Duplicator

The Duplicate->Duplicator command in the Model module allows you to create multiple copies of a single object and position them on a selected surface (polygon mesh, patch, NURBS surface, or curve). You can specify that the duplicates be distributed randomly on the surface a given number of times, or be located at each vertex or tagged vertex.

Note:

Faces cannot be used as the object to duplicate. You must first convert the face to a polygon mesh using the Effect->Convert command in the Model module.

The orientation of the duplicates can be fixed or aligned with the normals, and the scale, rotation, translation, and shape can all be independently jittered in x, y, and z to create a more random effect.

Using this effect, you can easily create a field of grass, leaves on a tree, or bristles on a brush. As well, you can create modified versions of models by, for example, placing a small sphere at each vertex of a character's head or at each vertex of a curve spelling out a word.

The Duplicate->AnimatedDuplicator (Motion Module) command is the animated version of this effect.

Procedure

1. Create a source object and a destination object.
2. Choose the Duplicate->Duplicator command. The Duplicator dialogue box is displayed.
3. Set the parameters as desired.

Parameters

Positioning

Allows you to position the duplicated model randomly on the surface model or at each vertex. You can select the Tagged Points Only option to duplicate the model only at its tagged vertices. If you select Random positioning, you must also specify the number of times to duplicate the model, and a seed number for the random number generator. Each seed produces a unique pattern of duplication.

Orientation

Allows you to specify the orientation of the duplicates: aligned with the surface normals or aligned with the y-axis.

If the model is not a polygon mesh and the Surface Normal option is selected, a normal is heuristically computed at each control point of the surface. These normals can yield imprecise results since the control points of patch and NURBS objects do not generally lie on the surface of the object.

Result

Determines the form of the resulting object: either one large polygon mesh with all duplicates and the source merged together, or a large hierarchy with one node for each duplicate.

If the model to be duplicated is a patch or NURBS surface, the result is always a hierarchy.

Jittering

Scale, Rotate, Translate, Shape

The x, y, and z components for scaling, rotation, translation, and shape can be jittered independently on each duplicate. This allows you to create a large number of duplicates that are not all identical.

If the model to duplicate is a polygon mesh, the Duplicator effect preserves local materials in the result. Also, to preserve a texture on the individual duplicates, you must select the Hierarchy option for the Result.

Last updated 02-apr-1998