UV project in geometry nodes

Question

I want to project UV coordinates of the instancer on its instances using geometry nodes. I get the rough idea but can't figure out node setup.

Each vertex on instances should have its own "UV position" instead of sharing same information.

Answer 1

You can solve this task as follows:

1. Instantiate your objects on the surface with Distribute Points on Faces and Instance on Points.
2. Convert the instances with Realize Geometry into an editable geometry.
3. Use the nodes Sample Nearest Surface and Named Attribute to get the position on the existing UV map of the sphere.
4. Save this vector with Store Named Attribute and assign the same material to the objects as the one you use for the sphere.

Note, however, that this technique does not work if an object is located at an intersection of the existing UV map!

_{(Blender 3.2+)
PS: If you are using a version lower than 3.4, you would need to replace the Sample Nearest Surface node with the Transfer Attributes node}.