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Creating a Floor (Terrain Actor)

You can create a floor that will be used as a terrain actor in Behavior. A terrain actor is any geometric object, such as a randomly-deformed grid, that digital actors use for locomotion. However, the object doesn’t have to be flat for it to be used as a floor.

The floor object must be contained within its own model and be initialized, like any other actor. Then when you choose the Add Floor command, the floor’s parent node (the geometry node) is marked as a floor so that Behavior recognizes it as a surface that actors can use for locomotion. If you don’t choose this command, Behavior sees the floor object only as collision geometry.

You can also add weight maps or curves to the floor object to aid in the placement of actors in Behavior. The Populate and PopulateCurve helper functions in Behavior populate the scene according to the weight map or curve information on the floor. The higher the weight map value, the more likely it is that an actor will be placed in that area.

• For information on creating weight maps, see Parameter Maps in the Scene Elements guide.

• For information on creating curves, see Curves in the Surface and Curve Modeling guide.

To create a floor

1. Select an object that you want to use as a floor, such as a polygon grid.

2. Create a model with this object in it: choose Create > Model > New Model from the Model toolbar, enter a name for the model, and select Internal as the model type.

3. Initialize this model by pressing Shift key when you choose Actor > Initialize from the Behavior toolbar (see Initializing the Character).

4. Select the object and choose Node > Add Floor from the Behavior toolbar.

To remove the floor

1. Select the floor object.

2. Choose Node > Remove Floor from the Behavior toolbar.

The floor node information is removed from the object.

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