Card generator

The Card generator is responsible for generating camera-facing leaves based on materials and mesh assets.

Generation

The properties in this group control how many leaves are generated and where they are placed.

Forces

The properties in this group control how forces affect the nodes created by this generator. Forces affect only the orientation, not the position, of leaf meshes.

Allow

When enabled, all forces that are checked will act on the generator.

Forces

Each force in the scene has an entry here. Check the box next to the name to enable the force for this generator. The value set here is multiplied by the strength of the force before being applied to the branch. The profile curve controls have no effect on leaves.

Note

Click on the force name to edit the force's properties.

Random Seeds

Refer to Random seeds properties.

Leaves

The properties in this group control the type, size, and initial placement of the leaf nodes.

Size

This property sets the size of the leaf nodes. By default, mesh assets are treated as unit meshes and then scaled by this amount when placed on the model.

Flip

When enabled, randomly selected leaf nodes flip over the y-axis.

Weld

When enabled, leaves will be placed directly on the skin of their parent (as opposed to being anchored on their spine).

Type

The properties in this group specify the materials and meshes for the leaf. Meshes must be assigned to the material on the Materials Bar to be used on the leaf. Materials are chosen based on their weights and season settings.

Material

This property specifies a named material from the Material Bar. If None is selected or the chosen material has no assigned mesh, a square will be used as placeholder geometry.

Weight

Sets probability that a node will receive this material (this weight ÷ sum of all weights).

Resolution

The properties in this group influence the resolution of the mesh.

Size increase %

Controls the increase in the size of the leaf nodes as the resolution changes. It is often desirable to increase the size of the leaves at lower resolutions to make up for a lower number of leaves.

Mesh LOD

Sets which mesh version (High, Medium, or Low detail on the mesh asset) is used based on the active resolution.

Mesh LOD offset

When set to a value other than 0, the mesh currently assigned will go up or down in mesh resolution (High, Medium, or Low detail on the mesh asset). Use this property (especially in conjunction with its parent curve) to adjust mesh resolution throughout the model.

Note

Mesh LOD and Mesh LOD offset both require meshes assigned in at least two of the three mesh asset LOD slots.

Final Adjustments

These edits are applied to the cards as the last transformation before the camera-facing transformation is applied.

Up

Rotates each mesh around its local x-axis.

Right

Rotates each mesh around its local y-axis.

Out

Rotates each mesh around its local z-axis.

Deformation

The properties in this group alter the shape of the leaf card. These properties work best when there are enough vertices in the mesh to reveal the changes.

Note

Using these properties on low-resolution meshes can produce undesirable results. Always have at least one vertex near the center of the mesh for the best results.

Vertex

The properties in this group perform a noise-based deformation of each vertex in the mesh.

Amount

Controls the amount of noise applied to each vertex.

Noise

Controls the tightness of the noise pattern. Higher values result in more localized deformations.

Seed

Vary this parameter to randomize the noise pattern.

Scale

The properties in this group scale the mesh. The scale is performed in each leaf's local orientation.

X

Scales the mesh by this amount in the x-axis.

Y

Scales the mesh by this amount in the y-axis.

Z

Scales the mesh by this amount in the z-axis.

Lighting

The properties in this group modify the vertex normals to change the lighting behavior of the mesh.

Note

These properties are not typically necessary for high-detail VFX models but they can significantly improve the lighting on meshes that represent clusters of leaves in real-time models.

Parent Puffiness

Amount

Value scale that controls how much the normals on each individual leaf should face out depending on the assigned anchor point. A value of 1.0 makes each normal line up with the vector that goes from the anchor through the vertex.

Note

Click on a leaf with hints on to see the Parent puffiness vectors.

Anchor

This property picks a spot on one of the leaf's ancestors according to the following options:

Property	Description
Global	The anchor point is located where the node's highest ancestor hits the ground.
Deep	The anchor point is the base of a node very near (and sometimes exactly on) the root of the node's ancestors.