Designing & Modeling a Sci-Fi Ship in Blender w/ Wanoco4D Part 3: Geometry Nodes & Lightning Effect

Hi I am wanoco, a 3D artist. In this video, I am going to show how to make interesting design with geometry nodes for my sci-fi aircraft and effects for the final animation. If you've watched previous material nodes tutorial, you'll find out more in this geometry node tutorial because the two node systems are very similar. In this tutorial, I will introduce first, geometry node for modeling. Second, the role of geometry nodes in industry, and third, geometry nodes for animation. Geometry nodes a

re a very new feature and are getting easier and more powerful by the day. A few years ago it was a Houdini-like UI, but recently it has changed to a Blender-like UI. So those who have failed before should try again now. Especially since the Extrude node was added, the geometry node possibilities have expanded. So here's a demo of creating a simple lattice with the Extrude node. Importantly, this geometry node can be applied to any model. And geometry node too can be adjusted by setting a parame

ter. Geometry nodes can be considered the ultimate modifier. So of course it can be included in this modifier cascade like any other modifier. Therefore, as a policy for the geometry node, we can consider not only a strategy of completing a model by one geonode, but also a strategy of giving it a role as a single module that constitutes a large function. Geometry nodes can also use textures. For simplicity, I will use a noise texture here. This produces more interesting results than simple rando

m input values. In this way, the size of the voids in the lattice can be varied continuously. Such structures are often called infill structures, or metamaterials. Metamaterials are materials that have properties that cannot be found in nature. And to get that property, we design the microscopic structure. In this lattice example, it can be said that the material density is continuously changing macroscopically. Since common materials such as steel and plastic have a fixed density, this material

with variable density opens up new possibilities for design. To see examples of semi-automated modeling like geometry nodes, search for terms such as: procedural design by Houdini, generative design by Autodesk, parametric design by Rhinoceras Grasshopper, and algorithmic design in general. You can see the future of design there. Or it could be an inspiration for some interesting geometry nodes. I think there is a concern about lacking a sense of reality for such a complex shape. But don't worr

y. It can be said that the design of shapes in the world is influenced in no small way by the specifications of modeling tools. In traditional product design, for example, you often see fillets like this, and Sometimes the reason is only that fillets are available in CAD tools. It can be said that this lattice was also designed with an efficient tool to create a light and high-performance structure. Also, the actual method of making this complex structure could be a 3D printer. 3D printers are n

ot suitable for mass production, but you can easily create unique complex structures. As such, planes created by parametric design with geometry nodes can be put into the context of ultra-high-performance prototypes. As I mentioned just now, a variety of other software can do something similar to geometry nodes. So what are the benefits of geometry nodes? It's real-time editing of the base mesh. From my experience with some other software and what I've heard from other pros, Blender is the best

when it comes to hand polygon modeling speed and intuitiveness. To summarize this tutorial series so far, Blender allows you to model while using modifiers, while rendering, while updating materials, and viewing the results of geometry nodes in real time. I'm using the RTX 3080 Ti, and there is no problem even if the model is this complicated. If you keep thinking about design and trying out ideas in this work environment, you will be able to create interesting things. Now, let's model the aircr

aft again using geometry nodes. Randomizing the structure of the unit cells is interesting, but it is also important to selectively create the same area of ​​the unit cells to create a sense of unity. Use geometry nodes appropriately as you imagine the role of aircraft in your universe. In lattice examples like this, the way the polygons are subdivided has a definite effect on how they look. This is a kind of tessellation problem. Neighboring cells determine their shape in designing how the cell

s are laid out. This is also a design constraint. By the way, I would like to introduce a specific tip about UV maps. Materials can of course use UV coordinates additionally. However, simply creating a lattice with geometry nodes breaks the UVs. The UV Map node was added in geometry node recently, but I'll show you a completely different way to create a UV Map. Extract the UV Map from the original mesh with a named attribute node as UV Map and project it onto the lattice with a Transfer attribut

e node and store named attribute node as UV Map and you're done. Let's make lightning with geometry nodes. Geometry nodes can make animation as an extension of modeling. Animation in geometry nodes is achieved by changing the parameters in the node system over time. It's easy with time nodes. Also, if you set the starting frame for the animation as a parameter, this becomes a very useful asset. I've used noise textures several times before. However, textures can be used not only in 3D space, but

also in time dimension. Generally in procedural systems it is recommended to normalize the variables in the system from 0 to 1. As a result, even if the system scales up, you can avoid losing the meaning of the values. I introduced groups during the materials tutorial, but of course you can use them with geometry nodes as well. Especially for geometry nodes, it is effective to use the same group repeatedly. This is because in nature we often see fractal in shapes. this is a very interesting fie

ld I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to the YouTube channel and stay tuned for new videos