????

[@GreenGnoblin]

would this work in unity as well?

[@cgboost]

Nope, geometry nodes can't be imported into the unity. ~Egon

[@GreenGnoblin]

@@cgboost :(

[@zy-blade]

0:00 - "Hey there Fence" Kappa

[@chumcool]

When I check "reset children" my fence turns into a bunch of disproportioned crap. Any suggestions?

[@chumcool]

It was a few things. It hadn't "APPLY" like I thought I did, and I missed the "Join" part.

[@user-zj5sk8hd9r]

Great Tutorial! I think the Link to "Fence assets on Blendswap" is wrong (leads to trees)

[@chumcool]

Now my fence is just grouped up. Followed to a T. The only thing I did different was I used my own fence collection.

[@v_pryadchenko]

Why don't just use the `distance` output of a proximity node instead of doing vector math on position?

[@xilo6830]

I was wondering the same thing. Using distance output gave me similar results so I didn't bother with the extra steps. Do the vector math nodes add anything?

[@robertkerr4199]

Don't know what weird farm you grew up on but on my farm, the grass is taller at the fence line because animals don't like getting their faces stuck in a fence when they're trying to have lunch...

[@cgboost]

There are many weird farms on this beautiful globe (which only makes it more interesting :) )

[@pride3252]

у вас есть этот тутор на русском? если кто знает похожий скиньте пж

[@cgboost]

Наши курсы в настоящее время только на английском языке. ~ Daniel

[@robertYoutub]

Well, but scale is not the right thing to do with grass, maybe rather use it to choose items in a collection and also use it to use manipulate ground textures

[@cgboost]

Manipulating textures is more of a Shader Nodes situation but using the grass to drive that maniuplation is a good idea :) ~ Daniel

[@ed_halley]

(I wish more people pronounced Euler correctly. It's "oil-er.")

[@yass_queeen_engery]

Now animate it NO? I DON'T THINK SO

[@MartinKlekner]

😅

[@Canadianishere]

Euler is pronounced oy-ler, it's a Scottish name

[@MartinKlekner]

Cheers, thanks for the correction, Ill remember that 🙂

[@lr4796]

Doesn't work

[@omghai2u]

clicking a simple tutorial and it being 17 minutes long i am not going to watch im sorry

[@MihaBevcStraxer]

Note to others. Geometry nodes on nurbes path only works from blender3.0 onwards. Great tutorial btw!