Scatter It - Casual Grass

July 2020 – Scatter It (2.0)

Not yet working with C4D 2024.

Scatter It is a one-click-solution to create meadows in Cinema 4D. We just released a major update that will be free for all existing customers.

Features:
- All you need is a spline to create a ready to render meadow
- Now that splines are used as input, a non-destructive and flexible workflow can be used
- You can change your spline at any time and Scatter It will adapt the ground surface as well as the scattering
- Simplified Interface
- Surface Generator is included (not detached anymore)
- Edge falloff for spline exclude
- Camera inclusion filter
- Cinema 4D Fields are supported
- With fields you can exclude objects, selections, vertex maps, shaders etc.
Available for C4D R20+ & Redshift, Corona, Octane and V-Ray.
No external scatter plugins are needed anymore. It is all based on MoGraph & Multi-Instances.

Video: https://youtu.be/hZuXdLPQRnI

November 2018 – Scatter It for R20

1) Way better viewport speed thanks to multi instances.

2) Noticeably faster parsing times.

3) MoGraph is used (MoGraph before R20 was really slow, now its performance at large scenes is really good).

4) We added new features and simplified the settings.

5) We removed bugs that appeared at the MoGraph version when clearing the input slot.

6) Its free for all Scatter It! customers.

August 2018 – Scatter It (1.0)

Scatter it! is probably the first one click scattering solution for Cinema 4D. It is a complex scatter setup which can be used with any custom surface. Everything will be automatically applied: density, cluster distribution, noises etc.

Note: Scatter It! is NOT an independent scatter plugin. You can use it with MoGraph, Octane Scatter, Surface Spread 1 or Surface Spread 2. So the speed of the viewport still depends on your used scatter plugin. We highly recommend to use Mograph R20, Octane Scatter or Surface Spread 2 for quick adjustments & fast viewport speed.

Available for Cinema 4D

Scatter Plugins supported:

• MoGraph
  
• MoGraph R20
• Octane Scatter
• SurfaceSpread 1
• SurfaceSpread 2

Renderer supported:

• Corona
  
• V-Ray
• Octane
• Redshift

Also included: Surface It!
Create scatter-ready surfaces from splines. In seconds! Perfectly tessellated & displaced.

Teaser Video:

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

Tutorial Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4TYwOfaKtM

FAQ

What do i need to use Scatter It?
Cinema 4D R20+ with MoGraph and a Spline.

Can i use my on plants with Scatter It?

Scatter It is made to work without any further settings by the user. Thus, we created a

complex XPresso Rig that works exactly for our provided grass & plant patches. So you

can not use custom plants with it. But in future we will release variations for new types

of meadows.

Can i scatter large areas with it?

Yes, but we highly recommend to use the Points Display Mode to maintain a fluent

viewport.

When using the Points Display Mode with the Corona Interactive Renderer,

nothing is rendered.

That is because Corona IR unfortunately does not support Multi-Instances. So this is a

Corona limitation. Nevertheless, it works in Corona when rendering normally.

Where is ‘Surface It’, which was included in the old Scatter It?

We included it in Scatter It. Now it is an all-in-one-package.

Why?

To have a non-destructive workflow. You can now change your surface afterwards by

simply editing your spline. The surface and the scattering will automatically adapt to it.

This is a way more flexible workflow.

Do i still need to prepare my spline?

Not really. All you need to do is to put it into the Spline Input.

What you can do is to set the ‘Intermediate Points’ of your spline to ‘Subdivided and the

‘Maximum Length’ to 10cm. But this is not mandatory.

Can i use convex or concave splines?

Depends. For some curved splines it works, for some not. You should not overdo it.

What are the perfect settings?

Scatter It is made to be a 1-click-solution. The default settings should work for the

majority of splines. However, you can always tweak the overall density as well as the

individual density in the menu „3 – Scattering“ > „Density“.

How to scatter on multiple splines?

You can only have one ‘Scatter It’ object in your scene. Nonetheless you can scatter on

multiple splines. Simply use a ‘Spline Mask’ to combine them to one. Mode should be set

to ‘Union’ and the axis should be set to ‘XZ (Along Y)’ in most cases.

What is ‘Exclude – Edges’ for?

Meadows are usually framed by curbs. By default the grass patches will intersect them.

So this function offsets them inwardly. Your curbs will not show little grass blades from

the outside anymore.

What is ‘Exclude – Custom Spline’ for?

Here you can choose a spline that will define a path where no grass is growing. Perfect

for trails.

Scatter It is slowing down my viewport. Why?

You are probably using ‘Include – Field of View’ then. This should only be used for final

rendering to only render the parts of the meadow that are visible in your camera.

How to use the ‘Ex/Include – Fields, Objects, Vertex Maps, Selections etc.’

Function?

This is the standard C4D fields menu. You will get all the information you need in fields

tutorials on Youtube etc. For example, if you want to exclude single polygon objects, you

can simply drag and drop them into the fields menu. Now click on the ‘Point Object Field

Layer’ and choose ‘Volume’ in the ‘Mode’ menu. Turn your object invisible and see the

effect.

How to use multiple objects in the fields menu?

Simply put them into a ‘Connect’ object and use it in the fields menu. It also works with

cloners.

Can i use polygon selections or vertex maps with the fields menu?

Yes. The Scatter It surface is a non-destructive, parametric object. You can not paint on

that. So you need a substitute surface to paint on. Draw your selection or vertex map on

it, and then drag and drop the selection tag in the fields menu. Your substitute surface

can be turned invisible afterwards.