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Animation

Artwork by Aron Kamolz

Animating Is a Breeze

Add life to your models and make them react to wind and breeze. Combine random gusting, gentle fluttering and strong directional wind forces to create anything from a calm day to a dramatic hurricane. Each animation can be set to loop seamlessly. Animation data can be included as a rotational rig or a baked point cache for Alembic, FBX and Pixar USD file formats.

Fully Customizable Look

PlantFactory's wind algorithms consist of three different effects:
 

Random gusts
Apply "Wind and gust motion" to stalks and stems, trunks, branches and twigs. Randomly appearing gusts will bend the plant into a specific direction. Optionally, a constantly blowing wind with a set strength and direction can be applied on top of the random gusting motion for simulating strong hurricanes.

 

Gentle breeze
Mostly suitable for leaves, "Ambient motion breeze" will add a gentle, calm swaying movement and sudden rustling and fluttering of small geometry.

 

Frond animation
Blades, which are PlantFactory's leaves with 3D geometry, can be animated with a flapping motion, an effect especially useful for light-weight palm tree leaves and fronds in real-time projects.

Additionally, global criteria such as stronger movement on thinner and longer branches or in higher or outer parts of the plant add an extra layer of realism. Combine all wind effects to art-direct the final animation.

Keyframing in VUE

VUE can open PlantFactory models in their native procedural *.tpf file format and read published and global parameters. Keyframe any plant parameter and atmospheric wind change and render seamless growth, decay and seasonal animations.*
PlantFactory plants can also be used in EcoSystems to create entire wind-swept forests and meadows.
 
*Keyframing animations directly in PlantFactory is in development.

Animations by Frederic Bec

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