[Maya] Is there a proper scatter?

xvisurprise

Hi there,

Is there a scatter that isn't shit  that bad under maya? I can't seem to find any, except spPaint but that does not work well for some stuff.

Something like Multiscatter for max would be nice.

Carbonscatter is meh, and the rest I know of are just some very basic stuff.

Maybe the most viable method would be using particle instancer and expressions, but then again, it is a pain in the ass.

Thanks in advance.

xvisurprise

Looks like I found a great way to scatter. MASH. MASH all the way. Still not as good as Multiscatter imo, but it is working, and not overcomplicated. 

throttlekitty

Soup also has a cool layered scatterer.

oglu

MASH in two weeks...

oglu

or now...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb2ZGa0JBns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wloCNbLRetQ

xvisurprise

Looks pretty fucking awsome, thanks!

SebKaine

Hi guys sorry to grab this topic out of the grave but, i would have the exact same question.

What is in 2019 the best way to scatter object in Maya ?
- nParticle paint tool ?
- Xgen ?
- Bifrost ?
- Mash ?
- SP Paint Script ?

- I need something as close as possible as UE4 scatterer in terms of feeling  
- I need something strong and reliable that will not let me down when pushing the beast
- i need to be able to read and acces translate / rotate / scale value of each instance in order to export them in a point cloud or a csv 

Thanks for your lights !
Cheers 

oglu

MASH is one way.
https://youtu.be/wg5QOutXBgU

https://youtu.be/wloCNbLRetQ

Or Bifrost
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/bifrost-forum/instancing-sample-scenes/m-p/8951825

Or SouP
http://www.soup-dev.com/videos/instanceManager.mp4

SebKaine

Thanks for your very fast answer Oglu.
- soup is not free and is a plugin so i would exclude it.
- i have check the 2 bifrost exemples, they look sweet but it's more a procedural scatter, than a painting tool.

So i guess MASH is still the most artist friendly way if you want to stick with Maya default tool.

Do you know if there is an easy way to bake transform info in Mash without script ?
I have also found this post, who can maybe solve the problem if scripting is needed :
http://ianwaters.co.uk/wp/mash/accessing-mash-point-data-with-the-maya-api/

Cheers 
E

oglu

Yes if you like to paint something, MASH is the way to go.
But i have no idea how to extract the data for export. Sorry.

Im sure you could read in vertex data into a Bifrost graph but thats a task for a TD.

SebKaine

Thanks for your answer Oglu , i'll try to figure how to export xform from Mash point clouds.

SebKaine

i am impressed by this paint scattering in Mash. It's really sweet.
this code give you all the info needeed , then you can create locators or write csv or whatever.

source :
http://ianwaters.co.uk/wp/mash/accessing-mash-point-data-with-the-maya-api/

#####################################################

import maya.OpenMaya as om

def channelToList(channel):

    if channel == None or channel.length() == 0:

        return

 

    if channel.__class__.__name__ == "MVectorArray":

        listOfVectors = []

        for i in range (0, channel.length(), 1):

            vec = (channel[i].x, channel[i].y, channel[i].z)

            listOfVectors.append(vec)

        return listOfVectors

 

sel = om.MSelectionList()

sel.add("MASH1")

mashNode = om.MObject()

sel.getDependNode( 0, mashNode )

mashNodeFn = om.MFnDependencyNode(mashNode)

pointsAttribute = mashNodeFn.attribute("inputPoints")

pointsPlug = om.MPlug(mashNode, pointsAttribute)

handleData = pointsPlug.asMDataHandle().data();

inputPointsData = om.MFnArrayAttrsData(handleData)

channels = inputPointsData.list()

print channels

dynamicArray = inputPointsData.getVectorData("position")

listPosition = channelToList(dynamicArray)

print listPosition

dynamicArray = inputPointsData.getVectorData("rotation")

listRotation = channelToList(dynamicArray)

print listRotation

dynamicArray = inputPointsData.getVectorData("scale")

listScale = channelToList(dynamicArray)

print listScale

ListId = inputPointsData.getDoubleData("objectIndex")[:]

print listId
#####################################################