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Blender 4.0: Geometry Nodes

Node-Based Tools

Node tools are an accessible way to expand Blender and customize tools without requiring Python.

Edge to mesh node tools demo by Tim Greenberg (passivestar).
  • Geometry node node groups can now be used as operators from the 3D view menus.
  • Specific nodes are available for controlling tool-specific data:
    • Edit mode selection is accessible with the Selection and controllable with the Set Selection node.
    • Sculpt face sets are accessible as well with the Face Set and Set Face Set nodes.
    • The 3D Cursor node gives access to the 3D cursor location and rotation.
  • Documentation is available in the user manual.
  • See the overview task for more information.
  • Read the announcement blog post.
  • Watch the live demo video.

General

  • The mesh sharp edge status is accessible in builtin nodes. (4e97def8a3)

A new node and a modification to the "Set Shade Smooth" node to control the sharpness of mesh edges.

  • The Mesh to Volume node now generates a proper fog volume rather than a converted SDF. (700d168a5c)
    • The "Exterior Band Width" and "Fill Interior" options have been removed.
  • The Points to Curves node groups point cloud points into curves and sorts each curve's points based on a weight. (48b08199d5)
  • A new debug utility helps to check procedural systems for bad index dependence. (cc7da09c1b)
  • Rotation sockets and eight new rotation nodes are available for simpler processing. See Manual. (34e4bedcd8).
    • Axis Angle to Rotation
    • Rotation to Axis Angle
    • Quaternion to Rotation
    • Rotation to Quaternion
    • Euler to Rotation
    • Rotation to Euler
    • Rotate Vector
    • Invert Rotation
  • Simulation zones can now be baked individually. (ad169ba67a)
  • The Simulation Output node has a new Skip input. (dd515ebc1d)

Modifiers

  • The "Add Modifier" menu has been changed to a standard menu and is extended with custom modifiers from geometry node group assets. (6da4b87661)
    • When geometry node groups are marked as assets and the "Is Modifier" property is enabled, the asset catalog path is used to dynamically create the modifier menu.
    • Assets unassigned to any node group are displayed in a separate "Unassigned" category. (d2d4de8c71)
  • Two new options help to clean up the modifier interface
    • The node group selector can be disabled, which happens by default for node group asset modifiers. (0783debda8)
    • Inputs can be forced to be single values to remove the attribute toggle. (6875925efa)
      • This also removes the attribute toggle in the node tool redo panel.

The node group toggle and the attribute toggle are visible in the modifier

No attribute toggle or node group selector

Performance

  • The Curve to Mesh node is significantly faster when the profile input is a single point.
    • When the input point is at the origin, tangent, normal, and radii calculations are skipped, giving a 2x improvement. (6e9f54cbda)
    • Handling with many point-domain attributes is improved, with an observed 4x improvement. (48fad9cd0c)
    • Further improvements avoiding copying attributes entirely are possible when all curves are poly curves. (bef20cd3f1)