Forest Pack - Nested Clustering

[cjwidd]

I assumed (incorrectly) that 'clustering' was a technique to get different objects to cluster around a target object, e.g. 10 clovers cluster around 1 mushroom; 10 mushrooms cluster around 1 sapling, etc. However, clustering only operates between groups, not within groups. Is there a way to obtain the former, versus the latter, using Forest Pack?

[Paul Roberts]

Hi,

You can achieve this effect using two Forest Pack objects. In the first one you scatter the sapling as normal. You'd then scatter the mushrooms as a second Forest Pack object.



To get the mushrooms to scatter around the trees, add the Saplings Forest Pack object as an Exclude area in the Mushrooms Forest Pack object and then use falloff curves to exclude the mushrooms from around the base of the tree. You can reduce the scale too if you like. This might seem counter-intuitive, but the final step is to click the Invert Curves button which will magically reverse the distribution so that the mushrooms are now only around the trees.



A sample file is attached.

I hope that helps,
Paul

[cjwidd]

Wow, I was not expecting a sample scene - thank you! Just to confirm, this effect can only be achieved with Forest Pack in conjunction with Rail Clone; you must have access to a Forest Pack and Rail Clone license(?)

[Paul Roberts]

Apologies, that was a slip of the keyboard. I'd been writing about RailClone all day and I instinctively typed the wrong plugin name  . No RailClone required, just Forest Pack.

[cjwidd]

I originally asked this question on the Corona Renderer forums, thinking the Forest Pack forums would be too crowded or ignored.

Obviously I was completely wrong, because the support here has been timely and thorough, so thank you so much! Also, thank you for editing your original comment for clarity

[Paul Roberts]

You're very welcome!