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How to create a Spline Attraction effect with Forest Pack 8
In this quicktip, we look at the handy Spline Attraction effect that ships with Forest Pack 8.

Resources

Requirements

Forest Pack 8

  • Forest Pack Logo, The Scatteting tool for 3ds Max

Forest Pack 8 includes a new Spline Attraction effect that can pull scattered items towards a selected path.

To use it, go to the Effects rollout and click on the + button to add a new Effect. 

Click the wand to open the library browser then select and load Spline Attraction from the Dynamics group. You’ll get several new parameters. 

The Spline1 input allows you to select the path that will attract objects

Strength is self explanatory, it controls the amount of the attraction effect to apply to the items

This works with Distance, that controls which objects are attracted to the spline, based on their distance from the path. A gradual falloff is applied automatically to ensure a smooth transition between affected and unafffected items

Inside/Outside/Both allows you to limit the effect based on whether they are inside the path, outside the path, or the default which is both inside and outside 

Finally, Density at Spline allows you to decrease the number of items near the spline in case you don’t want so many overlapping objects. 

We hope you find this effect useful - I should mention that there’s also a Spline Repulsion effect available which will push items away from the path. It has all the same parameters and options, but we thought since it’s valentines day that it was more appropriate to cover the attraction effect in this quicktip