Text Generator, Cloner, Ingestor.
A Formation turns an object into pieces. Place it first in the stack. Everything else needs pieces.
Text Generator #
Turns a string into 3D pieces: Letters, Words or Lines (the Pieces menu).
| Panel | Controls |
|---|---|
| Geometry | Font, Size, Depth, Material |
| Anchor | Anchor X / Y / Z (like an anchor point), plus an offset |
| Typography | Align X / Y, Character, Word and Line Spacing, Text Box Width and Height, Overflow |
| Caps & Materials | Front Cap, Back Cap, Region Materials (separate front, back and side materials: fill in all three) |
| Shading | Shade Smooth, Smooth Angle |
Cloner #
Builds live copies of the object it sits on (Source: Geometry), or of a collection (Source: Collection).
- Mode: Linear, Radial, Grid, Honeycomb, Object, Spline.
- Count, Seed and Spacing. Per Step means the values are per clone. End Point means the values are the total.
- Clones (collection source): Iterate, Random (seeded) or Sort. Sources are used in name order, so number them (Src_01, Src_02, …). Link order inside the collection is ignored.
- Max Clones is a safety cap. Over the cap, a seeded random subset is kept and a warning says so.
- The source object’s rotation and scale are used. Its position is not.
| Mode | Main controls |
|---|---|
| Linear | Position, Rotation, Scale |
| Radial | Radius, Plane, Align, Start / End Angle, Offset, Direction. Equal Start and End Angle makes a full ring |
| Grid | Count X / Y / Z, Size, Row Order |
| Honeycomb | Fit to Clone (leave on to tile), Count Width / Height, Cell Size, Line Spacing, Stagger |
| Object | Distribution Object, Distribution (Vertices, Edges, Faces, Surface, Volume), Density, Voxel Amount, UV Map, Keep Source Surface, Show Volume |
| Spline | Curve Object, Segment Mode (Even, Index, Random), Spline Offset, Start, End, Banking |
Object and Spline modes share an Alignment panel (Align, Aim Axis, Up Direction). Object mode also records each clone’s source normal and UV, which Shader Flow and Surface UV mode read.
Iterate order #
With Clones set to Iterate, sources go to clones in reading order:
| Mode | Source 01 goes |
|---|---|
| Linear | First, running left to right along the chosen direction |
| Grid | Top-left. Rows fill left to right, then down |
| Radial | First, then clockwise around the ring |
- Grid > Row Order: Top Row First (default) or Bottom Row First, which starts at the bottom-left and fills upward. Only rows swap. The order inside a row does not change.
- Radial > Direction: Clockwise (default) or Counterclockwise.
- Reverse (checkbox under Clones, off by default): the last object in the collection becomes the first clone. It works with Iterate in Grid, Linear, Radial, Honeycomb, Object and Spline. Random and Sort ignore it.
- Reverse only changes which source goes to which clone. Clone positions do not move. It combines with Row Order: Reverse + Top Row First puts the last source at the top-left.
- Honeycomb, Object and Spline placement is unchanged.
Example: name nine tiles Src_01 to Src_09. A 3×3 Grid on Top Row First reads 1-2-3 across the top row, 4-5-6 in the middle and 7-8-9 along the bottom.
Remember
Voxel Amount shapes the fill, not the count. Its cost is cubic. Tune the count with Density.
Ingestor #
Takes geometry that already has separable parts and hands them over as pieces. It does not break solids apart.
- Split: Whole Object (one piece) or Loose Parts (one piece per mesh island, curve, point or existing instance).
- Pivot X / Y / Z, plus an offset.
- Group Rigs adds one for you. Add one by hand after a Realize, before any constructor.