⩩ Shape Grid

The checkerboard is the pack's hello-world example, and Shape Grid is the node that builds it. Give it a single shape and it stamps out a grid of scaled copies - rows and columns of your motif, optionally skipping some to create a checkerboard or dotted pattern. It's the fastest way to turn "a rectangle" into "a whole floor of tiles" in one step.

Grid is the structured sibling of Shape Copycat Tool. Copycat scatters copies along a freeform transformed trail; Grid lays them out in a regular lattice. If you're making repeating patterns - tiles, polka dots, a matrix of stars - this is the node. Combined with a xor draw mode at render time, the skipped cells produce the classic alternating checkerboard rather than a solid block.

How it works

The node scales your input shape down to fit a cell, then places copies across columns × rows, covering a total area of width × height in normalized space (both default 0.75, so the grid occupies most of the unit box). Two controls shape the pattern:

• inbetween_skip - how many cells to skip between copies. 0 keeps every cell (solid grid); 1 keeps every other cell (checkerboard base); 2 keeps every third.
• row_skip_offset - shifts the skip pattern per row, which is what turns a plain skip into a staggered/offset pattern like brickwork.

Because the copies are sized to fit their cells and the whole grid is normalized, the output is a single SHAPE you can render, flip, or combine like anything else.

Inputs and outputs

• SHAPE - the motif to repeat.
• width, height - grid extent in normalized space (default 0.75 each).
• columns, rows - cell count (default 10 each, up to 256).
• inbetween_skip, row_skip_offset - pattern controls.

Output:

• SHAPE - the grid of copies.

Installing

From the Dream Painter pack (comfyui-dream-painter, alt-key-project). ComfyUI Manager → Install Custom Nodes → search Dream Painter → install → restart. Or manually:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/alt-key-project/comfyui-dream-painter
cd comfyui-dream-painter
pip install -r requirements.txt

No models, no downloads.

Common issues

Two things to watch. First, high column/row counts multiply your shape count fast - 256×256 is 65,536 copies, and while it's just math, rendering it can get sluggish and the bitmap edges get dense. Stay in single-digit counts for clean guides. Second, the grid is normalized and centered by the node, but if width and height differ the vertical centering can sit slightly off - a quirk of how the pack computes the layout. If your grid looks off-center, check that width equals height before chasing anything else. And remember: skip pattern + xor render mode = checkerboard, which is the pack's own tutorial flow.