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Geometry node is not Houdini (yet) though. The main reason people use Houdini is it's easy to transfer data between modeling (SOP) and physical simulation (DOP)

Geometry node is not Houdini (yet) though. The main reason people use Houdini is it's easy to transfer data between modeling (SOP) and physical simulation (DOP) contexts. And they're working on integrating rigging/animation too. Geometry node is quite a separate thing from what Blender already has. Last time I checked one couldn't even create vertex groups in geometry node, and there was no way to create an armature there either. (Not sure if it changed since I checked though)

Joel_Mckay 1y ago
Indeed, Geometry nodes is new, and I have also found documentation on many operations sparse. That being said, it has proven itself very capable. The mini labs on Entagma's channel were very helpful for parametric surface operations =3 https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos
2944015603 1y ago
I think you should've be able to access vertex groups from the initial version of geometry nodes. Certainly, at this point, you can dynamically access (and set) arbitrary vertex groups, including loading the names of the vertex groups you want to access from a csv file, or otherwise synthesizing the names using string operations.
- Joel_Mckay 1y ago
  Indeed, but it is non-obvious how to handle it... I found the Entagma lab videos very helpful in understanding how to parse geometry with nodes. It is not obvious (unless you already get CLI pipes), but so worth it when things finally work... =3
- deadfoxygrandpa 1y ago
  its actually funny, the first version of geometry nodes was actually more powerful in that way. it didnt provide many built in nodes, but the nodes it did provide were arbitrary property setting/getting. the current and newer geometry nodes system based on "fields" is way easier to actually work with but they don't give you raw access to properties. so like in the first version of geometry nodes you could write custom mesh normals just by setting the "normal" attribute with some vectors, but then from blender 3.0 to 4.4 you could no longer set custom normals in geometry nodes and they only added a set normals node in 4.5

Joel_Mckay 1y ago

Indeed, Geometry nodes is new, and I have also found documentation on many operations sparse. That being said, it has proven itself very capable. The mini labs on Entagma's channel were very helpful for parametric surface operations =3 https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos

2944015603 1y ago

I think you should've be able to access vertex groups from the initial version of geometry nodes. Certainly, at this point, you can dynamically access (and set) arbitrary vertex groups, including loading the names of the vertex groups you want to access from a csv file, or otherwise synthesizing the names using string operations.

Joel_Mckay 1y ago
Indeed, but it is non-obvious how to handle it... I found the Entagma lab videos very helpful in understanding how to parse geometry with nodes. It is not obvious (unless you already get CLI pipes), but so worth it when things finally work... =3
deadfoxygrandpa 1y ago
its actually funny, the first version of geometry nodes was actually more powerful in that way. it didnt provide many built in nodes, but the nodes it did provide were arbitrary property setting/getting. the current and newer geometry nodes system based on "fields" is way easier to actually work with but they don't give you raw access to properties. so like in the first version of geometry nodes you could write custom mesh normals just by setting the "normal" attribute with some vectors, but then from blender 3.0 to 4.4 you could no longer set custom normals in geometry nodes and they only added a set normals node in 4.5