Controll item rotation with FP Effects

[Klonsemann]

I would like controll the local ZRotation (blue axis) of eache item in a way, so that the items point down along the surface.
The attached image shows like it should be. The teapots are placed by hand.

I think that should be possible with the new effects editor, but i just don't get it  .

Maybe this can be done over a rotation mapped Fallof in the transform rollout. But i didnt get that working either.

Of cause, the final surface will be more complex and not point symmetric as the shown example.

EDIT:

I build a testscene. Thanks for every suggestions.

[Michal Karmazín]

Hi,

What about setting Surface - Direction - Normal (0) & applying a Mirror modifier (having set the Mirror axis: Z) over the Custom Object? That would be probably the easiest & quickest option. Attaching a sample scene.

Best regadrs,

[Klonsemann]

Hi Michal,

sorry about my bad description. Forgot to mention that my first picture shows the result like it should be.
The teapots are placed by hand. So i guess u undersand me wrong.

I want FP to distribute the teapots all over the surface area.
The teapots should be aligned 100% to the surfacenormal.
But the Z-Rotation of every teapot is calculated in a way that the X-Axis points down along the surface (like down hill).

[Paul Roberts]

Hi,

Depending on what other features of ForestPack you need to use, the easiest solution might well be to use UVW Mode in the surface rollout, in that way you can automatically align the objects to the UV space of the surface.



I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.

Many Thanks,

Paul

[Klonsemann]

Thanks Paul, nice idea. The mapping for the final surface is not so easy cylindric as for the cone.
I solved it with render2texture the normalmap, switched channles and painted in photoshop.
Finaly i used the  map for driving the z-rotation in transform rollout.

So far for proof of concetp, lets see what the client wants.