Falloff

General

All Effectors have their own Falloff tab. Use the settings in the Falloff tab to define properties such as shape, expansion and much more for that Effector. Thus, the Effector can be limited in its spatial expanse (also with splines, particles, etc.). In the following, a Shader Effector without a loaded texture will be used to explain the settings that influence the R.P of each clone. Falloff works analog to any other parameter to be influenced.

The falloff of a spherical Effector. The actual falloff begins outside of the red radii.

An Effector’s dimensions are displayed using the following colors:

• Yellow: Maximum Effector expanse, beyond which it has no effect.
• Rot: The Effector’s strength is at its maximum within the red radii, outside of which the falloff begins, and continues to the yellow radii.
• Orange: Grabbers that can be moved interactively to adjust the Effector or falloff.
  
  

If you animate an Effector to pass through a group of clones, the falloff settings can be used to create soft transitions between areas not affected by the Effector and areas affected by the Effector.

An animated Effector with properly adjusted falloff settings results in a uniform displacement as it passes through a group of clones.

Shape

Clockwise from the top left: Box, Sphere, Cylinder, Linear, Source (spline), Source (particle).

You can select from the following:

• Infinite: No falloff will be applied to the strength of the Effector. The Effector will affect the entire scene with full strength.
• Box, Cylinder, Sphere: The corresponding shape will result.
• Linear: Falloff will take place along the Effector’s Z-length. The following applies: Full strength in the negative Z-direction, no strength in the positive Z-direction.
• Source: Splines or particles can be used and the falloff will take place within a certain distance surrounding the spline or particle.
  
  

Invert

Inverts the falloff.

Visible

Use this setting to turn the Effector’s visible radius on or off (as long as Shape is not set to Infinite).

Weight

Use this setting to define to what degree an Effector should take into account any potential clone weighting (see also Weight Transform). A value of 100% means that the Effector will ignore the clone weighting; a value of 0% means the clone weighting will have a maximum effect.

Scale

Use this setting to define the three-dimensional size of the Effector.

Shape Source (Spline)

Sample Distance

Left a lesser, right a greater Sample Distance value.

Internally, a number of sample points (set using Sample Detail) are assumed along the spline, around each of which a radius is created. The clones will be affected within these radii. If Sample Detail is set high enough, a tube will be visible around the spline, its radius equal to the Sample Distance setting.

Sample Detail

As you already know Sample Detail defines the detail with which the spline form will emulate the sample points. The higher the value set, the longer it will take to calculate and the more accurate the emulation will be.

Source Link

Drag a spline from the Object Manager into this field on whose basis the effect of the Effector should be calculated.

Shape Source (particle)

Effectors can have an effect within a certain radius (Sample Distance) around particles.

Sample Distance

The Effector will have an effect around a particle within the distance defined here. Falloff will have an effect ranging from the center of each particle to the defined “Sample Distance” value.

Source Link

Drag the emitter (CINEMA 4D) or particle group (Thinking Particles module) into this field.

Scale

Use this setting to scale the entire Effector, including falloff and the corresponding radii

Falloff

An increasing Falloffvalue from left to right.

Use the Falloff setting to define the radius (red) within which falloff should have an effect. The Effector’s effect will be full strength ranging from its center to this (red) radius. The Effector’s effect will fall off to zero from the red radius to the yellow radius (Scale).

If Falloff is set to zero, the Effector’s strength will be full strength within its overall size (yellow radius: Scale). If Falloff is set to maximum, a uniform transition from the Effector’s center (max) to its overall size (Scale(min)) will take place.

Tip:

You can achieve some nice effects by letting Effectors with a maximum “Falloff” value pass through clone groups!

Clamped

Normally, the falloff value lies between 0 and 1. This setting is acceptable for most areas of use: Let’s say you set an Effector’s P.Y value to 200m. The strength of its effect is strongest at its center so the clone will be located at P.Y=200m. There are times, though, when you want to define larger values, independent of the Falloff value. To do so, deactivate the option and the resulting effect within the effective falloff will be increased dramatically.

Using this method, you can create interesting controlled explosions:

• Create a Random Effector and activate the “Position” option (Parameter tab).
• Set Shape to Linear in the Falloff tab and move the Effector through the clone group.
  
  

Spline

You can custom-define a falloff using this spline curve. Define the falloff that will take place between the red (falloff begin) and yellow (max. effect range) radii.

Spline Animation Speed

If the falloff you defined using the spline curve should take place over time, enter a value greater than 0 here. A value of 100% represents a one-second cycle.