Page History

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Part I: Export an Archive

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Part II: Create a Simple Scene

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In this step, we will create a simple scene for the XGen Archive primitives. 

Set up the Archive Primitives

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Column width 55% Set the size of the archive to 50 and add the cookie_monster archive. Column width 5%   Column width 40%

 

 

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Column width 55% A dialog will appear that asks you if the materials for the archives should be imported into the scene. Choose Yes. Column width 5%   Column width 40%

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Column width 55% Save the scene after the materials have been imported. Give the twist attribute the following expression: Code Block language php rand(-180, 180) Column width 5%   Column width 40%

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Set Up the Render

You should see something like this in the viewport: 

 Add a VRay Dome Light to the scene and render.

The result should be like this:

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Part III: Adding Multiple Archives

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Column width 55% More than one archive can be instanced in the same XGen description. Here is an example with a second archive. And let's see how this looks in the viewport.   Column width 5% Column width 40%

 

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And when rendered it should look like this.

 

To download the scene created with these steps, please click the button below. 

 

Part IV: Per Patch/Description Materials

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Column width 55% A material can be assigned to a patch/description and all archive instances can be forced to use that material. Select the description from the Outliner and right click in the viewport > Assign New Material. To make everything yellow we can assign a VRayMtl to the description and tick the Use Per Patch/Description Material For Archives option from the VRay settings in the Preview/Output tab:   Column width 5% Column width 40%

 

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There may not be a change in the viewport, but when rendered it should look like this:

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1. Projected textures can be used too! Here is an example with a projected file texture instead of the yellow diffuse color:

 

 

Part V: Shading Archive Instances Uniquely

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Column width 55% Archive instances can be shaded uniquely through the use of Custom Shader Parameters. Unlike XGen Hair there are no specified/hardcoded names for such parameters - colors and floats with any name can be used with VRay User Color and VRay User Scalar and can be plugged to anything. Here we will get rid of the tori archive and make each cookie monster body with a unique random color. Add a V-Ray User Color Map Disable the Use Per Patch/Description Material For Archives option from the VRay settings in the Preview/Output tab. Since the materials for the archive have been imported we can select the cookie_monster:body_blue material and attach a VRay User Color to the Diffuse Color. Give User attribute name "body_color" as a value (or whatever name you like - It should just match the name of the parameter we will add later). Column width 5%   Column width 40%

 

Add a Custom Shader Parameter

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Randomize the Color with an Expression

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[rand(0,1), rand(0,1),rand(0,1)]

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And when rendered it should look like this:

You can also set this expression to the Primitive Color attribute of the Preview Settings in the Preview/Output tab to get some sort of visual feedback in the viewport. 

Add a V-Ray User Scalar Map

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Column width 55% To render each cookie with a random amount of reflectivity we can create a VRay User Scalar and plug it to the Amount of the reflection of cookie_monster:BrownMtl. Set the Reflection Color to white so that the Amount dictates the reflectivity. Set the User attribute name of the VRay User Scalar to something like "reflectivity".   Randomize the Reflectivity Add a custom shader parameter of type float. Set the expression of the new parameter to the following: Code Block language php rand(0,1) Column width 5%   Column width 40%

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And when rendered it should look like this (with every cookie having different reflectivity):

 

Additional Options

1. A texture map could be also used to drive the Custom Shader Parameters like explained in the XGen General page
   
   

2. Here is another render with randomized refraction for the cookies instead of reflectivity

   
   

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Part VI: Animated Archives

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XGen can export an archive with animation within it from the export menu as shown below: 

As an example here is the cookie monster with its eyes animated for 26 frames: 

The whole archive instances can be animated uniquely as well - for more information refer to the XGen Animation and Motion Blur page.

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Part VII: Frame Attribute Per Archive

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Column width 55% To make each archive instance be in a different frame of it's inner animation you can use XGen Frame attribute from the Primitives tab of the XGen window - you can put an expression like rand(0,10) or $frame. You will also need to enable the Use XGen Frame Attribute Per Archive option from the Preview/Output tab of the XGen window.   Column width 5% Column width 40%

 

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Notes

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