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This page provides information about the Chaos Scatter integration in tool in Chaos Envision.


Overview

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Chaos Scatter is a powerful instancing and distribution tool that allows you to easily populate scenes with selected objectsmodels of your choice. This is especially useful for outdoor scenes that need to be filled with greenery, rocks, grass, etc. The Chaos Scatter tool creates instances of specified objects using models on the surfaces and edges of other objects or splines to generate points. 

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Currently, only Only Cosmos objects can be scattered on surfaces.

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Selection highlighting can be quickly toggled on and off with the H hotkey, or through the View menu > Scene Selection Highlighting.

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||Create menu|| > Scatter

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||Toolbar|| > Scatter


All Scatter objects are located in the Objects paneltab > Scatter filter tab.

All Scatter objects' parameters are accessible in the Details paneltab.

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Scatter Buttons

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The following parameters are located in the Details tab and are available upon selection of any Scatter object from the Objects tab.

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A field showing the name of the selected Scatter object, allowing you also to rename it.

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Lock – Disables the transformation options for the selected Scatter object - position, rotation, and scale. Click Image Addedto enable the options for manipulation again.

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Hide – Toggles the visibility of the Scatter object on and off. Invisible objects are indicated by Image Added and aren't rendered.

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Select hierarchy All – Selects the parent and all children of the current selection from within the scene hierarchy.

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Select hierarchy Parent only – Selects only the parent of the current selection from within the scene hierarchy.

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Select hierarchy All childrenSelects the rest of the children in the scene hierarchy group the current selection belongs to.

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Make instance unique – Excludes the selection from the rest of its instances and makes it unique. The action is disabled if the selection has no instances.

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Select all instances – Selects all instances the selected Scatter object has in the scene.

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Save Scatter preset – Saves the current settings as a Scatter preset.
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Scatter Tabs

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The models to be scattered and their distribution are specified in the Layers tab. While a single layer can contain multiple models, multiple layers can also be used to split and organize the scattered models depending on the sought visual result.

To add a layer, use the Add new layer button (Image Added). To delete a layer, use the Remove button (Image Added) which appears when hovering over a layer.

The areas where the models are to be scattered are specified in the Targets tab. To exclude parts of these areas, use the Exclusion areas tab.

For both types of areas, Target and Exclusion, you can either pick existing scene objects, or create native Envision objects using the Create geometry or Spline tools.

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Scatter Setup

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Select the Cosmos models you want to scatter and drop them onto the Models section of the Scatter layer settings.

Models can be scattered either over a surface, or over a spline. For more information, check the Scatter Workflows article.


Scattering over a surface

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Density – Defines the density of the scattered models in the number of instances per 100 square meters. See the Density example below.

Max angle to up vector – Defines the maximum angle of the surface on which the models are scattered. A value of 0 means that the models can only be scattered on horizontal surfaces. A value of 180 means that the models can be scattered on any possible surface angle.

Detect collisions – Prevents the scattered models from colliding with each other. See the Detect Collisions example below.

Models – The list of models used in the currently selected Scatter. Click on a model and move the slider to set its Frequency. See the Frequency example below.

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Image Added– Select scattered instances in the viewport to make adjustments.

Image Added– Removes either the selected models, or all the models if none are selected.

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You can double-click on a layer to change its name

To scatter an object follow these steps:

Click the Scatter (Image Removed) toolbar button or go to the Create menu and select the Scatter option.
Pick a surface to scatter the objects on it. Click Done when ready.
Open the Cosmos Browser from the File menu > Open Cosmos Browser, or open the Cosmos library in the bottom expandable panel by clicking the Cosmos (Image Removed)button.
Pick a Cosmos asset and drag it into the Models field of the Scatter layer. Pick as many assets as you like. You can delete the extra ones with the Remove tool.
Set the Density and Max angle to up vector options. If necessary, specify exclusion areas too

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Scattering over a spline

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Spacing – Determines the spacing between instances in meters. See the Spacing example below.

Jitter – Randomly jitters instances along the spline. Each instance has Spacing applied on both its sides, except the instances at the end of the spline. The Jitter value is divided between those two Spacings.

Offset – Determines what percentage of the Spacing the instances are offset in one direction of the spline. When set to 100%, all instances replace the one after them, as the offset is equal to the whole value of the Spacing. See the Offset example below.

Follow spline – Determines how scattered instances are oriented along the spline. Assigning a value of 100%, makes instances follow the spline and are oriented along the local tangent direction.

Detect collisions – Prevents the scattered models from colliding with each other. See the Detect Collisions example below.

Models – The list of models used in the currently selected Scatter. Click on a model and move the slider to set its Frequency. See the Frequency example below.

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Image Added– Select scattered instances in the viewport to make adjustments.

Image Added– Removes either the selected models, or all the models if none are selected.

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You can double-click on a layer to change its name.

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Randomization

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The controls in this panel add randomization to the scattered models position, rotation and scale, allowing you to achieve more natural and realistic look of the scattered models. 

Translation – Moves the instances From the given distance To the given distance on the corresponding axis. See the Randomization: Translation example below.

Rotation – Rotates the instances From the given degrees up To the given degrees continuously. See the Randomization: Rotation example below.

Scale – Scales the instances From the given value To the given value continuously. When Uniform scale is enabled, the X axis values are applied on the whole target object. See the Randomization: Scale example below.

Uniform scaling – When enabled, all instances in all axes are scaled according to the values of the X axis. See the Randomization: Scale example below.

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Examples

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Scatter on surface

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Scatter on spline

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Density

The objects are scattered onto a surface.

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Density = 1

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Density = 10

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Density = 100

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Spacing

The objects are scattered onto a spline.

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Spacing = 0.25m

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Spacing = 0.5m

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Spacing = 1m

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Spacing = 2m

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Spacing = 3m

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Detect Collisions


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The objects are scattered onto a surface.

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The objects are scattered onto a spline.

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Frequency

The objects are scattered onto a surface.

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Frequency of both models is set to 100

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Frequency of pink model is set to 0.2

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Frequency of red model is set to 0.2

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Offset

The objects are scattered onto a spline.

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Offset = 0%

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Offset = 50%

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Offset = 100%

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Anchor
Scale
Scale

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Randomization: Scale

The objects are scattered onto a surface.

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Uniform scaling is on, Scale is 100%

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Uniform scaling is on, Scale X is 5%-100%

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Uniform scaling is off, Scale X is 5%-100%

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Randomization: Rotation

The objects are scattered onto a spline.

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Rotation is 0 degree

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Rotation Z is 0-360 degrees

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Rotation Z is 0-360 degree, Rotation Y is 0-90 degree

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Anchor
Translation
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Randomization: Translation

The objects are scattered onto a surface.

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Translation X = 0-0, Y = 0-0, Z = 0-0

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Translation X = 0-0, Y = 0-15, Z = 0-0

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Translation X = 0-15, Y = 0-0, Z = 0-0

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Translation X = 0-0, Y = 0-0, Z = 0-15

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Translation X = 0-10, Y = 0-15, Z = 0-0



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See also:

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CardPageLinkScatter Workflows

Scatter Workflows

The following parameters are located in the Details right-hand side panel and are available upon selection of any Scatter object from the Objects left-hand side panel.

Image Removed – A field showing the type and name of the selected element, allowing you also to rename the element. The new name is automatically displayed in the respective Object tab.

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Image Removed – Toggles the visibility of the element on and off. Invisible objects are indicated by Image Removed.

 – Selects parent and all children.

 – Selects the parent element.

 – Selects all children elements.

 – Makes instance unique.

 – Selects all instances.

 – Saves Scatter preset.

Layers

Image Removed – Adds a new layer.

Image Removed – Removes the selected layer.

Density – 

Max angle to up vector – 

Detect collisions – 

Models – 

– Removes a model.

Targets

Exclusion Areas

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