Creating a Random Length Wood Floor with Mograph

#1

I’m attempting to create a random length wood floor using four planks that are 6’, 5’, 4’, and 3’. Mograph is very specific regarding the offset distance. I am hoping to get a few rows and them randomize them also laterally. Is there a way to get Mograph to place these boards end to end? I know there’s an espresso script available, however, it is not possible to remove the bevel on the planks which I don’t want. I’d appreciate any feedback…

I’m also looking into Floor Generator by C4DZone which looks promising as you can define your own “tile”, however, I have to get this done by tomorrow and not sure I can obtain a license before my due date. Worst case, I lay these out manually, but thought it would be helpful to use some of the tools already in C4D.

random%20length%20planks
random length planks.jpg961x909 254 KB

#2
#3

Yes, I’ve already downloaded it, but it requires that the plank have a bevel which I don’t want. Thanks for the input.

#4

Then remove the bevel by removing the wires connection in XPresso.

Or … open Floor Gen and adjust values.

Floor%20Planks
Floor Planks.png882x725 707 KB

FP Object Man..png531x516 66.4 KB

#5

vid2k2 - thanks again for the help. I was able to remove the bevel, however, there is no option for random lengths in this plugin. You can adjust the row offset randomly, but the board lengths stay the same - that’s when I can even get the plugin to work…

Is there no way to have cinema align objects of various lengths “end to end”? I’ve tried Mograph with different effectors, spline wrap, and even the arrange command. Nothing is working. It seems all of these functions rely on object axis center and not bounding box. I find it hard to believe that Cinema is not capable of this. I would greatly appreciate anyone pointing me in the right direction. Kevin

#6

Check out the Pile Up Effector in the Blog section here.

And this tutorial by Nikolaus Schatz using the effector is worth a look.

#7

Well, there’s always the option to make the whole thing editable
and push points …

Floor
Floor.png761x529 249 KB

#8

Thanks Darter. That’s a brilliant effector. I am now able to get a single randomize row of planks touching end to end, but I can’t figure out how to randomize each subsequent row. I appreciate anyone with far more Mograph experience than me jumping in - file is attached. I feel I’m so close. Thank again, Kevin

row01
row01.jpg1191x986 235 KB

row02
row02.jpg1195x996 531 KB

floor_pile_up.c4d (276.7 KB)

#9

There you go floor The key is to set the main cloner to blend mode and change the random seed of the child cloners in the object tab.

#10

No worries. The tutorial shows how to create multiple rows with two cloners and a single floorboard child object.

In the tutorial Nikolaus also shows how to randomize on multiple axes.

floorboards.c4d

#11

Thanks Everyone. This has definitely gotten me closer. I appreciate all the help. Kevin