Scattering dragon scale like pattern in maya

RS7 · Sep 2018

Hi,

I'm looking for a way to scatter onbjects in dragon/snake scale like pattern in Maya.

Surface is uneven and doing this by hand is out of the question. Scattered objects need to be separate objects, so no displacement solution.

something like thins

Image: https://theforagingphotographer.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/scale-detail.jpg

oglu · Sep 2018

I would give Mash a try. But in the end its a lot of handwork.

RS7 · Sep 2018

oglu said:

I would give Mash a try. But in the end its a lot of handwork.

Hi!

Yeah, MASH was my first guess as well, but after playing around with the tool, i have not come across the correct offset solution yet.

Maybe some particle expression or something?

I have to scatter about couple of hudred objects or more, so yeah. Handwork is something i'd like to avoid as much as possible.

Maybe even trying out Houdini or some other tool for that.

RyanB · Sep 2018

Easy in Houdini. Attached image is just using a box as a standin for scales. I would also use a Polyframe node to get a tangent attribute and use that to align the scales along the dragon's body.

Image: https://preview.ibb.co/e8sZUp/basic_scatter_and_copy.png

RS7 · Sep 2018

Hi Ryan!

This image is pretty small, but if i'm seeing correctly, it is just a scatter across the surface? It seems that the scattered objects are not forming the clear unified pattern i'm after. Like the one on the reference image above.

RyanB · Sep 2018

There is also a scales VOP node: "Generates a scale-like pattern and returns the displaced position, normal, and displacement amount."

Scattering dragon scale like pattern in maya

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