Repository navigation
auto array
< Previous: Auto Mirror | Next: Realize >
Auto Array (library cluster)Geometry in, a flush grid of copies out - the spacing comes from the geometry's own width and height.
Category: Cluster | Add menu: Cluster > Library > Auto Array, or search for Library: Auto Array
Drop in a motif, say how many copies you want across and up, and Auto Array tiles it edge to edge. The step in each direction is the motif's own extent - its bounding box width for X and height for Y - so the copies always sit flush, with no spacing to measure and nothing to retune when the motif changes. Resize the motif and the grid re-spaces itself.
- Geometry (any): the motif to repeat. Everything wired in is treated as one shape.
- Count X (number): how many copies across. Defaults to 3.
- Count Y (number): how many copies up. Defaults to 3.
- Block (any): all the copies as a single group. Copies are not welded together; each keeps its own outline.
Double-click the cluster to see it: a Bounding Box node measures the input, and its Width and Height are wired straight into an Array node's X and Y spacing, with your two counts wired to its counts. That is the whole trick - a plain Array whose spacing is supplied by the geometry instead of typed in.
Tip
When you want a gap, or an overlap Auto Array is deliberately flush. For breathing room between copies, double-click in and put a Math node between Width and the spacing (Width + 2, say), or just use Array directly with your own spacing.
< Previous: Auto Mirror | Next: Realize >
- Auto Mirror - the companion cluster: a 2 x 2 mirrored block flush at the motif's edges
- Bounding Box - the node that supplies the spacing
- Array - the node it wraps
- The 17 wallpaper groups - repeat with a symmetry group rather than a plain grid