Mesh Scatter

Used to scatter prefabs on meshes. To scatter prefabs first you have to create mesh scatter presets. Each preset can be used to scatter different types of prefabs.

Presets

You can open the point scatter settings inspector by pressing Shift + S and navigating to Scatter/Mesh Scatter/Presets Editor or the top bar Tools/Scene Forge/Scatter/Mesh Scatter.

The scattering is done using a list of methods. Each method is used to scatter objects on certain parts of the mesh and then the methods are combined based on an math operation.

Preset Properties:

  • Name (Name of the preset)
  • Coverage (Percentage based on scattered prefab and targets area)
  • Scatter Density (Defines the density of scattered objects)
  • Limit Object Count (If checked ignores the Scatter Density and instead sets object count between Min Count and Max Count)
  • Prefab Up Vector (Defines the up vector of all prefabs)
  • Use Mesh Normal (Should the prefab be oriented based on the surface normal)
  • Align with normal (%) (Aligns the object with the surface up direction based on %)
  • Align with direction (%) (Aligns the object with the surface forward direction based on %)
  • Add random rotation (%) (Allows you to add random rotation around the local orientation of the object. Note: this happens after the object has been aligned with the terrain and can cause unexpected results if using both)
  • Scatter Height (Defines maximum and minimum scatter height based on the target, NOT global)

  • Fall-Off Curve (Scatter density curve)

  • Methods

    • Scatter Method Random (Scatters prefabs randomly)
    • Scatter Method Normal Direction (Scatters prefabs based on normals of the mesh and the value of Normals property.

  • Prefab Properties

    • Weight (The chance of this prefab being placed)

Your presets get auto saved after making changes like adding new preset, deleting, changing values while scattering and closing the inspector.

Scattering

The actual scattering happens after creating a preset and selecting it. To select a preset press Shift + S and navigate to Scatter/Mesh Scatter and select you preset.

New point scattering shortcuts will now be available:

  • Space Bar key is used to scatter the prefabs on selected objects.
  • Shift + S keys are used to open the Mesh scatter presets editor inspector
  • Esc key is used to exit Mesh Scattering

Requirements

  • Scene Forge tool is active
  • Selecting a Mesh Scatter Preset
  • Convex Colliders - If using Mesh Colliders make sure that they can be set to Convex. The algorithm uses method ClosestPoint() in order to determine if a point is inside the collider or not. This method requires that Mesh Colliders are set to Convex = True. The program will automatically try and set Convex to True for the duration of the process but if your mesh exceeds the limit a warning will appear. You can disable the use of "ClosestPoint()" in the preset settings but that will increase process times. (Mesh Collider Limits)

Limitations

Meshes above 100k triangles could take some time to compute especially with high scatter density values.