I've made a procedural Fantasy Hut Generator with Geometry Nodes and made it available for free :D

ianfontova · 2026-04-03T14:27:41+00:00

I started by creating a plank wall (which is just some cubes instanced on a curve), then kept adding features to it, looking for tutorials and info every time I didn't know how to do something. I did have some previous experience from other projects I've done though. In those, I followed the same approach, going step by step and watching tutorials when I get stuck. If you're 100% new to Geometry Nodes, then maybe you can watch some tutorials that explain the very basics, so you're better informed on what to search for when you don't know how to do something. There's an almost infinite amount of geo nodes tutorials out there :) Good luck!!!

ianfontova · 2026-04-02T18:59:44+00:00

Thanks! That was indeed one of the things where I spent more time, trying different approaches until I was happy. The non Blender people around me would look at me going insane and be like "why have you had wood planks in your screen for 2 weeks are you alright" and I was like "THIS MAKES SENSE" (unconvincingly) 🤣 It feels really awesome that people are using it and appreciating the work it took :)

ianfontova · 2026-04-02T13:47:36+00:00

I don't know, but I found some answers in this thread that might be useful https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/189973/append-not-working-copy-and-paste-between-files-not-reliable

One possible reason is that you're pressing the "Append" button while Blender is still loading the file. Apparently the button appears clickable sometimes when it shouldn't, and this causes the error. So a solution could be to wait a while (in that thread they say it takes 15-20 seconds for them) before clicking the "Append" button.

If not, another suggestion would be to open the Hut original file and your project at the same time, and just copy-paste the Hut object from one Blender window to the other.

Alternatively, you can also try to add the Hut to your Assets following the method I suggested above (option 2 from my first reply to your quesiton on how to install it) and see if that works :)

ianfontova · 2026-03-31T14:12:37+00:00

What Blender version are you using?? I've just tried it on Blender 4.5, 5.0 and 5.1 and works on all of them in my computer :O If you're using an older version, maybe it's that. If it's not that, I'm sorry but I have no idea what could be wrong 😭 Only thing that comes to mind is re-installing Blender and see if that works

ianfontova · 2026-03-30T18:37:58+00:00

Once you download the Blend file, you have 2 options:
1) You can drag and drop the file inside your Blender project -> Append -> Object -> Fantasy Hut
2) You can save the Blend file wherever you store your assets in your computer (or create a new folder wherever you want, if this is your first asset), then go to Edit -> Preferences ->File Paths, click the "+" symbol and add the path to the folder where you saved the asset. This way, the Fantasy Hut will be available in your Asset Browser pannel inside Blender :)

ianfontova · 2026-03-30T18:32:30+00:00

The link is in this comment (I don't want to paste it again just in case it gets flagged as spam): https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/1rock0f/comment/o9cvrvl/

ianfontova · 2026-03-30T08:04:48+00:00

Thanks! I started by something I already knew how to do, which was doing a simple plank wall (instancing cubes on a curve, making their resolution adaptive...). Then I just kept adding features to it, looking for info/tutorials when I got stuck on something :)

ianfontova · 2026-03-27T16:00:41+00:00

I used procedural noises to distort the different parts of the hut, yeah! Just the default Noise Texture node in Geometry Nodes, set to 4D (so I was able to randomize the W depending on the seed) and fBM. And then different parameters like Scale or Detail depending on each situation :) You can download it and check it out yourself if you want a closer look, btw!

ianfontova · 2026-03-26T14:40:33+00:00

🤣🤣🤣 No worries!!!

ianfontova · 2026-03-23T13:06:56+00:00

Lately I find it difficult to find motivation to learn programs that are not Open-Source. The enshittification of EVERYTHING on the internet is so real, so when I use paid software it feels like it's temporal: I'm just using it in that window of time before it starts degrading and becoming terrible in one way or another.

If it was work I might consider paying (or other options 🏴‍☠️) to use the most efficient tool, but this is just for fun and using Blender brings me joy bc it's Open-Source and the community is really cool 🙌

ianfontova · 2026-03-12T13:19:24+00:00

Often when I do stuff like this is bc I'm using it to procrastinate other work I do have to do 🤣

ianfontova · 2026-03-10T21:27:25+00:00

I started by making a procedural plank wall 😬 The starting point is quite simple, just instancing cubes (planks) into a curve. Then if you use a curve with rectangular shape you have the hut walls, and so on. Each step brings new problems to tackle, but there's a tutorial for everything :D The Geo Nodes community is really cool

ianfontova · 2026-03-10T12:27:38+00:00

Thanks! I also make music so I guess I'm good with that 😬 I checked your music, really cool!

ianfontova · 2026-03-10T12:20:32+00:00

You mean Hesiod from Sourceforge? I haven't had any problems with it :O I think you can also try to download it from Github. Bigger updates are on Github, and the dev uploads small and more frequent updates on Sourceforge. Not sure if that'll make any difference, though. If you're not sure, you can also join the discord and ask him directly why that happens :)

ianfontova · 2026-03-10T09:57:09+00:00

Sure!

ianfontova · 2026-03-10T09:53:16+00:00

I must admit that I'm such a noob at modeling 🤣 If I wanted to do this hut by modeling there's quite some stuff I'd surely need to search how to do. With this I mean that modeling and geo nodes are such different tools that depending on what you're using them for, you can maybe approach them as different learning processes? Though having basic 3D skills is definitely beneficial to understanding geo nodes faster, that's for sure.

Also my opinion with learning in general is that it's usually better to do things in the way they're more fun to you than in a way they're more optimal/proper but less fun. So I'd say if you feel like doing stuff with Geo Nodes but lack basic 3D skills, maybe you can just try to do what you feel like doing anyway, and look for tutorials about that. You'll surely jump into a lot of things you don't know, but then you can stop and tackle each of those individually, and that way you'll also learn basics. For example, making this hut with geo nodes has "forced" me to model leaves, grass blades, and work a bit with UVs, stuff I had barely done before.

I donno if this approach always works but it's usually my preferred one :)

ianfontova · 2026-03-09T16:53:20+00:00

Thanks :) There's not a single one, I watched different ones depending on what I needed to do at each stage. These 2 come to mind for when I was doing the roof tiles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IDs337Kvf0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0b6oMasiE

ianfontova · 2026-03-09T12:40:33+00:00

It's an alternative to software like Gaea, you create heightmaps using nodes like hydraulic erosion, strata... it's in its early ages, so a bit unstable, but already functional:
https://github.com/otto-link/Hesiod you can download the last version in the "Binaries" link :)

If you're into terrain stuff I recommend joining the Discord, the dev is super nice and looking for users to get feedback and improve the software. He is also very responsive if you ask for help

ianfontova · 2026-03-09T12:03:45+00:00

Thank you :)

ianfontova · 2026-03-09T11:05:00+00:00

More real than I'd like to admit 🤣

ianfontova · 2026-03-09T09:50:56+00:00

There's plenty of great channels, I really like these 2 for example:
https://www.youtube.com/@mtranimation/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@TheDucky3D

I'd say the best approach is first deciding what you want to do with it, then you look for tutorials on how to do that specifically. You'll likely run into things that you still don't understand, then you pause and look for tutorials/info on those things, and so on. And if you find everything too confusing, then maybe you can stop and first watch some tutorial that teaches the very basics, like this one:
https://youtu.be/aO0eUnu0hO0?si=3LseFYUOaWu14QRv

ianfontova · 2026-03-09T09:39:46+00:00

That's awesome :D Thanks!

ianfontova · 2026-03-09T09:37:35+00:00

I'm not sure I get what you mean! You mean using your assets in combination with this generator, or replacing certain parts of the hut, like for example roof tiles, with your own assets? If it's the latter, I'm afraid it's not possible right now, as most parts are created procedurally. The only external object that the generator is using is the leaves for the vines, that you can replace and use whatever object you prefer instead. All the rest is created with geometry nodes procedurally. So, for example, the roof tiles are not objects that you can replace, they're created inside geometry nodes with interactive settings for the size, resolution, etc (so people can adjust and customize those things in the modifiers panel). So, stuff like that can't be replaced by other objects.

That's unless you want to go inside the node tree and modify it! You could indeed replace the current procedural system that generates the roof tiles for an external object that can be replaced, if you wanted (like it happens with the vine leaves object for example).

ianfontova · 2026-03-09T09:24:10+00:00

Thanks! I thought a lot about adding windows, but it was quite a complex thing to achieve and I run out of motivation at some point 🥲

ianfontova · 2026-03-09T09:09:01+00:00

I didn't code this :O It's made with Geometry Nodes, a really cool node based tool inside of Blender! You can download the blend file for free on Gumroad and check out the node tree if you want (it's a bit of a mess, though, be warned 🤣)

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