Manual Modules MoGraph Effectors Random Effector
Randomize Basic Coord. Effector Parameter DeformerParameters
Transform
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| From left to right: Initial state w/o Effector; Relative mode; Remap mode; both with a Shader Effector containing the gradient shown and with a scale transformation applied. |
In the image above the Effector scales the clones. Scaling can take place via addition to the initial size (Relative, mathematical: Cloner settings + (Cloner settings + Effector value) or starting from 0 (Remap, mathematical: Clone settings + Effector value).
Absolute is good for use in conjunction with position transformations since the clones will orient themselves to a P.X, P.Y or P.X point.
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| Left the initial state; right the Shader Effector with the gradient shown and a position transformation applied. |
Use this setting to define whether or not a given Effector should vary its position. Activating this option will make additional parameters available.
Enter the position range within which a given Effector should vary the clones here.
The Effector will create values between 0% and 100%, whereby 100% reflects the maximum value that can be entered for position, scale and rotation.
Lets say you are using a Shader Effector with a black-to-white gradient. Black=0% and white=100%. If you now enter 300m for P.Y, 300m will reflect the maximum amount of movement allowed along the Y-axis (to the point where the shader is 100% white).
Use this setting to define whether or not a given Effector should vary its size. Activating this option will make additional parameters available.
You can enter a scale value here if Uniform Scale has been activated
This option will be made available if Scale has been activated. If active, clones will be scaled uniformly in all three directions. Otherwise the scaling in each direction can be defined individually.
When active, the following options will be made available:
Negative weighting or scaling can occur if, for example, cloned particles and a Random Effector are combined. The clones will then have an incorrect orientation. The Absolute Scale setting prevents this from occurring.
Use this setting to define whether or not a given Effector should vary its rotation. Activating this option will make additional parameters available.
Color
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| Left: Shader Effector. Right: Random Effector |
The color modes primarily define if and how colors interpolated by an Effector will be combined with clone colors – those of the object from which the clones have been generated (see chapter 6, “Color Shader”). The Shader Effector and Random Effector are, though, somewhat different. Both generate shader and random colors when in the “Effector Color and Alpha” and “Effector Color no Alpha” modes, whereas other Effectors only output grayscales.
- Off: No color transformation. The clones will receive the color defined in the Cloner.
- Color with Effector Alpha: Use the color slider to define a color to be mixed with the original clone’s color, taking into account the alpha value of the Effector itself (the gray scale that corresponds to the “Effector Color no Alpha” mode).
- Color no Alpha: Use the color slider to define a color with which the clones will be colored, taking into account the falloff. This color has nothing to do with the Effector-specific transformation, i.e. it doesn’t matter if you define the color for a Formula Effector or a Step Effector, the clones will be colored uniformly within the falloff.
- Effector Color no Alpha: When applying the Shader Effector in conjunction with a Random Effector, the shader defined in the Shader Effector’s “Shading” tab will interpolate random colors. When using other Effectors, a gray scale value corresponding to the Effector’s effect will be interpolated.
- Effector Color and Alpha: See aforementioned point. In addition, an Effector-specific alpha channel will be taken into account (interpolated from the gray scale values of the colors created).
All modes, except for “Off”, offer a “Blending Mode” menu from which you can define the mode with which the interpolated colors should be mixed with the Cloner’s colors. The following modes are available:
- Mix: An average color between that of the Effector color and of the Cloner Object will be interpolated.
- Add, Subtract, Multiply: The colors will either be added, subtracted or multiplied.
- Divide: The Cloner’s color will be divided component-wise through the Effector color. This mode is not really a very effective one – it’s more for playing around with.
Other
Weight Transform [-10000000..10000000%]
Lets say you are able to control as many Effectors as you like using a single Effector. If a texture (Texture Shader) should define where the effect of a Random Effector should take place, for example. This is exactly what Weight Transform does.
Weighting can be set to a value anywhere between 0% and 100%. The weighting of all clones can be made visible by selecting Weight in the Transformation tab’s Display setting. When activated for an object that generates clones the weighting for each clone’s position will be displayed as a red-to-yellow gradient (clones may have to be made invisible).
- Red: Weight = 0%
- Yellow: Weight =100%
This weighting can be used by all other Effectors if you vary the Weight setting in the respective Effector’s Falloff tab.
Example
You have created a collection of clones using a cube in Grid Array mode. A Step Effector was added to the Cloner Object with the Spline Function Graph shown below applied. All of the settings in the Step Effector’s Parameter tab, except for Weight Transform, have been deactivated. Weight Transform is set to 100% and the only thing the Step Effector will do now is assign each clone a Weight of between 0% and 100%. This can be seen in the image above (red-to-yellow gradient).
If, for example, a Random Effector should be controlled using this weighting, proceed as follows:
- Create a Random Effector and assign a Cloner Object to it. Make sure that the Random Effector executes after the Step Effector. Subsequently change the position, scale and rotation settings as desired.
- Set Weight to 0% in the Random Effector’s Falloff tab. It’s also a good idea to set Shape to Infinite in the same tab. Otherwise the Effector’s falloff will also affect the animation (which, of course, can also be a desired effect...).
This is what you will end up with:
As you can see the Random Effector’s position, scale and roation transformations is defined by the Step Effector’s weighting.
Any number of additional Effectors can be used to affect this Cloner Object using weighting.
U Transform [-10000000..10000000%]
V Transform [-10000000..10000000%]
Modify Clone [-10000000..10000000%]
Use this parameter if you want an Effector to affect a clone’s child objects. This can be useful if the following is true:
- You have made several objects to be cloned children of a Cloner.
- The “Clone” setting has not been set to “Cluster”.
We suggest the “Sort” mode, which will make the effect more visible.
Example:
The Cloner Object in the image above was set to “Sort” and was subsequently assigned a Step Effector (see “Step Effector). A “Modify Clone” setting of 100% will produce a result as shown above. The distribution of clones will change in accordance with any changes made to the “Modify Clone” setting. Values less than 0% or greater than 100% are also possible, which will vary the number of child objects used to create clones.
“Modify Clone” also works with other Cloner Object modes – the setting then simply modifies the number of clones to be modified:
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| The Step Effector curve (insert) causes the effects shown above when “Random” mode has been selected. The “Modify Clone” value increases from left to right. |
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| A cylinder animated using two different deformation objects: Left, a Shader Effector; right, a Step Effector. |
Lets say you have an object, animated solely via parameter animation (light source, deformation object, etc.). It would be nice if an Effector could generate clones from that object at different intervals. This is what “Time Offset” does.
In the image above, Taper and Bend objects were animated from frame 0 to 20. Each Effector was assigned a “Time Offset” value of 20 - the Effectors distribute the clones with the temporal offset in accordance with the gray scale values (Shader Effector), i.e. from clone 0 to the last clone (Step Effector) or from wherever the corresponding Effector draws its input values.
The purpose of this setting is to blend clones from view at a defined value. This setting cannot be used effectively with all Effectors. This setting can be used effectively, for example, in conjunction with the Random Effector to randomly make clones invisible (make sure Minimum is set to -100%). Step and Shader Effectors will make the clones invisible at a value of 0. This can be done for the Step Effector using a spline, at the location(s) where the spline lies at 0 along the X-axis (this would be the black areas when using a Shader Effector).