Geometry & 3D node
Triangulate
Fills a closed outline: any point cloud that traces a shape becomes a solid triangulated surface. Concave shapes are handled and winding does not matter. Works in the XY plane — Z is ignored and the surface comes out flat at Z = 0. Feed it a blob outline, a drawn path or a glyph contour, then render it or send it to Extrude Path.
Inputs
| Port | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| PointsThe closed outline to fill — any point cloud that traces a shape, in order around its edge. Concave outlines are handled, and winding does not matter. Z is ignored: the surface comes out flat at Z = 0. Do not repeat the first point at the end; duplicates and NaN points are dropped for you. | structure | — |
| OrderHow the points become an outline — the answer to “why does my cloud produce nothing”. Convex Hull wraps the cloud in its boundary, so ANY scatter becomes a shape. As Given trusts the points to already walk the edge: right for outlines, empty for a scatter. Radial sorts by angle, keeping concave detail. | int | 1 |
Outputs
| Port | Type |
|---|---|
| Geometry | structure |
| Vertex Count | int |
| Triangle Count | int |
How It Works
Triangulate fills a closed outline: any point cloud that traces a shape becomes a solid triangulated surface. Concave shapes are handled and winding does not matter, which is what separates it from a naïve fan triangulation.
It works in the XY plane — Z is ignored and the surface comes out flat at Z = 0.
Order chooses how the incoming cloud is walked into an outline, for the cases where the points are not already in order.
Use Cases
- Fill a traced shape — Image Trace's contours become a solid.
- Glyph fills — 3D Text's Outline output filled as a flat surface.
- Hand-drawn shapes — A Path of placed points becomes geometry.
- Before extrusion — Triangulate gives the cap that Extrude Path needs.
- Silhouette geometry — A person segmentation outline as a real mesh.
Tips
- The outline must actually close. An open path gives an unpredictable fill.
- Simplify a traced outline before triangulating — thousands of near-collinear points make a needlessly heavy mesh.
- Z is ignored, so flatten deliberately rather than hoping: use Triangulate for plan shapes and Sweep for anything spatial.
- Subdivide afterwards when the flat surface needs to be deformed.
Open Triangulate in the interactive catalog →
Triangulate is one of 381 nodes in Grafit Pro.
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