Geometry

A CrowdBeGeometry is a Behavior which can be used to change the source FBX geometry during a simulation or play a FBX baked animation.
 
Geometry Behavior in the behavior editor
 
This behavior allows dealing with different level of details in term of geometry and/or play animation which are not supported yet by the animation engine (spiders, blendshapes, flags…). Notice that the result of this behavior can only be seen at render time.
 
Example of a crowd of cars generated with the Geometry Behavior
 

Creating a Geometry Behavior can be performed through the following options:

  • Behavior Editor / Behavior Library: 
  • Crowd Menu: Crowd Behaviors / Behaviors / CrowdBeGeometry Node
  • MEL command: glmCrowdBeGeometryCmd;

Configuration

A Geometry Behavior defines the following specific attributes. To get more information about shared parameters, see here.
 

Geometry Attributes

Geometry attributes of a Geometry Behavior
 
Geometry Id Id of the geometry file to play (the id corresponds to the id of the geometry in the geometry group of the Asset Manager)
Geometry Path Path to the geometry file to be played
 
These parameters can only be set through the Asset Manager.
 

Geometry Animation Attributes

These parameters control the way the FBX file is played (if it is required to be played):
 
Geometry animation attributes of a Geometry Behavior
 
Loop Animation If this box is checked, the FBX animation will loop automatically when it reaches the Animation Stop Frame. If not, the last frame of the animation will be played until the behavior is stopped
Animation Start Frame Frame at which the animation will start
Animation Stop Frame Frame at which the animation will stop/loop.
Blend Behavior If this behavior is checked, the FBX animation will be blended with the animation generated by other behaviors (such as CrowdBeMotion…). If not, the FBX animation will be played as it is stored in the FBX file.
Front Axis Neutral direction of the animation stored in the FBX file (if the character faces the X axis or Z axis).

Init Import Attributes (Per Particle)

This part describes the available Animation Attributes:
 
Init import attributes (per particle) of a geometrybehavior
 
Frame Step Mode This attribute allows a choice of three speeds mode :


Frame step modes of a geometry behavior
 
  • Per particule attribute: Use "Frame Steppp Name" attribute to get the name of the float per-particle field of the relative particle system, containing the frame step which will be applied on the source geometry per frame (per default, one FBX frame played per simulation frame)
     
  • Random: The source geometry frame step will be taken randomly between the specified "Frame Step Random Min" and "Frame Step Random Max". This attribute is influenced by the random seed of the Crowd Manager
     
  • Automatic: The source geometry frame step will be automatically computed according to the CrowdEntity speed. As it is not possible to determine the complete translation of the character in the FBX file, it is required to specify the "Geometry Speed" (i.e. the translation of the character in meter/second)
Frame Steppp Name See above
Frame Step Random Min See above
Frame Step Random Max See above
Geometry Speed (in m/sec) See above
Start Percentpp Name Name of the float per-particle field of the relative particle system, containing the value of the start percent in the animation (between 0. and 1.). If none is given and if the Start Percent Random box is not checked, the motion will start at its beginning (0.)
Start Percent Random If this box is checked, the motion will start at a random time between the specified "Start Percent Random Min" and "Start Percent Random Max". This attribute is influenced by the random seed of the Crowd Manager
Start Percent Random Min See above
Start Percent Random Max See above