Note: Z randomization is actually enabled by default Z rotation from 0 to 360 (this will result in random Z rotation).Y rotation from -5 to 5 (this will slightly lean the trees in the Y axis).X rotation from -5 to 5 (this will slightly lean the trees in the X axis).For this, we can use Rotation randomization under the "Transformations" tab. We don't want all trees to be growing in exactly the same direction. The forest already looks good, but we can make it even more natural by randomizing the rotation of the trees. This will make the distances between the trees more natural without visible overlapping: Values lower than 100% mean that some overlapping is allowed, but since the tree model does not take all space inside its bounding box, we can go ahead and use values around 30% - 50%. More than 100% means that there will be an even larger distance between the trees. 100% means that no bounding box can touch each other. The value considers the size of the tree's bounding box, in percent. If the forest becomes too sparse, we can lower the Spacing value under Avoid collisions. To prevent trees from intersecting with each other, we can enable the "Avoid collisions" option under the "Config" tab: We can use some of the Chaos Scatter features to improve this.įirst, we can increase the number of trees using the "Count" value under the Surface Scattering tab: The value of -1 means that the objects are aligned to the -Y axis (vertical downwards).Īt this point, we can see that the trees are not scattered in a very natural way. The value of 1 means that the objects are aligned to the +Y axis (vertical upwards). The value of 0 means that the objects are aligned to the surface normals. If you want your scattered objects to always remain vertical (in the case of trees you probably want them to be growing straight up, not to lean according to the underlying surface curvature), you can use the "Normal Alignment" option for this. Note: by default, the scattered objects are aligned to the normals of the distribute-on geometry. You will immediately see the trees scattered on top of the ground plane in the viewport, and also if you render your scene: Note: You must nest the tree model inside the Chaos Scatter object so this way the Chaos Scatter can scatter the tree model over the landscape/ground object The ground object as a "Distribute-on" object.Once the Chaos Scatter object is in the scene, you can select it and pick: You can create it from the menu Corona > Chaos Scatter: Once the ground plane and the assets are in place, we can create a Chaos Scatter object anywhere in the scene. Moving the pivot up should fix the issue. If your trees are flying above the ground - most likely the pivot of the original tree model is placed too low below the tree trunk. Note: pay attention to the pivot of the object that you are scattering! The pivot's position defines the point which will be placed on the distribute-on object and the pivot's Y-axis defines the up-axis (upwards along the normals of the distribute-on object).
#Corona renderer terrain for free#
Note: you can use Chaos Cosmos, which comes with Corona 8, to quickly load assets into your scene for free and without having to visit any external services. We will use a tree, a rock, and a grass model: In this example, we will use a landscape object, 500x500 meters large, with enough subdivisions to make it look smooth: We need a base to scatter our objects on. Since we will be rendering a large area, we can use meters: For example, if our scene is a forest, it will be extremely uncomfortable to specify object dimensions in millimeters and if our scene is a macro close-up, it will not make sense to work in meters. It is important to keep the units adequate to the scene scale. We will start by setting the correct scene units in Cinema 4D.
#Corona renderer terrain how to#
This simple guide shows how to use the basics of Chaos Scatter to set up a scene featuring a forest, grass, and rocks on a large surface.įirst, let's get familiar with the basic naming used in Chaos Scatter: Using Chaos Scatter with Other Features of Corona.It is a part of a larger collection of articles: This is "Getting Started with Chaos Scatter".