Force object reference
The properties on force objects control how forces affect the model and the scene.
Note
Forces operate only on Generators or Nodes where the force is enabled in the Forces property group.
Force
The properties in this group set the basic functionality of force objects.
Enabled
Use this property to toggle the force's influence on model computation. Disabling a Mesh force will stop it from influencing the model but it will not take it out of the model if it is set to be included (see "Include in Model," below).
Type
Sets the type of force.
Strength
This value controls how much the force influences the model. This number is multiplied by the value of the force properties on each generator before being applied to the model.
Align strength
Controls how much the force acts on the initial orientation of the nodes it affects. Each generator has an alignment scalar that combines with Align strength to control the alignment behavior.
Color
Sets the color of the force indicator in the Tree Window.
Indicator scale
Sets the size of the icon used to represent the force in the Tree Window. This property has no effect on the size of actual mesh forces.
Normals projection
Set whether the force object can influence global lighting. This property is available only when Type is set to Geometry.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Disabled | The force object can’t influence global lighting. |
| Enabled (used by global lighting) | The force object can influence the global lighting of any leaf or frond generators it encapsulates. To adjust lighting relative to this force object, see the Projectors property in the global lighting properties. |
Geometry
These properties control the behavior of geometry forces. Set the Type property above to Geometry to make a force act as a force mesh.
Source
Choose whether the geometry force is governed by a mesh asset or generator.
Mesh Asset
These properties are visible only if Source is set to Mesh asset.
Mesh
Specifies a named mesh asset.
Include in model
Enable this property to have the mesh exported as part of the model. With this property disabled, the mesh will be used to interact with the model but it will not be included in exports.
Ambient occluder
When the mesh is not being included in the model, check this property to allow the mesh to contribute to ambient occlusion computations.
Display color
Specifies what color is used to render the mesh when no material has been assigned.
Material
Assign a material to render the mesh asset.
Level of detail
Specifies which mesh LOD, if available, is used for the current LOD state.
Note
LOD meshes must be assigned to the mesh assets for this property to work.
Lightmap scale
Controls this mesh's influence on the lightmap in versions where lightmap UVs are computed.
Behavior
Specifies how the mesh surface should influence branch spines.
Actions
Specifies what happens when a branch spine collides with the mesh surface.
Name
The name of the action.
Force
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Avoid | Spines are repelled by the closest spot on the surface of the mesh. |
| Attract | Spines are pulled towards the closest spot on the surface of the mesh. |
| None | No action is applied to the spines. |
Collide
Once all of the iterations have failed for a spine that has collided with the mesh, this property specifies what action to take.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| None | No action is taken (spines will go through the mesh). |
| Obstruct | Spines are blocked by the surface of the mesh and “crawl” over it, attempting to grow in their original direction. |
| Prune | Spines are broken when they collide with the mesh. |
| Stop | Spines are considered fully grown where they hit the mesh. They will be shorter than intended but all of the profile curves will cover the full length of the spine. |
Attenuation
Causes the force's influence to taper off as the spine gets farther away from the location of the force.
Type
Specifies the type of attenuation.
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| None | The force has an equal effect on the entire model regardless of its location in the scene. |
| Linear | The force falls off linearly over the distance specified below. |
| Quadratic | The force falls off according to the square of the distance from the source. |
| Hard | The force effect goes to zero outside the distance specified below. |
Distance
This value sets distance around the force where attenuation is applied.
Falloff distance
Sets the distance from the edge of the attenuation towards the force location at which attenuation begins.
Indicator
Selects when the attenuation indicator is displayed from the following options:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Selected | Only display the indicator when the force is selected. |
| Always | Always show the indicator. |
| Never | Never display the attenuation indicator. |
Container forces
The properties in this group allow you to specify mesh forces to be used to designate the area of effect for this force. Use these properties to designate regions where forces work based on mesh assets.
Include
Type the name of a Mesh force in this property. That mesh will be used to indicate the only region where this force is applied.
Exclude
Type the name of a Mesh force in this property. That mesh will be used to indicate the region where this force will not be applied.
Animation
Forces can be animated over time and exported as part of a sequence for VFX applications. Use the properties in this group to control the animation.
Note
Only the force's strength can be animated – its position cannot be animated.
Start frame
Specifies the frame at which the animation starts.
Duration
Sets how many frames the animation lasts.
Profile
Controls the animation, as follows: The left-hand side of the curve corresponds to the percentage of the force applied at the start frame. The right-hand side corresponds to the percentage of the force applied at the end of the animation duration.
Growth
When using animated growth, controls the strength of the force over the life cycle of the growth animation.
Lifetime %
Controls the strength of the force over the duration of the growth animation. The left-hand side of the curve corresponds to the percentage of the force applied at the start of the growth animation. The right-hand side corresponds to the percentage of the force applied at the end of the growth animation.
Transform
The properties in this group control the position and orientation of the force. They are set automatically when you use the transform gizmo to move and orient the force.
Translation
X, Y, Z
Sets the position of the force object.
Reset translation
Positions the force at the origin.
Rotation
Axis X, Axis Y, Axis Z
Specifies the vector around which the force is rotated.
Angle
Specifies how much the force is rotated around the axis.
Reset rotation
Resets the rotation back to the default settings.
Scale
X, Y, Z
Sets the scale of the force object on each axis.
Uniform
When checked, the X, Y, and Z scales are set to the same value as to not distort the shape.
Reset scaling
Sets the scale values back to 1.0.