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nodes data

Blossom Merz edited this page Oct 8, 2026 · 36 revisions

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Node Library

   Data nodes

The Data category of the node palette.

Add these from Data in the node menu, which opens into five groups. Each links to its own page.

  Measure

Numbers pulled out of geometry you have already drawn. Length, distance, area, angle, radius and the box around a shape all answer one kind of question: how big is this?

  Length - the total length of the input curves: a segment, an arc, or a whole contour's perimeter (line + arc pieces summed).

  Distance - the straight-line distance between two points, as a number; measure a span instead of deriving it (a hexagon's second-vertex-over, say).

  Area - the total enclosed area of the input regions as a number (holes subtracted, arcs exact); the area twin of Length.

  Angle - the interior angle at a vertex between two arms (Vertex->A, Vertex->B), in degrees 0-180; same units as Rotate's Angle.

  Radius - the radius of a circle or arc (exact), or a segment's length, pulled out as a number.

  Bounding Box - the axis-aligned box around the whole input: the rectangle as a curve, its four edges as segments, its center as a point, and its width and height as numbers.

  Numbers

Arithmetic and decisions. These never touch geometry. Numbers go in, and a number or a true or false comes back, ready to drive something downstream.

  Math - combine two numbers (Add / Subtract / Multiply / Divide) from an inline pulldown; guards divide-by-zero and non-finite results.

  Vector Math - arithmetic on vectors given as segments: Add, Subtract, Scale, Normalize, Dot and Cross, with the result as a segment from Base plus its tip and a number.

  Compare - ask a question about a number, true or false out; the question half of a filter.

  Switch - route one of two inputs to the output; the toggle off takes A, on takes B.

  Series - a list of evenly-stepped numbers (Count, Start, Step); the index sequence index-driven patterns map over.

  Lists

Handling several items at once. A node graph carries collections rather than single shapes, and these build them, count them, reorder them and pull one back out.

  Collect - gather inputs into one list; each item stays separate (grows a socket as you connect).

Flatten - dissolve groups so their parts become items of their own; Levels sets how many levels deep, 0 meaning all of them.

  Item at Index - pull one item out of a list by its position (0-based; negative counts from the end).

  List Length - how many items a list/collection holds (each region, curve, point, or ray is one item, the same split Item at Index uses); feed it into a Random Max or an Array count.

  Reverse - reverse the order of the items in a list.

  Shift - rotate the list order by Amount, wrapping (positive moves front items to the back).

  Sort - order items by Area, X, Y, Radius, or Angle; Descending flips it.

  Select Range - keep a contiguous run of items (Start to Start+Count); the rest go to Unselected.

  Select

Picking a subset out of what is flowing through. Each keeps some items and passes the rest on separately, so nothing is discarded and both halves stay available.

  Separate by Type - split geometry into its loose points, open curves, and closed regions.

  Select by Area - keep or reject closed regions by area (Min/Max; Max 0 = no upper bound); points and open curves pass through to Selected.

  Select Every Nth - keep every Nth item and reject the rest (Every sets the step, Offset the phase); both outputs live.

  Select by Pattern - keep items by a text mask (0/1 or T/F) or an index list, wired from a Text node; the rest go to Unselected.

  Select Alternating - sort the faces of a pattern so no two that touch are alike; a counterchange where one exists, three or four classes where it cannot.

  Select by Condition - split geometry into Selected and Unselected on a true/false.

  Group by Shape - sort regions into groups of the same shape, each group a list branch (rarest first); Mirror/Angle control what counts as "same".

  Clean up

Repairs for geometry that is correct and still a mess. Duplicated shapes, doubled vertices and the seams left behind by tiling all get resolved here.

  Dedupe - remove functionally-identical duplicate shapes (same shape, same place, within a tolerance), keeping the first; e.g.

  Weld Vertices - merge coincident vertices within each contour and drop the zero-length edges they leave (Tolerance sets how close); the fix for fillets failing on duplicated points.

  Weld Seams - dissolve the seams where tiles meet and fuse the regions on either side into one.

  Mark as Seam - flag the given edges (e.g. from Select Outer Edges) as seams so Weld can dissolve tile/copy boundaries.

  Cleanup - remove needle/sliver artifacts: weld coincident vertices, remove spikes (the whiskers a near-tangent boolean clip leaves), and drop contours below a minimum area.

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