Your First Graph
In this tutorial you\u2019ll take a blank Node Sculptor canvas to a printable, tweakable vase in about five minutes \u2014 no wires left behind, no hidden steps.
What you\u2019ll learn
- How to add and wire nodes.
- The difference between a Toolpath and a Mesh in the Output node.
- How to pin numeric sliders to the viewport so the whole design becomes a control panel.
What you need
- A project open with Node Sculptor as the active module (pick it from the module switcher if you haven\u2019t).
- The Template Gallery dismissed (just close it \u2014 we\u2019re starting blank on purpose so you see every wire).
Step 1 \u2014 Anchor the design to the bed
Every non-trivial graph starts by telling the geometry where to go. The built-in Print Bed node exposes the active printer\u2019s bed centre as a Vector3, so your model follows the machine profile instead of landing in a random corner.
- Press Shift + A anywhere on the canvas to open the Add Node popup.
- Type
bedand press Enter. A Print Bed node appears under your cursor. - Drag it to the far left \u2014 we\u2019ll feed its
centeroutput into the next node.
You should see: a small node labelled "Print Bed" with a single output socket on the right.
Step 2 \u2014 Draw the profile
A vase is just a profile, stacked upward. The simplest profile is a circle.
- Press Shift + A, type
circle, press Enter. - Drag the Circle node to the right of Print Bed.
- Drag from Print Bed \u2192 center (right edge) into Circle \u2192 center (left edge). A white-green wire should snap in place.
You should see: a circle appear in the 3D preview, sitting dead-centre on the build plate. If you switch printer profiles, the circle follows.
Step 3 \u2014 Stack it into a vase
Time to make the profile three-dimensional. Node Sculptor has two "profile \u2192 print" stackers:
- Layer Stacker \u2014 discrete layers, one polyline each. Good when you want rotation or scale per-layer.
- Vase Spiralizer \u2014 one continuous spiral, like vase-mode slicers. Silkier walls, no Z-seam.
We\u2019ll use Vase Spiralizer.
- Press Shift + A, type
vase, press Enter. - Drag the Vase Spiralizer node to the right of Circle.
- Wire Circle \u2192 path into Vase Spiralizer \u2192 path.
- On the Vase Spiralizer node, set Layers to
120and End Scale to1.35.
You should see: a gently flaring vase appear in the preview \u2014 still no Output wire yet, so the app is previewing the Vase Spiralizer\u2019s output directly.
Step 4 \u2014 Close the loop with Output
Every finished graph terminates at the Output node \u2014 it\u2019s always there on the canvas, tucked to the right. Connect it and the top-toolbar learns what to export.
- Wire Vase Spiralizer \u2192 toolpath (orange socket) into Output \u2192 Toolpath (also orange).
- Look at the top-right of the app: the primary Export button should now read G-code.
You should see: the Toolpath polylines in the preview coloured by extrude / travel. Press F on the canvas to fit the graph into view if it drifted.
Step 5 \u2014 Pin the dials to the viewport
We\u2019re going to make the vase playable. Instead of digging through the graph every time you want to change rib depth or taper, pin the knobs you care about to a floating HUD on the viewport.
- Right-click the End Scale field on the Vase Spiralizer node \u2192 Add to viewport.
- Right-click the Layers field \u2192 Add to viewport.
- Look at the top-left of the 3D preview \u2014 both sliders are now pinned there, with the same BlenderNumField control they had on the node.
- Drag the sliders \u2014 the vase reshapes live. The fields on the node glow in the accent colour so you always know which values are pinned.
Step 6 \u2014 Save / export / share
Three things you can now do without touching the graph again:
- Undo \u2014
Ctrl/Cmd + Zrolls back the last change (each template apply is one undo entry too). - Export \u2014 the top-toolbar\u2019s G-code button compiles the toolpath for the active printer profile. If you ever swap to a mesh pipeline, the same button reads Export Mesh and offers STL / OBJ / GLTF.
- Share \u2014 the project JSON carries the graph, the tagged parameters and the viewport pins. Send it to a friend and they see the same design, with the same knobs on the viewport.
You\u2019ve learned
- Adding nodes with Shift + A, wiring by drag, and connecting to the Output node.
- How the top-toolbar Export button flips between G-code and Export Mesh based on which Output socket is wired.
- How to pin numeric parameters to the viewport HUD so the design becomes a focused control panel.
Next steps
- Open the Starter Templates page and reverse-engineer the Ribbed Vase \u2014 you already know the building blocks; now see how a Wave Field adds ribs to what you just built.
- Read the Socket Types & Conversions page to understand why
Path \u2192 Toolpathjust worked without a "convert" node. - Dip into the Graph Evaluation page if you\u2019re ever curious why a heavy graph still feels snappy \u2014 it\u2019s the Web Worker plus some carefully-placed cancellation points.