Scatter one object on specific points. Plants, Lights, Furniture ... How to do ?

[ASIMO]

Hello Community

I am often dealing with the task to place 300 identical lamps throughout a building on many stories, or setting the same curtain in an apartment tower 50+ times.

So I thought it might make sense to use Corona Scatter, as I can randomize the width of a curtain etc. For now it is all about placing a specific lamp 200 times.

So I thought of generating small polygons areas (10 x 10cm) in all the places to scatter this one object onto. (On different floors, different ceiling heights etc.)

Like a fixing area. This basically works.

But how can I tell Corona Scatter to place only one object inside each single polygon ? And also that it sits exactly in the middle of this helping polygon without being shifted randomly inside ?

Basically what I want is to distribute all my lamps (same kind) each on one of the 200 fixed points.
_

I could also use Cloner, but this only works in a very rigid grid of objects ...

Maybe there is even a better way to deal with it ? But I thought using Corona Scatter might make a lot of sense, as I can vary the type of light etc. super easy.

Thank you for your help !

Best – Asimo

[romullus]

This can be achieved by changing scatter's surface distribution mode from random to position (formerly known as UV mode). First make sure that the polygons on which you will scatter your objects have proper UV coordinates, then play with scatter's spacing and offset to achieve that each polygon would have only single object scattered on it and that it sits in the center of that polygon - triangles works best here, since you can easily adjust their proportions later and the objects will always stay roughly in the center.

Not sure how much you can transfer from Max to C4D, but i'm attaching screenshot, so you can at least see what i'm talking about.

[ASIMO]

Hey

Thank you very much for the tips. Will try that. Sounds good !

Triangle is a good hint as well :)

Best – A

[Aram Avetisyan]

For relatively non-complex distributions, 3ds Max's array modifier (tool as well) can be very handy as well.
It just may have some limitations - e.g. CoronaLight cannot be arrayed with the modifier.

Scatter, of course, is another good way to do such things.

[ASIMO]

I finally solved it with the Surface-Spread plugin I still have.

Basically it works like Corona Scatter but allows you to only distribute one object per polygon-center.

Actually allow Corona Scatter to scatter objects with a certain array / regularity over a surface would be nice.

Or make it snap on polygon centers, edges or points could also be nice.

Thx for your inputs.

[romullus]

Actually allow Corona Scatter to scatter objects with a certain array / regularity over a surface would be nice.

That is already possible in Chaos scatter in aforementioned position distribution mode. It has limited functionality, but certainly could be useful in some scenarios. Give it a try.

Or make it snap on polygon centers, edges or points could also be nice.

Agree with that. This feature could be useful and i think it shouldn't be too hard to implement. Even super limited 3ds Max's native scatter can do that, so Chaos scatter should too.

For relatively non-complex distributions, 3ds Max's array modifier (tool as well) can be very handy as well.
It just may have some limitations - e.g. CoronaLight cannot be arrayed with the modifier.

The OP originally posted this topic in C4D section, i think it's unlikely that 3ds Max array modifier would be much useful to him :]

[romullus]

By the way, i managed to find a way to make Chaos scatter distribute objects on faces, vertices and edges. It's a hacky approach and has some limitations, so it's not a substitute for native feature.

[ASIMO]

By the way, i managed to find a way to make Chaos scatter distribute objects on faces, vertices and edges. It's a hacky approach and has some limitations, so it's not a substitute for native feature.

Looks good ! Thx :)