Adding Multiple Objects via Distribution

Overview

Adding large amounts of trees and other plants one by one is inefficient.

To add them massively and efficiently, there is a special tool – Distributions.

Distributions are based on two things:

Map – the texture that stores the density of particular plant(s) in all areas of the level
Brushes – define these particular plants that will be planted on this Map.

After defining these properties of the Distribution, you can paint the defined Map – varying the Density and Scale of the plants – and, after rebuilding the level, the plants defined by the Brushes will appear, massively.

Moreover, using Distributions you can add not only plants, but also stones, debris, and so on. You can do that by selecting the appropriate Brushes.

Creating a Distribution

To create a new Distribution:

Right-click the terrain or the Distributions section in the Scene View panel and select Add Distribution in the context menu.
After doing this, the new Empty Distribution object will appear in the Distributions section in the Scene View panel.
Now you need to specify the Map and Brushes properties of this Distribution:
- Map – In this field, you need to create the file of the Distribution map itself.
  To do this, you need to:
  1. Click the Map field and then click the browse button () button displayed on the right side of it.
  2. Specify the name of the new file of the Distribution map in the appearing window. This name must start with the dstr_ suffix and must end with the .tga extension.
    For example, dstr_aspens_1.tga
  3. After clicking Open in this window, the file with the specified name will be created, and the (painting) brush for this distribution map will appear in the main window of the Editor in the form of the standard Brush dialog.
- In the Brushes section, you need to set up brushes for the Distribution.
  To do this, you need to:
  1. Click the [press] button next to the Edit field. After doing this, the Distribution Brushes window will appear.
  2. In the Distribution Brushes window, move necessary brushes from the Available Brushes list to the Selected Brushes list.
  3. Click OK to close the Distribution Brushes window.
After setting up Map and Brushes, you can start painting using the standard Brush dialog. For details on modes and parameters of the Brush, see below.

NOTE: To paint (add objects) in the Density mode, the Value parameter must be higher than 0.50. To erase plants from the area - it should be below 0.50. If the value is exactely 0.50 – the brush will not paint at all.
To see the added plants, you will need to rebuildg the terrain of the scene. To do this, right-click the Terrain section in the Scene View panel and select Rebuild Terrain in the context menu.

Parameters of the Brush

The regular Brush window appears when you select the particular Distribution in the Scene View panel.

This standard window allows you to paint on the Map of the Distribution with all Brushes that you have selected.

The painting modes of the Brush, available in the drop-down at the bottom of the Brush window, are the following:

Density – Allows you to "paint" the density of plants in the painted area. The higher the Value parameter is in this mode, the denser the plants will be added. To add plants to the area, the Value parameter must be higher than 0.50. To erase plants from the area - it must be below 0.50. If the Value is exactely 0.50 – the brush will not paint at all.
Scale – Allows you to "paint" the scale of the plants. In this case, the Value parameter is responsible for the size of plants in the painted area.
Density subgroup – (In Expeditions only) The special mode for painting with groups of Distributions, available in only in Expeditions. See Density Subgroup mode for details.

Other parameters of the brush are the following:

Size – The size of the brush.
Value – The strength of the brush (see the Density and Scale modes above).
Falloff – The softness of this brush, i.e. the decrease of the Value from the center of the brush pointer.
Autofade option – Enables the automatic attenuation mode for the brush, that depends on the direction of the drawn line.
Randomize option – Allows you to plant your objects unevenly.
Update Material option – Should not be used for distribution brushes.

Excluding Some Areas of the Map

Every Distribution has a set properties for excluding some areas of the map:

Ignore Overlays – Whether or not you can paint objects of this Distribution over roads.
Ignore Water – Whether or not you can paint objects of this Distribution under the water.
Ignore Mud – Whether or not you can paint objects of this Distribution over the mud.

By default, plants cannot grow through roads, water, and mud – so, all these setting are set to False.

Expeditions Specifics

In Expeditions, the Obstructed grass persistence multiplier parameter in Terrain Properties has effect on the grass that is planted as distributions within large groups of trees.

SnowRunner Specifics

In SnowRunner, distributions are also used when creating levels with Farming.

Every "Farming" distribution has the particular value of the State field that defines the order of its appearance within the Farming Area. See Farming for details.

For all other distributions, the State field is not used.