Spline scatter on surface

[romullus]

I would love to see spline scatter mode enhanced by the option to project instances on surface. The projection could be performed in spline's local Z direction (preferably), or in world selectable direction. I imagine UI for the feature could look something like in attached screenshot. Such feature would be very useful in many practical scenarios.

[aaouviz]

Isn't that what the new includes/excludes option achieves? (But in reverse? So scattered on a surface but including a spline on Z axis)

Edit: Ah, I guess you want them to be equally spaced, as we can do with spline scattering?

[romullus]

Yes exactly and also in spline mode instances can be oriented by spline direction, something that's not possible in 2D surface mode.

[aaouviz]

I would love to see spline scatter mode enhanced by the option to project instances on surface. The projection could be performed in spline's local Z direction (preferably), or in world selectable direction. I imagine UI for the feature could look something like in attached screenshot. Such feature would be very useful in many practical scenarios.

Ok, gotcha!

I'm just now seeing the necessity of such a feature... would be amazing to have. Not really an easy non-destructive way to do this right now...

[nauticus25]

+1 for this feature, especially if the scattered objects can be aligned to the surface's normal. The use case is scattering vehicles along a spline, but ensuring all 4 wheels touch the surface regardless of the surface's slope. Currently, it is very difficult/impossible to get the tires to rest on the surface using a spline that has been conformed to the surface. The vehicles all seem to float a bit in pitch and there is no control in their roll angle to simulate a banked turn.

[Aram Avetisyan]

Hi,

Yes, having a spline-to-surface projection for spline scattering will be the ultimate solution. But as array modified in Max got improvement specifically in spline scattering, the same branch in Chaos Scatter got lower priority.
For now, you can either use the Array modifier itself for spline scattering and projecting the spline to surface.
Or use conform modifier for the spline, making sure it is normalized/devided into enough segments - and then using it with Chaos Scatter.