2D Projection system in geometry nodes - Blender project

CAD export format, prints, portals, orthogonal axonometry, all stuff you can find with this tutorial. All made with Geometry Nodes in Blender version 4.4.1.

The Setup

3 things to do to use the whole system:

1. Use the 2D Projection System geometry nodes modifier to manage the main parameters of the entire system (parameters described below) to project your collection of meshes in an orthogonal projection 2d.
2. Create one or multiple collections as groups of visual styles adding as many simple mesh you want in each collection and for each mesh add the Style 2D Projection geometry nodes modifier to manage the color and thickness of each style (as the layer of a CAD software)
3. Fill the Sources collection with the meshes you want to project and for each mesh, if you want, add at the end of the stack modifiers the Assign Style geometry nodes modifier to choose what style index you want to select from the collection of visual styles set in the main 2D Projection System geometry nodes modifier.

Parameters of the 2D Projection System

With this workflow you'll be able to manage these parameters:

• Sources: Collection of meshes you want to project on the X/Y plane
• Type: Type of result to see, pure lines (stylized or not), portals or both.
• Views: View to see in the result, Right, Front, Top or All the views together.
• Views space: Gap between the views of the orthogonal projection.
• Reset origin: This prevents the 2d projection from following the sources if moved. In this way the 2d projection would be moved to the global origin point of the 2D projection system object.
• Origin offset (x, y, and z) : These parameters allow you to shift the entire 2d projection result in the 3d space.
• Lines style
  • Enable: This allows you to enable to visualization of the 2d projection lines as physical profile meshes with colors and thickness (useful for renderings and prints).
  • Styles: The selected collection of styles to apply to the lines converted in meshes.
    If you don't add any Assign style modifier in the stack of your sources meshes the index of the style will always be 0 so the first element of the collection of styles selected in this parameter.
  • Thickness %: This allows you to increase or decrease all the specified thickness of the collection styles selected in the Styles parameter, proportionally.
  • Thickness override: This enable the overrides of all the thickness of the curves converted in meshes.
  • Thickness: Value to be used to overrides all the thickness of the curves converted in meshes.
  • Color override: This enable the overrides of all the colors of the curves converted in meshes.
  • Color: Color to be used to overrides all the colors of the curves converted in meshes.
• Background
  • Enable: This allows you to see a background under the stylized 2d projection lines (useful for renderings and prints)
  • Color: the color of the background.
  • Margin: This allows you to have a bigger background leaving a margin all around the 2d projection lines.
• Portals
  • Offset Right: This parameter allows you to use the cut section feature going inside the meshes of the Sources collection to see through it from the right view.
  • Offset Front: The same of the Offset Right parameter but from the front view.
  • Offset Top: The same of the Offset Right parameter but from the top view.

Import in project or use the asset

To use my file you can

• Open your project or create a new file, go to the File->Append... menu, select this file then Collections and then double select on the 2D Projection System or
• Add this file in the Asset browser paths of Blender and in your project drag the collection in your system deselecting the Instance collection check in the command panel.
• Open my file and start to append or link your collections or meshes in the Sources collection to project them.

Royalty Free License

This license grants you, the purchaser, the ability to make use of the purchased product for personal, educational, and or commercial purposes as long as those purposes do not violate any of the following:

• You may not resell, redistribute, or repackage the purchased product for free or commercially without explicit permission from the original creator,
• You may not use the purchased product in a logo, watermark, or trademark of any kind with the exception of: shader, material, and texture products are exempt as the product is used in a secondary manner.