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The Crowd Paths are walkways powered by our new neural network animation engine. They must be populated with Rigged actors only. With them, a large number of people can be easily generated in a controlled and procedural way. They are meant to be used for mid-long shots.

Add Actors to Crowd Path

As you can see in the following video, it It is possible to add actors to a Crowd path either manually or by generating them with the tools available in the Path Properties:.

To add the models manually, follow these steps:

  1. Select an Actor from the Library: Actors panel.
  2. Click and drag the actor into the 3d viewport and release the mouse. Move the character over the walkway until the mouse pointer change into a link icon and click to place the actor.

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4D Path Properties

To access the the 4D Path properties, select it in the 3d viewport and open the Node Properties panel.

  1. Path Loop mode
    Controls whether the walkway should have open edges or a closed shape making a loop.
  2. Path direction mode
    Defines the direction that the actors travel on the walkway.
  3. Stair direction rules
    Controls the side-direction rules for actors climbing stairs
  4. Width of all path points
    Defines the width of all the path points of the selected path.
  5. Body radius
    Defines the minimum distance the actors will be from each other during the simulation.
  6. Collision response
    Defines how quickly an actor will be pushed when it enters another actor’s body radius.
  7. Yield factor
    Defines how much the actors will slow down when colliding with other actors.
  8. Transform
    Position, and rotation in the world space of the path.
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Crowd Path Properties

To access the Crowd Path properties, select it in the 3d viewport and open the Node Properties panel.

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5.
  1. Generate actors.
    Click Generate or update actors using the current distribution settings. If characters have already been generated, clicking this button again will create a new random distribution.
  2. Delete actors.
    Click this button to delete all the automatically generated actors, the ones with an (A) above them. The manually positioned actors (M) will be kept.
  3. Convert to Manual.
    This button will convert all the models autogenerated (A) into manual mode (M).
  4. Keep positions and Rotations
    When this is set to No, clicking Generate will create a completely new distribution. When set to Yes the Position and Rotation of current actors will be retained but motions, color variations, and phase control will be randomized.


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  1. Crowd Presets
    Click the buttons to use the built-in crowd placement presets. Options include (from left to right): one group in single file formation, multiple small groups, evenly distributed actors, and one group in marching formation.

6.

  1. Crowd List
    Contains a list of all the actors to be distributed on the path. Drag selected characters from the library

panel and

  1. panel and drop them into the list. If left empty, random models will be used.

7.

  1. Actor Count
    The number of actors to create.

8.

  1. Socialization Random
    Used when square areas and walkways intersect. This value determines the likelihood that an actor will leave the walkway and socialize with other characters in the square area. At 100% nearly all the characters move the square area, at 0% none of them do.

9.

  1. Animation Phase Random
    Defines the range of motion clip phase offset that will be randomly applied to each actor.

10.

  1. Cross Distribution
    Defines the position range in which characters can be placed on the lateral axis of the walkway.

11.

  1. Longitudinal Distribution
    Defines the position range in which characters can be placed on the longitudinal axis of the walkway.

12.

  1. Spacing Random
    Determines the distance that characters socializing in square areas will stand to one another. Larger values create a sparse distribution, low values create a dense distribution.

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13. Side Path Tendency
When the walkway Path Direction Mode is set to Both, this parameter controls how many walks are on the sides. At 0% of characters walking in both directions use the full width of the walkway. At 100%  forward and backward walking characters use half the walkway each. At 200% characters walk only along opposing outer edges of the walkway. Using negative values reverses the sides.

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14. Speed Variance
Defines the range of random speed variation applied to characters.

15. Grouping percentage
Defines the tendency for characters to form into groups. The higher the percentage the higher the number of groups created with respect to the non-grouped actors. At 100%, all actors walk in groups.

16. Group size
The number of people in each group is controlled by the Groups size range. In the example above, the range was between 2 and 4 members.

17. Group shape
Controls the distribution shape of characters grouped together using the clustering feature.  Negative values create distributions that stretch longitudinally, positive values create distributions that stretch laterally.

18. Group social distance
When using the clustering feature this range controls the randomized distance between characters in groups. Large values create groups that are dispersed and small values create groups that are tight-knit.

19. Path loop mode.
Opens or closes the path.

20. Path Direction Mode
Defines the direction the characters travel on the walkway, options include Forward, Backward, or Both. The direction is represented by a blue preview arrow on the walkway so that you can easily see which way the characters will travel.

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21. Stair Direction Rules
Controls the side-path rules for characters climbing stairs. Options are left down/right up, light down/left up, or no stair rules.

22. Width of all Path Points
Defines the width of all path points in the selected path.

23. Body radius.
Defines the minimum distance the actors will be from each other during the simulation.

24. Collision response.
Defines how quickly an actor will be pushed when it enters another actor’s body radius.

25. Yield factor.
Defines how much the actors will slow down when colliding with other actors.

26. Position
Position of the pivot of the path in world space coords.

27. Rotation
Rotation of the pivot of the path in world space coords.

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Path Point Properties


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To access a Path Point’s properties, first, select a walkway in the 3d viewport and then click a path point and open the Properties panel.

  1. Width
    The width of the walkway at the selected Path Point.
  2. Position
    Position of the pivot of the path point in world space coords.
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