OTOY Forums

I'm trying to figure out how Scatter handles basic transformation of instances. It seems like the Scale attribute mostly works as expected, but that Rotation and Position only work relative to the object's Up Vector instead of all three axes. To control the orientation of all the instances on all axes, I'm finding that the only way I can do it is to manipulate the base object's local coordinate system axes. Additionally, there seems to be no way to offset non-Up Vector position other than to translate the Surface on which Scatter is placing the objects.

Is this the way it's supposed to work? Or am I missing something obvious?

Also, when using the "Uniform" Scale option, it would be nice if all three data fields updated to show that it's working instead of just the first field.

I understand that the Scatter tool is a labor of love for C4D, but if you can offer any clarification, I would appreciate it.

Thanks!

Edit: I realize that it's also possible to change all the instances' orientation by manipulating the Up Vector channels, but that is far from intuitive for anything other than basic positive or negative XYZ. Standard XYZ channels using the normal 0-360 would be a whole lot easier. Also, the Up Vector option can lead to flipping problems with animated Scatter objects.

(Mac C4D R18, OctaneVR 3.06.4, GTX 1070)

Answer is simple!
It's not designed for using on animated objects to replace cloner system. It's a scatter for very fast cloning somethings. So there's not any guarantee it will work fine or not.

aoktar wrote:Answer is simple!
It's not designed for using on animated objects to replace cloner system. It's a scatter for very fast cloning somethings. So there's not any guarantee it will work fine or not.

Thanks for the quick response! As I mentioned, I realize it's not a supported feature, I'm just trying to understand how it works so that I can use it as effectively as possible. Any tips would be much appreciated, from Ahmed or anyone else.

Plus, part of the fun of CG is figuring out new ways to use tools, beyond their initial intended application.

As a follow up to my own question, the simplest way I've found to orient masses of Scatter objects is with a simple Inheritance Effector. It's nicely stackable with other effectors, too, so for instance I can point all the instances in one direction with slight variations added by a Random Effector.

frankmci wrote:As a follow up to my own question, the simplest way I've found to orient masses of Scatter objects is with a simple Inheritance Effector. It's nicely stackable with other effectors, too, so for instance I can point all the instances in one direction with slight variations added by a Random Effector.

Great to know thanks!