Product Listing

Available in Chinese and English.Recommended Product Title

Procedural Hanging Lantern Array & Wind Simulator

Alternative title:

Animated Lantern Generator - Geometry Nodes for Blender 5.2

One-Line Summary

Create customizable hanging lantern strings, curve-based installations, animated wind motion, custom tassels, emitters, and per-part materials from one Geometry Nodes modifier.

Short Description

Build static or animated hanging-lantern arrangements directly in Blender. Generate vertical chains or suspend multiple lantern strings from a custom curve, then control shape, spacing, wind, tassels, emitters, materials, UVs, joint contact, and per-lantern wind strength from a single organized modifier.

Full Product Description

Procedural Hanging Lantern Array & Wind Simulator is a Blender 5.2 Geometry Nodes system for building detailed decorative lantern installations without manually modeling and positioning every lantern.

Use the standard layout for a vertical chain, or enable Follow Curve to distribute multiple hanging columns along a custom path. Columns controls the number of suspension points along that path, while Lantern Count controls the number of lanterns in each column. The result can remain static for art direction or use the included wind simulation for animated ropes, lantern motion, and tassel movement.

Two lantern styles and multiple tassel modes are included. Choose the built-in Type A or Type B tassel, or supply your own mesh. Custom tassels can use a named pin group, preserve source materials, and optionally mark a rigid upper section while the lower strands continue through the cloth-style point simulation.

The modifier exposes practical controls for:

• Vertical-chain and curve-following layouts
• Independent column count and lantern count
• Bottom, top, or center alignment references
• Lantern proportions, curvature, frame density, and frame pattern
• Stable random width and orientation by seed
• Wind direction, strength, gusts, damping, and tassel airflow
• Stronger wind toward the bottom of each lantern string
• Contact limits at the support openings between adjacent lanterns
• Type A, Type B, and custom tassels
• Light or emissive-mesh emitters that follow each lantern
• Materials, color, roughness, metallic response, texture strength, and UV transforms for nine separate part families

The included Type A tassel setup shares the upper and lower attachment transform before lower-strand simulation. This keeps both sections aligned during larger swings while retaining secondary strand motion.

No add-on is required. Open the supplied .blend file, select Lantern_Array_Adjustable_Count_and_Wind, and work from its Geometry Nodes modifier. Customer documentation and technical guides are included in the project.

Key Features

Two Layout Modes

• Build a standard vertical lantern string.
• Follow a user-editable Bezier curve with multiple hanging columns.
• Control curve columns and lanterns per column separately.
• Keep stable random variation by lantern index and seed.

Wind and Motion

• Enable or bypass simulation from the modifier.
• Control direction, strength, gust speed, gust scale, variation, and air damping.
• Adjust tassel wind independently from lantern-chain wind.
• Add per-tassel airflow variation.
• Scale wind from a quieter top to a stronger bottom.
• Preserve synchronized wind phases within each string.

Lantern Design Controls

• Switch between Style A and Style B.
• Adjust base radius, upper and lower height, and curvature.
• Change vertical and horizontal frame density.
• Create square or diamond frame patterns.
• Control rope length, rope radius, support height, and spacing.

Tassels

• Built-in Type A and Type B tassels
• Custom mesh tassel support
• Named top-pin vertex group or point attribute
• Automatic highest-point pinning when no named group exists
• Optional A_Upper_Rigid marker for Type A-style upper-section motion
• Preserved custom source-material slots

Emitters

• Instance a light or emissive mesh at every lantern.
• Keep the source origin, auto-center a mesh, or align its bottom.
• Add local offset, rotation, and scale.
• Emitters follow lantern motion and random transforms.

Materials and UVs

Independent controls are provided for:

1. Style A Paper
2. Style B Paper
3. Frame
4. Upper Cap and Support
5. Lower Seat and Support
6. Hanging Rope
7. Tassel A Upper
8. Tassel A Lower
9. Tassel B

Each part family supports material assignment, color, roughness, metallic value, texture strength, UV offset, UV rotation, and UV scale.

Compatibility

• Required: Blender 5.2.0 LTS
• Render setup in the included scene: Eevee
• Older Blender versions: Not tested and not supported
• Add-on required: No
• Operating system: Platform-independent Blender project; no OS-specific add-on is used

Included Content

• Procedural lantern Geometry Nodes generator
• Two lantern body styles
• Built-in Type A and Type B tassels
• Custom tassel example and workflow
• Curve-following layout example
• Wind, gust, joint-contact, and per-lantern wind systems
• Nine configurable lantern material families
• Demo camera, lighting, and scene setup
• Embedded user and technical guides

Important Simulation Notes

After changing the path curve, column count, lantern count, style, dimensions, spacing, tassel source, collision settings, or wind parameters:

1. Clear any old simulation bake if one exists.
2. Return to frame 1.
3. Play the timeline consecutively.

This system uses a connected procedural skeleton and attachment simulation. It is not a full independent rigid-body simulation for every lantern and does not provide scene-wide triangle-mesh self-collision.

Best For

• Festival and holiday scenes
• Architectural visualization
• Streets, temples, courtyards, stages, and interiors
• Cinematic set dressing
• Animated decorative installations
• Stylized environments
• Motion-design scenes

Call to Action

Build a single lantern string or fill an entire curved installation, then art-direct its form, materials, motion, tassels, and light placement from one Geometry Nodes modifier.