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Moss pillow


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Hi guys,


I want to make some moss...I started like this: I made a 2D shape with organic forms then I used the surfdistr. modifier and picked my shape as surface. Now my question: How do I get the "pillow"-form? I mean that the small moss branches are short to the corner of my shape and longer in the middle, hope you understand.




My first thought was to use affect parameters but couldnt find the right one or would you guys work with a Trim-modifier? Or work completly different from the start? :D




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I think you could do this in two paths. make the first distributor path distribut over the surface of your object. this path would be very short and invisible. the second path would be a path distributor. for this one you would increase "offset" random in the distribution properties tab. Make your offset about the size of each pillow the increase your density until things look right. next you would use your offset to affect both the length and the angle bend to give a pillowed effect (short at the edges with an increased angle and longer in the center with a smaller angle. I don't have grow fx open in front of me at the moment but I think this should work. If not I can try it out for you later.


hope it helps :)

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Yup jamies example is more correct than mine though. I double checked and there isn't a way to control the parameter you need with a parent paths offset like I was trying to do in the first post.


What you want is to make two paths. Path one is a distributor an is pretty short (also invisible). Path 2 would have a path distribution on path 1. From here you can use the path position of path 2 to affect its offset and length, and then use its length to affect its angle bend.


you could also do this with one path. 

1. create a 3d rock

2. select the faces you would like for the moss to attach to and detach 

3. creat a path with a surface distribution.

4. check "at all vertices. (make sure you rock has enough vertices for this to look good)

5. up the count and up the chaos offset

6. use directional modifiers to make the blades look realistic

moss example.max


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hm I still got issues if I use the surface distributer there is "Parameter: Surface:" where I tested several options but it didnt get me the result I wanted.


Another optiton: I used my moss with forrestpack and used a map for scaling my branches



it doesn't look 100% natural, but I'm still learning growfx

constructive cristism welcome :)



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