Merge Points

Combines two or more point streams into a single Points output, remapping IDs and tagging each stream's origin for downstream selection.

Category: Point Ops Menu path: Point Ops > Merge Points

Ports

Port	Type	Direction	Description
points_in	points	input (multi)	Two or more point inputs. Use the + button on the node to add more slots.
out	points	output	Single Points stream concatenated in slot order.

Parameters

None.

How It Works

MergePoints is the points-side analog of MergeShapes — a pure structural combine, no math. Each input contributes its points verbatim to the output, with PointIds re-keyed to fresh values so downstream nodes that rely on stable identity still work.

Stream order matches slot order: slot 0 comes first, the last slot comes last. The output point indices [0 .. n-1] follow this concatenation order. Drag inputs in the node graph to reorder.

sourceIndex

A sourceIndex per-point attribute is always emitted, renumbered densely so nesting keeps original sources distinct — Merge(Merge(A,B), C) yields 0/1/2, not 0/0/1. Useful for routing branches downstream:

• PointAttributes (color from sourceIndex via Remap) → color each origin differently.
• PointAttributes (scale from sourceIndex) → make stream A bigger than stream B.
• PointDelete (threshold on sourceIndex) → drop a specific stream after a downstream branch already used it.

Attributes (union merge)

An attribute present on any input survives the merge. Points from inputs that lack it fill with that attribute's registered default — scale, opacity and strokeWidth fill 1 (so merged-in points stay visible and full-size), color fills white, and unknown names fill 0.

That zero-fill for unknown names is what makes named groups work: tag one branch group1 and the other group2 before merging, and both tags come through intact — a point from the other branch simply reads 0, "not a member". Feed the merge into ConnectPoints (From: group1, To: group2) to bridge the two sets without webbing either one, or AttributeToField("group1") to turn a group into a 0/1 mask field.

index renumbers across the merged stream (an order with two points both claiming slot 0 is not an order). The one thing still dropped: a name carried with different array types on different inputs — coercing between scalar and vector data would invent values.

Disconnected slots are skipped. A MergePoints with only one connected input is a no-op passthrough.

Usage Examples

Combine procedurally-generated and shape-derived points

Grid → MergePoints slot 0 + Rectangle → ShapeToPoints → MergePoints slot 1 → DrawPoints. You get the grid plus the rectangle corners in one stream, with sourceIndex available for later routing.

Two scatter passes with different seeds

Rectangle → PointScatter (seed=0) + Rectangle → PointScatter (seed=42) → MergePoints → DrawPoints. Twice as many points without changing count.

Animated grouping

Two Grid chains with different counts feeding MergePoints → PointAttributes (color from sourceIndex via Colorize ramp) → DrawPoints. Each stream gets its own color, but they all animate as one population.

Tips

• MergePoints does not deduplicate — coincident points from multiple streams stay coincident. Use a downstream filter (e.g. PointRelax, PointDelete) if you want to thin them.
• Reach for MergePoints when you want streams to coexist; reach for a dedicated boolean/relaxation node if you want them to interact.
• The node grows additional input slots on demand via the + button.
• Empty / disconnected slots are silently ignored.

Related Nodes

• MergeShapes — the shape-side analog when you want to combine shape geometry instead of point streams.
• PointAttributes — set or normalize attributes before merging if you need them preserved.
• PointDelete — thin a merged stream using sourceIndex or any attribute.
• DrawPoints — rasterizes the combined stream.