Paint Clones

Updated: 30 Jan 2026

Method #

This node gives the user the ability to paint cloned objects onto existing geometry in the viewport. Each Paint Clones node owns those clones.

Target surfaces #

By default you can ‘place’ new clones on to any geometry in the viewport, unless specific surface nodes are connected as inputs into the
‘Surface Nodes’ input on the node.

Placement of clones #

The following placement operations are provided to place new clones on to geometry surfaces:

• Placement

  This option allows you to Place new single clones on to surfaces, by first LMB clicking on a surface and click dragging that clone into place.

  You can configure which clone is selected to place by setting the ‘Spawn Mode’ property.
  The ‘Child Number’ option chooses a specific child node to place and will show a new clone hover geometry before placing if it is
  a geometry node (other clonable generative nodes such as Fields or procedurals are also clonable but will not show hover geometry).
  Random or iterative modes will not show the hover geometry.

  Switching the child to place in ‘Child Number’ mode can be set by changing the ‘Child’ property or using the Up and Down keys
  to cycle through them.

  You can scale and rotate new clones before placing on a surface by using scroll-wheel and SHIFT + scroll-wheel, just like viewport placement.
  You can randomise the rotation of new clones by using RMB.

  

• Painting

  This option allows you to Paint many clones at once in a number of ways dependent on the painting option and configuration set.
  In these painting methods, painting is initiated by first LMB clicking and click dragging to paint clones.

  In all painting modes, you can set the ‘Clone Separation’ property to set how far apart painted clones will place on a surface.

  You can either:

  • ‘Point’ paint clones across a surface giving the control like a pencil in a straight line over a surface.

    

  • ‘Brush’ paint clones across the area of a brush circle defined by its radius, much like spraying clones around a projected area.

    To change the brush radius either change the ‘Brush Radius’ property directly or use mouse scroll-wheel to change the radius in the viewport.
    To change how many clones are painted in a frame you can set the ‘Spread Flow’ property.
    To change at what frequency clones are painted you can set the ‘Spread Rate’ property.

    

Placement and Painting properties #

• You can place clones offset from a surface, by using the ‘Depth Bias Mode’, either in the direction of the surface normal or towards the camera,
  then setting the ‘Surface Offset’ property to set the offset in metres
• You can control how new clones are placed and scaled by changing the ‘Clone Overlap’ property
• The global scale of child nodes cloned can be set by setting the ‘Clone Scale’ property
• As with other cloners you have a number of spawn modes which will choose a child node to place on a surface in a specific way
• If not explicitly in ‘Edit’ mode, CTRL + LMB will select a placed clone and you can transform or place those clones after they have been placed on a surface

Erase Mode #

You can erase placed or painted clones by using the Erase Mode.
In Erase Mode you will have a circle with a set radius in the viewport which shows the area of the brush used to erase clones from a surface.
As with the ‘Brush’ mode of painting, you can use the mouse scroll-wheel to change the radius of the erasure brush in the viewport.
LMB clicking and dragging will erase clones under the projected brush area.
You can also erase picked clones by pressing the DELETE key.

Edit Mode #

You can edit placed or painted clones by using the Edit Mode.
In Edit mode you can select a clone by hovering it in the viewport and LMB clicking it to select it.
The default mode after picking the clone in the viewport is placement via the viewport placement tool, you can place,
uniform scale and heading rotate the clone in this mode.
You can also select the viewport translate, rotate and scale handles and transform a clones transform.

Viewport controls #

• LMB – place or paint clones
• CTRL + LMB – select a placed clone (you need the Paint Clones node selected before hand or CTRL + LMB twice),
  if not explictly in ‘Edit’ mode where only a LMB click is required to select
• ESCAPE - deselect a clone
• RMB – Random Rotate the child before placing on a surface
• SCROLLWHEEL – Scale the child before placing on a surface
• SHIFT + SCROLLWHEEL – Rotate the heading of the child before placing on a surface
• DELETE - Delete the selected clone
• SCROLLWHEEL – Change the radius of a Brush (painting or erase mode)
• UP / DOWN keys – In Child Number spawn mode, selects the child to place on a surface

Viewport Sidebar #

A viewport adjacent ‘Side toolbar’ is also provided for easy access to clone painting features.

Nodes that are to be cloned should be connected to the output of this node.

Any geometry node including 3D Objects, Primitives, Lights, Splines and Other Cloners, Clone Effectors may be connected, these nodes aren’t cloned but will act offset and transform all the clones within their area of effect.
Procedurals and Fields are also more examples of clonable systems that can be placed or painted.

Parameters

Inputs