Can proximal see cloned objects?

[georgedrakakis]

I am trying to create a foamy wake behind a boat and have got a nice looking motion using clones spheres on a displaced plane. What I am trying to do is get the proximal shader to recognise the clones, to use as mask for some procedural noises.

Have tried everything I could think of...matrix object, connect object, metaballs, but all proximal sees is the root location of the cloner object, not the clones themsleves.

I have achieved a similar effect in the past using the standard particle emitter, so I know that proximal will see particles...surely there is a way for it to recognise clones?

Any ideas would be appereciated!
hi,
did you set you clones under a null or as childs to your mesh that controls the proximal, checking "include subobjects" ?

edit: this is a quick test using proximal + instances in alpha channel
hth,
george

[Zendorf]

Hi George...your efforts are appreciated! Unfortunately this does not help me, since I am trying to get clones to be recognised by proximal. It must be a limitation of the clones functionality that proximal will not recognise them. Of course if the clones are made editable
they are recognised, but this defeats the purpose of using the cloner object!

It is somewhat inconsistent that standard particles are recognised, but not clones or the matrix object. As far as I can tell, TP is also not recognised, but there must be a hack around...usually is.

Maybe Per-Anders has some bright ideas ? :shrug:

[georgedrakakis]

hi James,
is the cloned object an editable one? proximal works only with meshes.
is cloner & matrix Mograph related?
if yes, i can't help further, i don't have Mograph yet.
good luck with your project.

[Zendorf]

Thanks George, but I gave up on this technique yesterday totally frustrated. I work in broadcast and just don't have time to futz around with things that should just work out of the box.

Turns out that Proximal will see TP fine and seemingly does see the matrix object(you need to change the particle priority to after effectors).As soon as you start adding effectors to the matrix object , proximal starts exhibiting some wierd behaviour especially if it is set to grid array mode (sphere or cylinder). Also while you can use a step effector to modify the visibilty of matrix clones, this is not acknowledged by proximal.

It is a pity, since it would have been a worthwhile technique.

When I have time I will submit a file and feature request to Maxon...

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