WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:04.680 One of the big new features that is coming to Blender 4.0 that might be flying under 00:04.681 --> 00:09.020 your radar is the new functionality to create tools with the geometry nodes. 00:09.860 --> 00:14.980 This makes it very simple to create custom tools that you can use to accelerate your 00:14.981 --> 00:17.940 workflow without writing a single line of Python code. 00:18.840 --> 00:22.120 Not that there's anything wrong with Python, but it does mean that now a lot 00:22.121 --> 00:26.440 more people will be able to customize their workflow and that it makes it a lot 00:26.441 --> 00:29.964 more easy to mark up new ideas for a new tool and 00:29.965 --> 00:34.240 integrate it as part as your library to reuse and share it. 00:34.580 --> 00:39.020 This means that with all the existing procedural capabilities of geometry nodes 00:39.021 --> 00:43.920 you'll be able to create tools that you can run directly from within edit mode or 00:43.921 --> 00:48.580 sculpt mode, which operates on your editable geometry directly as you work. 00:49.640 --> 00:53.380 While this doesn't keep the procedural aspect of the node tree intact, 00:53.820 --> 00:57.415 it means that you can keep editing the geometry with custom 00:57.416 --> 00:59.980 built tools that are catered to exactly what you need. 01:00.000 --> 01:02.240 without leaving the 3D viewport. 01:03.080 --> 01:07.600 You might be wondering why, since geometry nodes has been pushing the non-destructive 01:07.601 --> 01:10.712 workflow with Blender further than it's ever been, push 01:10.713 --> 01:14.080 this in the direction of a destructive workflow instead. 01:15.020 --> 01:17.820 And the answer to that is that there is room for both. 01:18.600 --> 01:23.380 Being able to customize a non-destructive workflow is at the heart of what geometry 01:23.381 --> 01:25.769 nodes have been created for, and now this 01:25.770 --> 01:28.180 is brought to destructive workflows as well. 01:28.181 --> 01:31.640 So how does one create one of these node tools now? 01:32.260 --> 01:35.900 The important thing you need to know to get started is that the geometry nodes 01:35.901 --> 01:39.720 editor now has a mode setting that can be switched to tools. 01:40.100 --> 01:42.000 By default, this is set to modifier. 01:42.580 --> 01:46.400 Here, creating a new tool is as easy as clicking on the new button. 01:46.760 --> 01:49.768 That creates a new node tree, just as you are used 01:49.769 --> 01:52.601 to from creating a new modifier in geometry nodes. 01:53.040 --> 01:57.860 The main difference between a modifier and a tool node tree is how it can be used. 01:58.280 --> 02:02.760 A modifier node tree is run again and again procedurally whenever something 02:02.761 --> 02:06.040 about the geometry changes as part of the modifier stack. 02:06.500 --> 02:09.453 A tool node tree is run once from the menu and 02:09.454 --> 02:12.981 applied immediately as you are editing the geometry. 02:13.080 --> 02:15.204 This also means that Blender needs to know 02:15.205 --> 02:17.320 which is which when you create a new node tree. 02:17.580 --> 02:21.580 You can specify the type of the node tree here in the node group settings. 02:21.581 --> 02:24.774 Usually, these will be set automatically as you 02:24.775 --> 02:27.900 create the node tree depending on the editing context. 02:28.520 --> 02:31.022 At the top bar of the node editor, you can 02:31.023 --> 02:33.981 specify in what context the tool should show up. 02:34.340 --> 02:37.470 So the type of geometry and the editing mode, 02:37.471 --> 02:40.921 like for example mesh edit mode or sculpt mode. 02:41.300 --> 02:43.985 This will also be set automatically when you 02:43.986 --> 02:46.720 create the new tool node tree in a certain context. 02:46.721 --> 02:51.980 Then you can see that in the right context, there is a new menu entry that is 02:51.981 --> 02:55.400 just characterized by this unassigned icon here. 02:55.940 --> 03:00.300 This is where new tools go before they are categorized into a menu. 03:00.780 --> 03:02.560 We'll go over how that works later. 03:03.240 --> 03:06.886 But now you can already see how the tool that we just created 03:06.887 --> 03:10.120 shows up in the menu entries next to the built-in tools. 03:10.580 --> 03:14.576 So any operation that you do in this tool node tree will be 03:14.577 --> 03:18.260 executed and applied immediately any time you run the tool. 03:18.740 --> 03:20.140 All from within the viewport. 03:20.360 --> 03:23.160 Just like the regular built-in editing tools in Blender. 03:23.700 --> 03:27.480 Let's build a simple little example tool so I can show you how this works. 03:28.100 --> 03:31.620 We will make a small tool to turn selected edge loops 03:31.621 --> 03:34.860 into dimensional tubes or pipes in mesh edit mode. 03:35.380 --> 03:39.800 The file with this example is one of the setups provided by Tim Greenberg aka 03:39.801 --> 03:42.280 Passivstar on the Blender demo files website. 03:42.800 --> 03:47.520 The best way to create tubes or pipes like this in geometry nodes is to use curves. 03:48.360 --> 03:53.960 So let's add in one node to convert the existing edges into curves and then 03:53.961 --> 03:57.260 another node to convert those curves back into a mesh. 03:59.020 --> 04:01.736 We just need to add another curve circle node 04:01.737 --> 04:04.660 to define the profile for the meshing process. 04:04.680 --> 04:08.720 And then we can already see the initial version of the tool in action. 04:09.800 --> 04:12.481 You can see how all the edges of our mesh are 04:12.501 --> 04:15.360 turned into these tubes now, just like a wireframe. 04:16.260 --> 04:18.080 There's one thing I want to point out here. 04:18.720 --> 04:22.980 You need to make sure that the type of geometry that is going to the output of 04:22.981 --> 04:26.960 the tool node tree is the same type that you do the editing for. 04:27.640 --> 04:33.040 With modifiers you can procedurally create any type of geometry, but now with tools 04:33.041 --> 04:37.220 it needs to be written directly into the data that you are editing. 04:37.600 --> 04:39.020 So it needs to be compatible. 04:39.540 --> 04:43.761 That means without the conversion to mesh, you are left without 04:43.762 --> 04:47.500 data as there cannot be any curve data inside of the mesh. 04:48.460 --> 04:51.360 The same is true for instances, volumes, etc. 04:51.880 --> 04:53.560 Now let's move on with the example. 04:54.320 --> 04:56.547 The next thing I want to do is to make this 04:56.548 --> 04:59.601 use the actual selection from mesh edit mode. 04:59.820 --> 05:03.186 For this kind of context-based data, there are a 05:03.187 --> 05:06.980 few new nodes that are exclusive to tool node trees. 05:07.660 --> 05:11.340 Since we are applying the operation immediately when the tool is used, 05:11.780 --> 05:15.580 we don't need the information that we base it on to be persistent. 05:16.420 --> 05:19.440 We don't need the selection to be kept around for later. 05:20.320 --> 05:25.540 So for tools, we can have access to additional context information that we can 05:25.541 --> 05:29.600 access with special input nodes, like the selection, phase sets, 05:29.800 --> 05:30.920 and the 3D cursor. 05:31.460 --> 05:34.280 For now, we just use the selection input node. 05:35.000 --> 05:39.480 Now the actual selection from edit mode is used the next time we run that tool. 05:39.900 --> 05:44.560 Keep in mind that this node cannot be used in the modifier node tree, since the 05:44.561 --> 05:48.002 selection is just a temporary attribute for the editing 05:48.003 --> 05:51.720 user interface and is not available in a modifier context. 05:52.500 --> 05:55.720 So now the tool is respecting the selection that we have 05:55.721 --> 05:58.220 set, but it is still not quite doing what it should. 05:59.100 --> 06:01.793 Instead of adding the generated geometry to the 06:01.794 --> 06:04.641 existing one, it is completely replacing it. 06:05.140 --> 06:10.180 So let's use a join geometry node to join it together with the input geometry. 06:11.940 --> 06:12.940 And there we go. 06:13.500 --> 06:16.160 This means that the core functionality is there. 06:16.680 --> 06:20.520 But I want to expose some additional control to this node setup somehow. 06:21.000 --> 06:24.320 The way that you can expose parameters as settings 06:24.321 --> 06:27.200 for tools is the same as for modifier node trees. 06:27.660 --> 06:29.979 You can just create node group inputs to 06:29.980 --> 06:32.460 make any setting accessible from the outside. 06:32.580 --> 06:34.796 For modifiers, these settings just show up 06:34.797 --> 06:38.241 in the user interface of the modifier panel. 06:38.300 --> 06:41.700 But this doesn't exist for tools that are directly applied. 06:42.080 --> 06:46.720 So for tools, you can find these in the operator panel that you get in the bottom 06:46.721 --> 06:50.340 left of the viewport or by hitting F9 after running the tool. 06:50.960 --> 06:55.580 Here you can change the settings that you exposed from the node tree after running 06:55.581 --> 06:59.800 it, and any change will run it again with the adjusted settings. 06:59.801 --> 07:03.661 So let's expose some of the parameters that we have available 07:03.662 --> 07:06.520 on the node tree to make this tool a bit more flexible. 07:09.000 --> 07:09.600 Okay, great. 07:09.780 --> 07:11.863 There's one last thing that I want this tool 07:11.864 --> 07:14.541 to do in order to make it more convenient. 07:14.880 --> 07:20.500 A useful aspect of mesh editing tools that create new geometry is that the operation 07:20.501 --> 07:26.100 also clears the previous selection and selects the newly generated geometry instead. 07:26.101 --> 07:29.392 This allows you to immediately work on the new 07:29.393 --> 07:32.320 geometry without having to select it yourself. 07:32.760 --> 07:36.231 So for setting the selection, there is also a new node 07:36.232 --> 07:39.960 for tools that allows this, called the set selection node. 07:40.460 --> 07:43.289 We can simply insert this at the end of our 07:43.290 --> 07:46.601 operation and set the selection to what we need. 07:46.720 --> 07:51.980 So let's set it to false for the existing and to true for the new geometry. 07:51.981 --> 07:54.750 Now after running the tool, you have a 07:54.751 --> 07:57.820 selection that is isolated to the new geometry. 07:58.260 --> 08:02.440 That makes it a lot easier to use this tool in your workflow as now you can 08:02.441 --> 08:06.640 operate on the newly created geometry immediately after using the tool. 08:07.140 --> 08:09.900 And that is already our simple tool finished. 08:10.420 --> 08:14.460 And now to make this tool available outside of this specific file, 08:14.780 --> 08:19.120 you have to turn it into an asset that is accessible as part of a library. 08:19.121 --> 08:24.480 That works simply by marking the node tree as an asset with right click and making 08:24.481 --> 08:27.963 sure that the file that contains it is part of a library 08:27.964 --> 08:30.620 that you have specified in your user preferences. 08:31.080 --> 08:34.340 By default, the asset is not assigned to any catalog. 08:35.020 --> 08:39.440 So it shows up under the unassigned catalog in your asset library. 08:39.980 --> 08:44.460 This is also what makes it show up in the unassigned menu in the viewport. 08:44.940 --> 08:48.774 Using the catalog structure of your asset library, you 08:48.775 --> 08:52.260 can specify exactly in what menu the tool will show up. 08:52.400 --> 08:57.920 This way, by recreating the existing menu structure, you can also fit them into one 08:57.921 --> 09:00.260 of the menus that are in Blender by default. 09:00.780 --> 09:04.229 This tool, for example, we can fit into the 09:04.230 --> 09:07.560 edge menu simply by creating the edge catalog. 09:07.940 --> 09:14.321 And now it shows up together with the other edge operations whenever you press Ctrl E. 09:14.560 --> 09:17.920 Of course, this can also be assigned with your own shortcuts. 09:17.940 --> 09:22.740 And that's already everything you need to know about node tools in Blender 4.0. 09:23.380 --> 09:27.080 But to put it into perspective, what this addition to Blender means, 09:27.540 --> 09:29.936 I want to talk briefly about what kind of things 09:29.937 --> 09:32.941 are planned to add to the system in the future. 09:33.080 --> 09:36.600 Some of the things that are planned to be possible using the node tool system 09:36.601 --> 09:41.740 include the addition of more of the mentioned information from the context, 09:42.100 --> 09:47.920 like the mask from sculpt mode, the active attribute, or the view angle, for example. 09:47.940 --> 09:54.440 Also, custom gizmos to specify the input visually in the viewport, modal operators 09:54.441 --> 09:59.480 to give an interactive input before confirming, and other properties that will 09:59.481 --> 10:04.400 give more value to the fact that these tools can be run as part of a destructive 10:04.401 --> 10:06.980 workflow rather than in a procedural setting. 10:07.860 --> 10:12.980 After all, there is great value in combining the vast and growing procedural 10:12.981 --> 10:16.232 capabilities of geometry nodes with a strong, 10:16.233 --> 10:18.921 customizable toolset for a destructive workflow. 10:19.620 --> 10:24.300 So, once again, this is only the first step in an effort to bring all of the 10:24.301 --> 10:29.420 capabilities of the geometry node system to the ability of users to create custom 10:29.421 --> 10:34.440 tools for their specific workflow without the need of writing code in a way that 10:34.441 --> 10:37.440 interrogates into their workflow on a fundamental level. 10:38.080 --> 10:40.925 I hope this overview video gave you a good start into building 10:40.926 --> 10:44.500 your own tools with Blender 4.0, and I'll see you next time.