Fan - Games

This section details the properties of the Fan object for use with the “Games” wind mode.

The direction and strength of the wind are indicated in the upper right corner of the Tree Window.

The properties in this group control wind quality and the enabled state.

Use this property to toggle wind on and off in the Tree Window.

Change the style of wind applied to the model. This style should be based on the target application, not the algorithm that may look the best on the model.

Press the button to launch the Wind Wizard. This tool will set up the tree based on your answers to a few questions about its components.

Press this button to automatically compute wind weights based on your wind level settings and the anatomy of the model. The Wind Wizard does this for you if you ask it to set wind weights for you. This action does not change wind level assignments.

Opens a web browser to the online documentation for the current wind mode.

The properties in this group control high-level wind settings.

This property sets the strength of the wind. 0.0 corresponds to no wind, 1.0 corresponds to the highest wind.

Note: The actual wind behavior is governed by how the properties below interpret the strength value. It is possible to have some wind at 0.0 and no wind at all at 1.0, depending on how the properties are tuned.

These properties control how quickly the model responds to changes in wind strength and direction. Large, heavy models should have large response times. Small, light models should have short ones. The idea that if a flower and an oak tree are placed under the influence of the same wind source, the flower should react more quickly to changes in that source than the oak tree does.

Sets the response time for strength changes. It is how long in seconds it would take the model to go from 0.0 behavior to 1.0 behavior.

Sets the response time for direction changes. It is how long in seconds it would take the model to react to a 180-degree change in wind direction.

The properties in this group affect the entire model, essentially making it sway in the wind. This is typically the slowest moving group and uses small values for bend and oscillation. Large tree models typically rely on this group for trunk bending so as not to waste a wind level on the trunk.

Note: As with all wind curves, the left-hand side of Games Shared Motion curves correspond to minimum wind conditions and the right-hand side corresponds to maximum wind conditions. Current wind strength is indicated by the black line.

Check this box to enable/disable shared wind. Disabling shared wind is a good way to focus on the other levels during tuning.

This property controls how much the whole model will bend in the direction of the wind across all wind conditions.

This property controls how much (the amount, not the speed) the whole model will oscillate around its bent-over position as specified by “Bend”.

This property controls how fast the whole model will oscillate.

This property controls how much motion perpendicular to the wind direction is visible in the model oscillations.

This property controls how much wiggle appears in the shared motion. Woody trunks should have low or zero flexibility while smaller, softer plants may need some flexibility to appear more natural.

This property designates the percentage along the tree where the “Shared” wind effect begins. Use this to prevent trunk motion near the bottom of large, stout models like oak trees by raising this value. Small plants and thin trunks should use lower values, even 0.0.

The properties in this group apply to geometry with the associated wind level as indicated by the number overlaid on the generators when wind is enabled. Use the wind weight profile curves on each branch generator to control how much each branch bends along its length.

Note: As with all wind curves, the left-hand side of Games Branch Motion curves correspond to minimum wind conditions and the right-hand side corresponds to maximum wind conditions. Current wind strength is indicated by the black line.

Check this box to enable/disable wind at this level. Disabling wind at any particular level is a good way to focus on the other level during tuning.

This property controls how much the branches will bend in the direction of the wind across all wind conditions.

This property controls how much (the amount, not the speed) the branches will oscillate around its bent-over position as specified by “Bend”.

This property controls how fast the branches will oscillate.

This property controls how much motion perpendicular to the wind direction is visible in the branch oscillations.

This property controls how much wiggle appears in the branch motion. Woody branches should have low or zero flexibility while softer plants may need some flexibility to appear more natural.

This value controls how synchronized branch motion appears. High values indicate that each branch moves independently and does not appear to be in unison with neighboring branches. A value of 0.0 means all branches at this level move together. Carefully chosen numbers here will reveal waves of wind rolling through the model while maintaining some chaotic motions. This value is typically greater than 1.0 and less than 10.0.

This value places an upper limit on how much a branch can stretch during wind animations.

The properties in this group control the ripple motion of leaves and fronds. Ripple motion is achieved by using a noise pattern to control the oscillation of vertex positions based on their wind weight, the wind direction, and the properties in this group.

Note: As with all wind curves, the left-hand side of Games Ripple Motion curves correspond to minimum wind conditions and the right-hand side corresponds to maximum wind conditions. Current wind strength is indicated by the black line.

Check this box to enable/disable ripple motion.

This property controls how much the leaves/fronds will ripple in the direction of their surface normal.

This property controls how much the leaves/fronds will ripple in the direction of wind.

This property controls how fast the leaves/fronds will ripple.

This property controls how much wiggle appears in the ripple motion.

This value controls how synchronized ripple motion appears. High values indicate that each vertex moves independently and does not appear to be in unison with neighboring vertices. A value of 0.0 means all vertices will move together. Carefully chosen numbers here will reveal waves of wind rolling through the model while maintaining some chaotic motions. This value is typically greater than 1.0 and less than 10.0.

The properties in this group control the timing and strength of random wind gusts.

Toggles gusting on and off.

Controls how often gusts can occur.

Controls how much additional wind strength is added to the nominal wind strength during a gust. Add variance to make each gust random.

When a gust happens, this value controls how long it will remain active (in seconds). Use the variance to make each gust length random.

This value scales how long it takes for a gust to reach its maximum value. Lower this value to increase the speed at which gusts impact the model.

This value scales how long it takes for a gust to return to the nominal wind level. Lower this value to increase the speed at which the model returns to nominal wind conditions after a gust.