Clusters may shift if you edit an operator in an object’s construction history and add components before the position where the cluster was created.
A cluster is a named set of components that are grouped together for a specific modeling, animation, or texturing purpose. By grouping and naming components, it makes it easier to work with those same components again and again. For example, by grouping all points that form an eyebrow, you can easily deform the eyebrow as an object instead of trying to reselect the same points each time you work with it. You can also apply operators like deformations or Cloth to specific clusters instead of an entire object.
You can define as many clusters on an object as you like, and the same component can belong to a number of different clusters.
You can define clusters for points, edges, polygons, subsurfaces, and other components. Each cluster can contain one type of component. For example, a cluster can contain points or polygons, but not both.
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Clusters may shift if you edit an operator in an object’s construction history and add components before the position where the cluster was created. |
You can toggle the display of clusters in the 3D views, change cluster display colors, and display cluster reference frames.
You can change how clusters are displayed in each of the 3D views by doing one of the following:
• To quickly toggle the display of clusters on selected objects, click the eye icon (Show menu) on a 3D view’s menu bar and choose Clusters, or choose Display > Attributes > Clusters from the main-menu bar to set all open 3D views.
or
• For more options, display the Visibility Settings property editor by clicking the eye icon (Show menu) on a 3D view’s menu bar and choosing Visibility Options, or by choosing Display > Visibility Options from the main menu to set all open 3D views. Modify the settings on the Clusters property page.
You can select clusters in a 3D view or by using the explorer. Selected clusters are displayed in white by default. The process of selecting clusters is quickly summarized here — for a complete description of how to select clusters or anything else, see Selecting.
To activate cluster selection in the 3D views
• Do one of the following:
- With a select tool and component filter active, click the Cluster button at the top of the Select panel. Note that the Cluster button changes to the Group button when an object-type filter is active.
or
- With a component filter active, press =.
The specific mouse buttons and modifier keys that you use to perform different actions — like selecting, adding to the selection, toggling, and deselecting — depend on the selection interaction model. For more complete details, see Selecting Components Using the Different Interaction Models.
To explore all clusters on the active object
• Click the Clusters button at the bottom of the Select panel. A pop-up explorer opens, showing all clusters on the active objects.
You can use this pop-up explorer to select one or more clusters just as in an explorer window. See Selecting in the Explorer.
In addition to creating a cluster, you can create a cluster constrained to a null (cluster center) or you can create non-overlapping clusters. Non-overlapping clusters are particularly useful when applying local materials and textures to polygons.
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Clusters are also created automatically when you apply deformations, apply materials, or perform other operations on selected components. |
To create a cluster
1. Select some components.
- If you select different types of components like edges and polygons, a separate cluster will be created for each type.
- If you select components on different objects, separate clusters will be created per object.
2. Choose Edit > Create Cluster from the Edit panel. A cluster is created and automatically selected.
3. If desired, press Enter to open the cluster’s property editor and change the default name. You can also change the default display color for unselected clusters—this is useful if you have many clusters on the same object.
To create a cluster and a center
1. Select components on an object.
2. Choose Edit > Create Cluster with Center from the Edit panel. A cluster and a null are created, with a Cluster Center deformation already applied. The null center is automatically selected.
3. Modify and animate the scaling, rotation, and translation of the null to affect the cluster.
For more information about cluster center deformations, see Cluster Centers [Modeling and Deformation Basics].
To create non-overlapping clusters
1. Select components on an object.
2. Choose Edit > Create Non-Overlapping Cluster from the Edit panel. A new cluster is created, but any components that are already in a cluster are omitted.
Adding and Removing Components from Clusters
After you have created a cluster, you can still add and remove members.
1. Select a cluster.
2. Add one or more components of the same type to the selection.
3. Do one of the following:
- In the Edit panel, click the + button (next to the Cluster button).
or
- Choose Edit > Add to Cluster from the Edit panel.
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When you add components to an object, any new components that are completely surrounded by similar components in a cluster are automatically added to the cluster. However if you manually add components to a cluster after applying a topology operator, any components you subsequently add to the cluster will not be affected by operators previously applied to the cluster. For example, if you apply a Twist deformation to a point cluster on a surface and then add a knot curve to the surface, any points you add to the cluster will not be affected by the Twist. |
To remove components from clusters
1. Select a cluster.
2. Add one or more of the components in the cluster to the selection.
3. Do one of the following:
- In the Edit panel, click the – button (next to the Cluster button).
or
- Choose Edit > Remove from Cluster from the Edit panel.
Changing Cluster Display Colors
By default, components in clusters are displayed in green. If you have many clusters on an object and need to distinguish them easily, you can set their display color.
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You can also change the default color for newly created clusters. For more information, see Setting Scene Colors [Interface and Tools]. |
To change cluster display colors
1. Select a cluster and press Enter. The Cluster property editor opens.
2. Use the sliders to adjust the red, green, and blue components of the cluster’s display color.
Like objects, selected components and clusters have a local center. Unlike objects, this reference frame is computed dynamically; it is the average local reference frame of all the selected components. You can display this reference frame as a visual guide, which is useful when setting tangency and normal parameters for object to cluster constraints.
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The displayed cluster reference frame is not necessarily the same as the reference frame use for manipulating components in Local mode. The displayed cluster reference frame is a single average, while non-adjacent components use their own reference frames for manipulation. To enable multiple visual cues when transforming non-adjacent components, turn on Show Multiple Transform Axes in your Transform preferences. For more information about transforming components and clusters, see Manipulating Components [Modeling and Deformation Basics]. |
To display or hide cluster reference frames
1. Do one of the following:
- For a single 3D view, press Shift+s or click the eye icon (Show menu) and choose Visibility Options.
or
- For all open 3D views, choose Display > Visibility Options (All Cameras) from the main menu.
The Camera Visibility property editor opens.
2. On the Attributes tab, change the following options (under Selected Objects):
- Cluster Reference Frame displays an axes indicator for the selected clusters or components.
- Cluster Reference Frame Info displays the XYZ position of the reference frame.
Local Materials and Polygon Clusters
When you apply a material or texture to selected polygons or a polygon cluster, Softimage creates a local material on the cluster. For more information about local materials and textures in general, see Assigning Materials to Selected Polygons and Polygon Clusters [Material and Shader Basics].
Sharing Local Materials on Polygon Clusters
You can share local materials on polygon clusters in the same way that you share materials on objects: by putting the clusters in a group and applying the material to the group. For more information on groups, see Grouping Objects.
Viewing Local Material Information
The Spreadsheet includes two predefined queries for getting information about local materials:
• The Surface Shaders query shows information about all the surface shaders applied to the selected object, including local materials on polygon clusters.
• The Surface Shaders (All) query shows information about the surface shaders applied to all objects in the scene, including local materials on polygon clusters.
For more information about using the Spreadsheet, see The Spreadsheet [Interface and Tools].
Materials and Overlapping Polygon Clusters
When you apply a material or texture to selected polygons or a polygon cluster, or add polygons to a cluster with a local material or texture, and if some of those polygons already belong to one or more clusters with a local material, then by default you are prompted to specify what you want to happen:
• Remove the overlapping polygons from the selected cluster or polygons.
• Remove the overlapping polygons from the other clusters.
• Let the clusters overlap. Some polygons will have more than one local material, but only the most recently applied material is used.
You can set the default behavior by specifying When Local Materials Overlap under Misc in your Rendering preferences.
Removing a cluster removes the group, but does not remove the individual components from the object.
To remove a cluster
1. Select a cluster.
2. Choose Edit > Remove Cluster from the Edit panel.
Alternatively, you can delete a cluster using the explorer view by pressing Delete.
Autodesk Softimage v.7.5