Mesh detail generator properties
The Mesh detail generator creates surface details from a material and a 3D mesh and blends those details into the parent.
Generation
Refer to Generation Properties.
Random Seeds
Refer to Random seeds properties.
Mesh
Change the size and level of detail (LOD) settings for the mesh.
Use actual size
When enabled, the mesh will start the same size as it was in its original file. Otherwise, the size will be unitized (i.e., fit in a unit box).
Scale
Increase or decrease the size of the mesh.
Absolute
Increase or decrease the size of the mesh by a fixed amount. This amount does not adjust relative to the size of the parent.
+ % of parent
Increase or decrease the size of the mesh relative to the size of the parent. This value is multiplied by the size of the parent node and added to the size of the mesh. Use this value when combining meshes procedurally to ensure that meshes further down the hierarchy gradually decrease in size.
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. To use this property, meshes must be assigned in at least two of the three mesh asset LOD slots.
Resolution
See Resolution.
Placement
Adjust the placement of nodes.
Rotation
Rotate the node on the local x-, y-, or z-axis.
Attach
Set how the node attaches to the parent.
Style
Choose the attachment style.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| None | Attach at the origin but don’t sink the edges into the parent. |
| Sink edges until hidden, discard failures | Sink the edges into the parent. If the edges don’t sink properly, discard the entire node. |
| Sink edges until hidden, keep failures | Sink the edges into the parent. Keep all nodes, even if they don’t sink properly. |
| Wrap | Wrap the x-axis of the mesh around the parent. Y-coordinates set to zero sit on the parent, positive y-coordinates sit outside the parent, and negative y-coordinates sit inside the parent. |
Edge source
Determine if the Modeler detects the edges automatically or looks for vertex colors as the edge source.
Note
If you plan to export the model as an .obj file, use the Compute option. The .obj file format doesn't support vertex colors.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Compute | Detects the edges automatically. Fine tune the compute results with the Offset property. |
| Vertex color - red | Detects red vertex colors. |
| Vertex color - green | Detects green vertex colors. |
| Vertex color - blue | Detects blue vertex colors. |
Offset
Set how far off the parent the node sits. To avoid depth conflicts (or z-fighting), set the value above 0.
Blend
Adjust the following properties to blend the edges of the mesh into the parent.
Normals
Align the normals with the parent mesh. Misaligned vertex and parent normals create discontinuity in the lighting.
The right side of the profile curve corresponds to the edges of the mesh. The left side corresponds to the middle.
Flatten
Flatten extruding parts of the mesh. This property doesn’t work if Attach:Style is set to None.
Vertex
Use vertex blending to make the edges of the mesh partially transparent.
Style
Choose the vertex blending style.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| None | No vertex blending. |
| Vertex alpha | Make the edges transparent. |
| Vertex alpha, interior strips | Make the edges transparent and create an opaque copy of the edges so they can be used in Strip shift. |
Distance
Increase or decrease how far the transparent area extends out from the parent.
Strip shift
Change the size of the opaque edge copy. This property only works if Vertex:Style is set to Vertex alpha, interior strips.
Offset
Adjust the position of the opaque edge copy. This property only works if Vertex:Style is set to Vertex alpha, interior strips.
Material
Select a material and mesh combination. Meshes must be assigned to the material on the Material Bar. Materials are chosen based on their weights and season settings.
Material
Choose a material from the Material Bar. If None is selected, or the chosen material has no assigned mesh, there will be no geometry generated.
Mesh
Choose which assigned mesh is used. Select a specific mesh or let the system select one for you.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Any | Any assigned mesh. |
| Primary | The first mesh listed on the asset. |
| Not the primary | Any mesh but the first one listed. |
Weight
Sets probability that a node will receive this material (this weight divided by the sum of all weights).
Dynamic LOD
The properties in this group control how the mesh reacts to LOD computations. These properties are only available in the Cinema version of the Modeler.
Weight
Increase or decrease the likelihood that meshes in this generator will survive the LOD process (vs. whatever it's grouped with in other generators). Use the parent curve to target specific areas of the model.
Mesh index
This curve controls which mesh LOD (if present) is used for each LOD state. The left side of the curve corresponds to the highest LOD. The right side corresponds to the lowest LOD.
Post
The properties in this group influence how mesh details in this generator participate in post-compute processing, such as tree element collisions and shade pruning.
Collision
Define how mesh details in this generator participate in tree element collision computations.
| Property | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Style | Set how the mesh details behave during collision computations. | |
| Everything | Mesh details in this generator collide with each other and all other elements of the collision system. | |
| Ignore siblings | Mesh details in this generator ignore siblings but collide with everything else. | |
| Knock out others only | Mesh details in this generator can't be removed, but they can eliminate elements in other generators. | |
| Nothing | These mesh details don't participate in collision computations. | |
| Weight | When tree elements collide, the one with the higher weight wins. Use this property to set the weight. | |
| Pivot threshold | Sets how far away from pivot (as a percentage of size) a collision has to happen in order to count. Use this property to eliminate unwanted removals of mesh details anchored near each other. | |
| Sphere threshold | When using spherical collision tests, this value scales the size of the spheres used during the test. Spheres are initially sized based on mesh detail size. |
Shade Pruning
Define how mesh details in this generator behave when you enable Shade Pruning.
| Property | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Style | Select the layer of the tree to start pruning from. | |
| None | No mesh details in this generator participate in shade pruning computations. | |
| Interior | The pruning starts from the most shaded mesh details at the interior of the tree. | |
| Exterior | The pruning starts from the least shaded mesh details at the exterior of the tree. | |
| Threshold | Set the relative shade level up to which the Modeler removes mesh details during pruning. |