The minimum vocabulary to open Geometry Nodes, wire a graph, scatter instances, and assign your first Principled material — the foundation before Atlas Logos scenes.
Every procedural workflow starts here. Without the modifier you have no node tree; without the spreadsheet you cannot verify attributes or debug scatter counts.
Open the atlas — attach the modifier, read attribute columns like a lab notebook.
Socket colors and types prevent broken graphs. Learn geometry vs field vs attribute before mixing city scatter with material hooks.
Learn the color-coded wiring language before building any procedural graph.
Primitives are atomic shapes — cubes for blocks, spheres for bodies, cylinders for columns. Every Atlas building block starts as a primitive transform chain.
Atomic building blocks for snowman body parts and simple blockouts.
Move, rotate, and scale inside the node tree without leaving procedural mode — essential for stacking facades and placing route markers.
Position primitives into place without leaving the node tree.
Multiple branches become one output. Join body, scatter, and path geometry before assigning materials or exporting to Atlas scenes.
Merge body, hat, and accessories into one object for shading.
Geometry nodes assign materials to faces and regions — the bridge from procedural mesh to Principled BSDF slots on the atlas map.
Hook mesh regions to Principled BSDF slots from the geometry side.
Fields are deferred per-element logic — the grammar behind variation, selection, and placement. Master this before any city or route generator.
The grammar of procedural control — drives placement, rotation, and attribute logic across the atlas.
Populate scenes with buildings, trees, and markers without duplicating mesh data — the core technique for biblical city blocks and landscape scatter.
Scatter buildings, trees, and markers without duplicating mesh data.
Controlled variation — stagger heights, rotate facades, and seed reproducible Atlas Logos layouts without hand-placing every element.
Controlled chaos — variation without losing reproducible Atlas Logos seeds.
Base Color is the first material slot every surface needs — stone, plaster, desert sand, and temple gold all start here before roughness and emission.
Stone, plaster, desert sand, and temple gold tones start here in the Principled workflow.