Distribute Architectural Elements with Blender Geometry Nodes

What will you learn in this guide?

This guide covers how to use the Instance on Points node in Blender Geometry Nodes to place geometry on points belonging to another geometry, and the basics of building a repeated array with Duplicate Elements. Facade sunshades, columns, lighting fixtures, and other architectural elements that repeat in a similar way are useful examples for understanding these methods. These are application scenarios; the source documentation does not provide a specific architectural project or a ready-made node tree.

The difference between the two methods matters: Instance on Points creates instances by referencing the same geometry rather than repeatedly duplicating it. Duplicate Elements, on the other hand, duplicates selected geometry elements. The copies it creates start out at the same location, so you need to give them different positions to create an array.

Requirements and scope

• Software: Blender and Geometry Nodes. The source pages are current documentation in Blender’s online manual; the guide does not specify a particular Blender version number.

• Account: The sources do not specify any account creation or sign-in requirements.

• Geometry: Instance on Points requires input geometry with a point domain. This can be a mesh, point cloud, or curve control points.

• Hardware and pricing: The source pages provide no information about hardware requirements or product pricing.

The steps below are based on the nodes’ functions. The connections and geometry required will vary depending on the architectural element in question; because the documentation does not provide a ready-made facade array recipe, this guide does not assume every connection in a specific node tree.

1. Place elements on points with Instance on Points

First, identify the point geometry you’ll work with and the geometry to use as an instance. For example, you might treat the points where sunshades will be placed on a facade and a single sunshade model as separate inputs. The Points input of the Instance on Points node takes the geometry that determines where instances are placed; the Instance input takes the geometry to be placed at each point.

The points’ positions affect the transforms of the resulting instances. This makes point placement a key input that determines the final layout. According to the source documentation, the node works with mesh points, as well as point clouds and curve control points. When working with points from a curve, each control point can contribute to instance placement.

Use the Selection input to determine which points receive instances: points with a true value get an instance, while the others are skipped. Rotation sets each instance’s Euler rotation, while Scale determines its size. The source notes that the Rotation input can use the rotation output of nodes such as Distribute Points on Faces and Curve to Points; the Align Rotation to Vector Node can be used to derive a rotation from a direction vector.

In an architectural context, think of it this way: if the placement points are arranged along a facade, the same profile can be reused at every point. You can also control the elements’ rotation or scale through the inputs. How those inputs are calculated, however, depends on the project geometry and node tree.

2. Check instance options and data

Instance on Points uses references instead of repeatedly copying the underlying data when placing the same geometry many times in a scene. Blender’s documentation describes this as a fast way to add the same geometry many times. This approach is useful for managing repeated elements without having to generate real geometry from scratch at every point.

If you provide geometry that already contains instances to the Points input, nested instancing can occur: the node places new instances on points within those instances as well. In this case, the new instances are affected by the transforms of the parent instances, in addition to the Rotation and Scale inputs. If the placement looks unexpected, check whether the input geometry already contains instances.

If the Instance input contains multiple instances, the Pick Instances option lets you select one of them from the list for each point, rather than adding all the geometry at every point. The selection is determined by Instance Index; by default, it uses the point ID, or the index if no ID is available. Negative values or values exceeding the list’s bounds wrap around to the other end of the list. The documentation notes that this option is intended for use with the Collection Info Node.

3. Build an array with Duplicate Elements

Another way to create repeated elements is with the Duplicate Elements node. It can duplicate selected elements in the input a specified number of times. The Domain property determines the type of elements to duplicate: you can select points, mesh edges, faces, curve splines, or top-level instances. For example, faces duplicated on the Faces domain do not share edges with one another.

Amount is the input that determines how many times each element is duplicated. If the value for an element is zero, that element is not included in the output. An important limitation is that the duplicated elements are not moved; all copies start at the same point. So using Duplicate Elements alone will not create a spaced-out facade array.

Blender’s documentation explains that Duplicate Elements can be combined with the Geometry to Instance node to create a basic, efficient Array operation. In this setup, Duplicate Index can be used to move each resulting instance by a different amount. In short, Duplicate Elements creates the copies, while Duplicate Index provides a field that identifies each copy’s order; that order can be used to give copies different offset values. Since the source does not provide a specific movement formula or ready-made node connection diagram, those details are not prescribed here.

Common issues

• Copies overlap: Duplicate Elements creates elements at the same position initially. Don’t expect a spaced-out array without moving each copy by a different amount.

• Points are skipped: Values in the Selection input determine which points receive instances. Skipped points may be the result of those selection values.

• Rotations differ from what you expect: In addition to the Rotation and Scale inputs, Instance on Points can be affected by the transforms of parent instances when instances are nested.

• The wrong geometry domain is being duplicated: The Domain selection in Duplicate Elements determines which elements are processed, such as points, edges, faces, splines, or instances.

• Copies and instances are treated as the same thing: Instance on Points uses references. When needed, the Make Instances Real operator can create objects from instances produced by this node.

Where it fits in architectural and visualization workflows

These nodes let you try different ways of generating facade components, repeated furniture parts, and similar elements. Referencing geometry and placing it on points is a use case for Instance on Points; duplicating elements and using Duplicate Index to move copies by different amounts is a use case for an array based on Duplicate Elements. The right method depends on the input geometry and the desired result.

In offices where several people work on the same scene, it’s important to keep the node tree readable and select the correct geometry as input. However, the source documentation provides no performance measurements for specific hardware, version compatibility information, or licensing costs. Before adding this to a production pipeline, check how the node behaves in the Blender version you’re using, and assess requirements and costs against your project’s conditions.

Next steps

Start by setting up a small test scene with a single piece of instance geometry. When using Instance on Points, examine point placement, Selection values, and the Rotation and Scale inputs separately. Then try the Duplicate Elements approach, confirm that the copies initially overlap, and observe the result of using Duplicate Index to assign different movements to the copies.

If you need to use several different elements, consider the Pick Instances and Instance Index options together with the Collection Info Node. If you need to convert instances into real objects later, look into the Make Instances Real operator. In either case, checking the results directly in the scene makes it easier to identify issues caused by nested instances or an incorrect Domain selection.

Sources and license

This guide is based on the “Instance on Points Node” and “Duplicate Elements Node” pages in the Blender Manual. Both sources are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This guide adapts the information in the documentation into Turkish.