Deform
Twist, bend, taper, stretch, or bone-skin geometry.
What it does
Deform reshapes geometry or a volume with a small set of classic tools. Bend wraps it around an arc, Twist rotates progressively along an axis, Taper and Stretch scale it along that axis, and Slant shears it. Two further modes work differently: Bones drives the shape with a posed skeleton (bone skinning), and Shrink Wrap projects it onto the surface of another mesh.
Every mode works along a chosen Axis and pivots around an Origin offset from the shape's own bounds. Clamp, with a Limit Min/Max range, confines the deformation to part of the shape. A Strength field wired in fades the deformation in and out spatially, point by point.
When to use it
Bending a strip into an arc, or curling an object around a point.
Twisting, tapering or stretching geometry along one axis.
A shape driven by a rig: connect a posed skeleton into Skeleton and switch to Bones.
Wrapping or conforming one shape to the surface of another: switch to Shrink Wrap and connect a target mesh.
Deforming part of a shape only: turn on Clamp and set the Limit Min/Max range.
| Parameter | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
source | OneOf([Collection, FieldOf(Volume)]) | — |
skeleton | CollectionOf(Points) | — |
target | GpuGeometry | — |
strength | Field | — |
mode | String | "Bend" |
angle | Number | 0 |
factor | Number | 0 |
axis | String | "X" |
origin | Vec3 | (0, 0, 0) |
clamp | Boolean | false |
limit_min | Number | 0 |
limit_max | Number | 1 |
envelope_radius | Number | 2 |
max_influences | Number | 4 |
falloff | String | "Smooth" |
surface_project_radius | Number | 100 |
shrink_wrap_influence | Number | 1 |
shrink_wrap_offset | Number | 0 |
Gotchas
Bend, Twist, Taper, Stretch and Slant work on both geometry and volumes. Bones (skeleton skinning) and Shrink Wrap (surface projection) are geometry-only, so switching to either with a volume connected has nothing to do.
The Skeleton input expects a posed skeleton with world and rest matrices, the output of a pose or rig node, not a plain point cloud.
Shrink Wrap does nothing until a target mesh is connected. With Target unconnected the shape passes through unchanged.
Envelope Radius and Falloff matter in Bones mode only. Envelope Radius sets how far each bone's influence reaches, as a multiple of its own length, and Falloff shapes how that influence fades: Smooth is the softest, Sharp the tightest.
Worked example
Add a Deform node and connect your shape or image into Source.
Leave Mode on Bend and raise Angle to curl the shape around an arc.
Switch Axis to change which direction the bend runs.
Turn on Clamp and narrow Limit Min/Max to confine the bend to part of the shape.
To rig-drive it instead, connect a posed skeleton into Skeleton and switch Mode to Bones.