wallworm Posted June 17, 2014 Report Share Posted June 17, 2014 I'd like to see a couple new parameters in the Distributor rollouts: Distributor: Offset Z Amount spinner Offset Z Chaos spinner Right now the Offset spinner works really well for many circumstances, but when you want to use the Angular distributor Type along a surface that has varying width, you must add an extra path in many occasions to get the path to extend beyond the surface of the path distributor's mesh. Even by adding an extra intermediary path, there is often overlapping geometry. By adding an Offset Z that works in the Z axis of the current angle, you could alleviate the intermediary path. and... Mesh Builder: Parameter:Radius Affector This would allow solving the example above where a distributor should be offset in the Z amount based on the radius of the mesh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted June 17, 2014 Report Share Posted June 17, 2014 Hi Shawn, Ok, we'll think how to implement it... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallworm Posted June 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austingrd Posted June 27, 2014 Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 Thanks for that! Great support as always. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 Hi Shawn, but when you want to use the Angular distributor Type along a surface that has varying width, you must add an extra path in many occasions to get the path to extend beyond the surface of the path distributor's mesh. Even by adding an extra intermediary path, there is often overlapping geometry. By adding an Offset Z that works in the Z axis of the current angle, you could alleviate the intermediary path. I don't quite understand your problem. Can you show, in which case you need the Offset Z? Please show it at some example... We've added this parameter today, but its functionality is questionable... We also need to determine the exact behavior of this parameter. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallworm Posted July 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Sorry I did not see the message. I will make some screen shots and a file to explain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallworm Posted July 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) The attached screen shot and the example file attached should explain what I'm after. In this case, imagine making a cactus that has varying radius, and you want all the spines to always "spawn" on the surface of the plant. (I tried to use the Image button in the Post editor, but it the OK/Cancel buttons aren't working, at least not in IE11.) So I've attached the image rather than embedded it. [EDIT] Note that in the graphic, it should indicate "Radius" instead of "Width" but I'm sure you understand that. exlevel_offset_example.zip Edited July 4, 2014 by wallworm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 Hi Shawn, Actually, the current Offset shifts the start vector along the Y coordinate (perpendicular to the path). We added Offset Z, but in your case, if you increase this parameter, needles will be shifted along the parent path. Therefore, to create a cactus, it's better to use the current Offset... We'll delete the Offset Z, because I've not found a use for it, and it will add confusions. At this point, we can't add an Affect from mesh-radius to any distributor parameters, because GrowFX first builds paths for the whole plant, then builds all meshes. Ie when the system builds needles, it doesn't know the radius of the cactus body. We have another idea to add a some modifier for After Mesh Modifiers, which will offset the child mesh elements along the mesh radius of the parent path... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallworm Posted July 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 Sorry for the confusion by calling it Z. I should have just called it "Angular Vector" or something like that. In my mind it felt like Z because when you use the Angular Distributor Type, the vector seems to be rotated 90 degrees (and the current Offset value pushes the parts out away from what I was trying to accomplish). It would be nice if you make this into an After Mesh Modifier if you could add a checkbox for "Orient to Face Normal" so that once the child mesh element is offset, it gets oriented to the normal of the closes face or an average of some faces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 It would be nice if you make this into an After Mesh Modifier if you could add a checkbox for "Orient to Face Normal" so that once the child mesh element is offset, it gets oriented to the normal of the closes face or an average of some faces. Ok, we'll have this in mind... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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