It would be great if VRED offered a feature that allows scattering objects (as instances) across a base surface using customizable parameters. A common use case would be distributing vegetation within environment scenes. A nice example of this can be seen in D5 (D5 Scatter Tool). The following capabilities would be especially helpful for configuring scattering.
Selection of the Scatter Objects
- Choose a single object or a collection of objects (e.g. from an asset library)
Distribution Methods
Distribution Details (depending on the placement method)
Density: Objects per unit area, optionally controlled by a density map
Weighting: Probability of occurrence for each object within a collection
Distance: Minimum/maximum spacing between objects, optionally using collision volumes
Region settings (region size, blur, etc.):
For the “entire geometry” method, regions can be generated randomly based on size and frequency (e.g., Region 1 with Object A, Region 2 with Object B)
Smooth transitions between regions adjustable via blur parameters
Alignment: Align objects to surface normals or keep alignment independent
Offset: Vertical offset of all scattered objects from the base surface
Collisions: Options for handling collisions with other scene objects
Variation
Random scale values (min/max) per axis or uniform scaling
Optional position jittering (min/max) per axis
Random rotation values (min/max) per axis
Seed value to control the overall randomness of the scattering variation
