Procedural Grease Pencil Animation with Geometry Nodes in Blender 4.3

[@MegaShadoworld]

every video feels like the narrator from Stanley's parable decided to make blender tutorials and i love it.

[@RTKdarling]

Your ability to use blender to EXPLAIN blender to me is unparalleled, and it feels like you've gone a bit deeper here. That just means I'll have to watch it twice

[@boris_a8580]

Really very interesting and informative, thank you!!!! As the Geometry Node approach is relatively new to me, I had a bit of trouble understanding everything on first viewing. But when I saw the video again, translated into ancient Greek and in reverse, everything became clearer.

[@harryblends]

Thank you! That new KZbin “translate to ancient lost language in reverse” feature is legit

[@boris_a8580]

@@harryblends Definitely. That's one of the reasons why I subscribe to your channel...

[@laemon300]

your visualizations are the next level of educational content, I am sincerely glad that content of such a high level appears these days. Thank you very much!

[@ItsWesSmithYo]

For real, don’t know what he’s using for all this but it rivals the highest level productions I’ve seen out of 1000’s of tutorials. Magic.

[@junk1000junk]

The time and effort spent on your videos is impressive, cristal clear, even if in my case I am lost very quickly, but i love the british humour

[@ScatRocket]

Being into computer graphics since the 1980s I've always been afraid of vectors because despite using them lots all the time, I never fully understood what they are and how exactly they work. That changed in a matter of seconds after you started explaining them and it seems so stupidly simple now! Words can't describe how thankful I am for that!

[@harryblends]

This is awesome. I struggled with them for so long too. But it’s one of those things that kinda just clicks when you step back from it. Seems way more complex than it actually is

[@Kram1032]

the production value of your videos is utterly bonkers - how long does it take to edit a video like this?

[@Numonique]

The way you explain complicated stuff about blender is awesome. I truly enjoy the whole vibe around it as well. Clean, clear voice, no useless extra stuff. Great great work, truly!

[@harpoonlobotomy]

A new Harry Blends video, suddenly it's a good day.

[@grobknoblin5402]

The quality of these videos is INSANE! I want a tutorial on how you make these tutorials! This level of detail and the animations are incredible! the dad jokes arent to bad either. Thank you so much for these videos these are my favorite thing on youtube! you are amazing! and thanks for making the videos so accessable those of us who are blenderly challanged are very appreciative of the thought!

[@real_chris_scott]

I absolutely love your style of explanation, especially the sound of your voice and the dry humor it carries so effortlessly. I can easily imagine you narrating a British novel - OMG! You could be to Terry Pratchett what Stephen Fry is to JK Rowling - You would be a perfect fit narrating all of the discworld novels! 😊 Do it!

[@harryblends]

Thank you. I’m starting to get into a little voice over work and would love to do something like Terry Pratchett!

[@3DBlendMix]

I can't skip any step from this tutorial it's amazing thanks

[@harryblends]

The fun is in all the little details. Thank you

[@ThatBenKraft]

This is awesome Harry! I've finally committed to diving into Blender nodes and this video is coming out at the perfect time to bolster my learning. All the props for a video somehow turns boxes and noodles into an engaging and entertaining time! Something that I was a bit caught up about was the control point indeces. You mention they help to know "who is who" but don't exactly mention HOW they are ordered (in a certain direction along the spline based on the grease pencil stroke and what order they were drawn?) Explaining this might have also made the concept of repeating for every index to drag the "previous" point along make a bit more sense, because otherwise it just makes it seem like you are iterating over this large number and then magically the splines stay connected. Just a quck mention of how grease pencil is stored would help clear up the flipping of the tangent attributes as well. Still amazing stuff, Derek was such a lovely surprise I need more of him.

[@harryblends]

Yeah, I don’t explain the order of the indexes in the narration - though it’s visualized in all three of the animated spline segments. This is something that could have been clearer. The struggle with a video like this - where I’m trying to carry more of the basics - is it’s really hard to know how granular to go with the language. The danger is a wall of words that’s hard to keep up with. That’s why I started to animate more of the explanations. Thank you. Derek will be back. Derek has so much more to give

[@ThatBenKraft]

@@harryblends A trick I’ve seen you use before is to make up names for things. Word variety in a block of text helps to break it up and helps viewers visualize concepts as they’re explained. I think of it as taking a box of colored markers to your language where, even if it’s not the most technically correct, it adds to the overall clarity. For example, taking this at 12:16 - “Now, at the start of the repeat zone we can take the resolved position of the previous point and, using a mix node, mix it with our position field node which, for every point, will give us the current position of that point. So in each iteration, its point is having its position mixed with the newly mixed position of the previous iteration’s point”. To this - “Now, at the start of the repeat zone, if the current iteration number is the same as the index of a “tail point”, that point’s new position is calculated by blending partway between the “tail point”’s existing position and that of the previous iteration’s corresponding point. [ Otherwise, if the loop is at a “head point”, we will still shift it by its starting tangent. ]” As soon as switches inside of loops are involved in a problem, I love to write down logic flow diagrams to help myself know what happens in each condition.

[@ZeroDean]

Your videos are just... Amazing. Man, I love everything about these.

[@harryblends]

Thank you!

[@nunyabidnis3815]

Fun tip for those who make this: the *Roughness* on the noise texture, increases twitching motions. Setting the Multiply node designated for, "Speed," into a negative (like -2), makes the lines seem to crawl away. Getting some really satisfying squirmy-worm and scattering-bug like animations by tweaking these two values.

[@harryblends]

👆🏼🏆

[@theKingsAmbassadors]

I like before I watch. I thank you.

[@nathanduderstadt9945]

We all need more Derek.

[@wtfusernamecrap]

Outstanding. Thank you!

[@joshuab4092]

I truly truly love your videos! I always learn so much and they are immensely entertaining. Well done good sir and thank you!

[@harryblends]

Thank you!

[@PeteThePancakeMan]

You are chronically undersubscribed to mate... the video quality is just amazing!

[@harryblends]

Thank you

[@3d-eden978]

amazing videos, very well edited.

[@spark_coder]

Both simulation zone and repeat zone allows you to pass attributes directly into the unnamed node slot on the entry and exit nodes. You do not need to use store named attribute

[@harryblends]

You don’t… unless you’re trying to introduce a range of geometry node features while isolating concepts sequentially so the tree is easier to read

[@spark_coder]

@@harryblends make sense... thank you for the video... :)

[@harryblends]

Thank you! :)

[@AntoCharles]

banger good shit -- I have so much respect for the editing it must of taken for the clean video and concise explanations

[@harryblends]

Thank you

[@Thiagz]

You are a Genius! And you take your Time! Thank you so much

[@harryblends]

Thank you. Glad you appreciated my pace

[@Gamepunk66]

Cool , thank you! That was smart

[@AyushBakshi]

you are a wizard harry

[@hyruleorchestra4339]

This is so next level! Thx so much mate! I can't even fathom how your brain comes up with those solutions. Really impressive. Please, if possible. Can you explain how you make those node tree animations and what tools you use for that? It's so unique how the nodes slide into place. I definitely don't wanna copy your style, just wanna learn, how this can be achieved.

[@harryblends]

Thank you. One day I’ll document all the techniques I use in these videos. But - it’s really just a ton of planning, editing and tiny tricks. No secret sauce or protected family recipe. It’s a process that would be a drudge for anyone. I think most people would be disappointed when they discover that there’s no big workflow revelation here

Just amazing!

[@Aaws424]

Wonderful ❤

[@Boipelo]

Epic. Thank you!

[@hip-gun-studio]

I usualy watch the first half of your videos coz i am interested in and i am following along in my mind…than i always get lost somewhere on the way but i will still listening to the end coz of your humor 😊 But in this case i will probanly rebuilt it coz i have some usecases in my mind. to bad i will never understand what i am realy building :) But if it works, it works! Thanks

[@ginescap]

Beautiful, thanks :)

[@piotao]

WHOAW WOW!!! I wonder, when we will have some DEBUGGERS for noodles? :) Awesome vid, I feel like christmass is earlier this year! :)

[@ThatBenKraft]

One tip I picked up is that a lot of the time you can hover over the input or output of a node to see its last used value! Doesn't work so well in loops though 😰

[@SnapiTT]

yeeez, just found your channel. Amazing!

[@harryblends]

Thank you and welcome!

[@JohnWesleyDavison]

Love me some Derek.

[@lutzilutz9123]

Please Jack, we need to go back ! (Nice video btw)

[@harryblends]

Ha. I’ll never forget when I first watched that moment. Then everyone went on Facebook and lost their minds. Good times.

[@josealloza5908]

Thank you so much

[@sheilafrancl1423]

had a few panic moments there, but worked out in the end. PS if they ever remake hhgttg they have to let you do the voice over

[@TheAndzhik]

my brain hurts very much... and I think I know what I'll be doing during Christmas, my family won't approve though

[@nunyabidnis3815]

Thank you, Harry! Tell Derek I said hi.

[@FoxRenderfarm]

Good video!

[@chluaid]

Harry was very tired, so for those who had a stroke reading the description, allow me: "A step by step tutorial that shows you how to create a soaring and satisfying geometry node simulation with Grease Pencil geometry in Blender 4.3..."

[@harryblends]

Thank you. I almost completed this video with my nose

[@MatthewBrown-o1y]

This tutorial really greased my pencil

[@JavierAlfonsoBellotadeFrutos]

Mine blender crashed when baking, always remember to save the file (at least before backing)

[@harryblends]

Yes! ALWAYS save before baking

[@PCgmesforever]

Next video --> hairy blends (please don't change your mind about making the video despite my bad attempt for a joke)

[@harryblends]

Ha. Your title sounds like a nasty smoothie accident

[@PCgmesforever]

@@harryblends fair :D

[@TadaMinburi]

Lovely

[@blendgat1951]

Are you a person from the earth? What skills-just amazing. Thank you. By the way, half of the views are probably mine. Well, at least 100.

[@harryblends]

Thank you! 👽

[@lenkapredani8726]

Maybe it would be possible to use it for a "normal" text too

[@arresha_eng]

Thank you, great video. how long does these videos take to make?

[@harryblends]

Thank you. I started work on this video in 1987 (This was roughly 10 days work. I decided to make it more accessible about halfway through the edit so this meant I had to redo some of the node animation. The longest part is always the writing, which I do twice - at the very start of the process before I animate anything and then a rewrite with the finished edit)

[@arresha_eng]

@@harryblends 1987 hhh, thats about 40 years --- very good job.

[@hereb4theend]

Wait. The final result was a video played in reverse?? What sorcery is this??

[@JordanMauricio-k2h]

We are baked

[@mr.cobalt1668]

How do you make it go backwards to "build" the image, though? So far mine just deconstructs it.

[@karibaevulan]

🎉❤

[@DKP3000]

Thanks for the tutorial! I am having a few issues. I have looked over the nodes a few times and everything looks correct, but each drawn curve animates one at a time, not like your examples. What could be the issue?

[@harryblends]

It sounds like you’ve got a problem with your Speed attribute. I’d try removing its random value and using a fixed one. The strokes should all move at the same time then. The blender file is available on my patreon (FREE). It might be worth taking a look at it and seeing what’s different to yours. There’s a link in the description

[@mokomatalvi]

1:45 Am i the only one disappointed that inside wasn't more Layers?

[@hailahh2115]

Ouch 🤕 my head

[@principedelapaz3593]

😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@santiagoshang]

Lot of things to learn and no time to do it :(

[@fantasm0-]

I require Derek please.

[@harryblends]

Derek is coming soon!

[@AnittaDeady]

ya funny daddy i like you

[@lenkapredani8726]

hi, do not know why, but the Curve Tangent Node at 5:34 makes my drawing a mess (like nest..)...please help

[@harryblends]

It’ll be messy until you’ve added more nodes. There’s a link to the blender file in the description if you want to jump to the end. It’s on my patreon but free

[@lenkapredani8726]

@harryblends thank you, ok so lets continue (will try it on my own and go to your patreon after i fail😉)

[@angelavolkov1126]

Why does applying the geom nodes modifier not work? I'd like my GP object to be converted to a curve (and that's it), but I get an error ("evaluated geometry from modifier does not contain grease pencil geometry").

[@ItsWesSmithYo]

The video WE were all waiting on 🤙🏽🖤🧮