Hello!
I am new to skatter and trying to figure out a few things.
I know that I can save and load skatters, but these come with set objects and things. Is there a way to save settings only in a certain way? e.g. I find myself always using the rotate z function but every time I open the skatter window it is reset to +/- 5 on the x and y variables as well. I guess this is for organic appearance, but I’ve changed these to 0 so many times (and it takes more time if a lot of models are there!) Also, I often want to try the same skatter with different components so I often want to bring up the same settings.
2.How do I delete a skatter? I understand skatter is parametric and always editable. Especially if I check off “render only” it seems like I can’t delete them. Thea seems to see them, for one.
I am trying to achieve the greatest density I can in a random field without overlaps. So, I have tried a bunch of settings to eliminate gaps that are larger than 1 component dimensions. It always seems a bit off. Is there a skatter that I can download that will provide this setting? I’ve tried both random and uniform and think I have a good grasp of the collision avoider.
This kind of refers to #3. Can probability be used over 100%? I understand how it pertains to less than 100%, but have tried to use it to pack more in - to fill holes, but it does not seems to have a significant effect beyond 100%. Is it doing anything past that?
Thanks much - it’s a great plugin!
Thanks for answering my questions. I’m still testing the different options given but here are some thoughts:
Sure! Saved skatters are great and they fullfill my need to return to use things like grass and gravel in a predictable way. Personally, I could see having the option of accessing just settings without objects too (I see in the manual that they are saved, but don’t know how to load just them. I currently have ones that are titled things like “dense in middle” or “ring around edge”. Adjustment of default values and/or saving the current settings for next opening of skatter would both be very useful, I think.
Thanks, I see this now for the ones I want to delete. Sorry for my denseness on this. I am still having difficulty re-editing the skatters that I want to return to though. If I select the skatter group and then open the skatter window, I am not finding the skatter and therefore am not able to edit the skatter settings. Do I need to save the skatter to then edit the settings parametrically?
The lower jitter features do seem to allow more dense packing but as you say, the lower they are the grid pattern does become more recognizable. I am looking for an evenly distributed, tightly packed surface (I’d call it random but it surely isn’t random) with an apparently random placement. Ultimately I want to not want any gaps that are as large as one object. I’ve attached a good example - it has hexagons in black and white placed by skatter and then I’ve added blue and yellow ones after by hand. I see these might not have been fit in due to the fact that the determiner is the bounding box of the component though. If that is the case, this is the tightest I can get, right?
I’ve tried a couple of settings like this and honestly can’t get it to place more items if the probability is set to 200% rather than 100%. It always seems to make the same amount if I set the probability at 100 or 200 or 1000.
Ok, thanks so much for your attention to my questions.
This is a really fantastic plugin. I am planning on using it to generate patterns with students in classes. I think they will find it very useful and approachable, as I do.
Hello!
Thanks for the response. Wow, I did not realize that was how to edit it. Maybe I have too many things in my right-click menu!
The circle packing would certainly be interesting but I the example you sent is with different size circles. This would certainly be nice, but I was thinking of just the same size circle so that there were no gaps as large as the diameter of any single object.
This is an example:
The idea is the same : circle packing. Which requires some physics simulation, which Skatter is really not designed for. I may do it one day, but this is not very high on my priority list.
Try looking into SketchyPhysics or MSPhysics.
