Maxon CINEMA 4D Release 9.6 Module MoGraph 9.0 Mo Graph C4D Mg R9 E

User Manual: maxon Cinema 4D - 9.0 - MoGraph Free User Guide for Maxon Cinema 4D Software, Manual

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MoGraph

MoGraph Manual
Programming Team: Christian Losch, Philip Losch, Richard Kurz, Tilo Kühn, Thomas Kunert,
David O’Reilly, Cathleen Poppe, Sven Behne, Wilfried Behne, Per-Anders Edwards, Paul Everett.
Plugin Programming: Michael Breitzke, Kiril Dinev, Reinhard Hintzenstern, Jan Eric Hoffmann, Eduardo, Olivares, Nina Ivanova, Markus
Jakubietz, Eric Sommerlade, Hendrik Steffen, Jens Uhlig, Michael Welter, Thomas Zeier.
Reference Manual:

Oliver Becker

Translation/Layout:

Scot Wardlaw

Cover and
Packaging Design:

Eric Adermann, Heike Bauer, Dirk Beichert

Copyright © 1989-2006 by MAXON Computer GmbH. All rights reserved.
English Translation Copyright © 2006 by MAXON Computer GmbH / MAXON Computer Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Contents
MoGraph Manual .................................................................................................................................. II

1. Introduction ......................................................................................................2
General ............................................................................................................................................. 2
How are clones arranged onto other objects? ................................................................................. 3
Object order in the Object Manager ................................................................................................ 5
Where can I find MoGraph components? ........................................................................................ 5

2. Cloner Object ....................................................................................................8
Make Object Editable ....................................................................................................................... 9
Object Tab ............................................................................................................................................. 9
Object Mode..................................................................................................................................... 9
Clones / Fix Clone / Fix Texture........................................................................................................ 10
Object ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Polygonal Objects ........................................................................................................................... 11
Up Vector........................................................................................................................................ 11
Mode .............................................................................................................................................. 12
Selection ......................................................................................................................................... 12
Enable ............................................................................................................................................. 12
Restrict to Live Selection ................................................................................................................ 13
Splines ............................................................................................................................................ 13
Align Clone ..................................................................................................................................... 13
Mode .............................................................................................................................................. 13
Per Segment ................................................................................................................................... 14
Smooth Rotation ............................................................................................................................ 14
Offset.............................................................................................................................................. 15
Offset Variation .............................................................................................................................. 16
Start / End ....................................................................................................................................... 16
Loop................................................................................................................................................ 16
Rate................................................................................................................................................. 16
Rate Variation ................................................................................................................................. 16
Random Seed.................................................................................................................................. 16
Particles (CINEMA 4D) .................................................................................................................... 16
Align Clone ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Velocity Stretch............................................................................................................................... 17
Particle Scale................................................................................................................................... 17
Particles (Thinking Particles) ........................................................................................................... 17
Include Sub Groups ........................................................................................................................ 17
Behavior.......................................................................................................................................... 17
Linear Mode.................................................................................................................................... 18
Clones ............................................................................................................................................. 18
Fix Clone ......................................................................................................................................... 22
Fix Texture....................................................................................................................................... 23
Count .............................................................................................................................................. 23
Offset.............................................................................................................................................. 23

Mode .............................................................................................................................................. 24
Amount........................................................................................................................................... 24
Position, Scale, Rotation ................................................................................................................. 24
The Step Functionality .................................................................................................................... 24
Step Mode ...................................................................................................................................... 25
Step Size ......................................................................................................................................... 25
Step Rotation .................................................................................................................................. 26
Step Rotation H/P/B ........................................................................................................................ 26
Radial Mode.................................................................................................................................... 26
Clones / Fix Clones / Fix Texture ...................................................................................................... 26
Count .............................................................................................................................................. 26
Radius ............................................................................................................................................. 27
Plane ............................................................................................................................................... 27
Align ............................................................................................................................................... 27
Start Rotation / End Rotation.......................................................................................................... 27
Offset.............................................................................................................................................. 27
Offset Variation .............................................................................................................................. 27
Grid Array ....................................................................................................................................... 28
Clones / Fix Clones / Fix Texture ...................................................................................................... 29
Count .............................................................................................................................................. 29
Size ................................................................................................................................................. 29
Form ............................................................................................................................................... 29
Fill ................................................................................................................................................... 29
Transform Tab ...................................................................................................................................... 30
Display ............................................................................................................................................ 30
P.X, P.Y, P.Z, S.X, S.Y, S.Z, R.H, R.P, R.B............................................................................................ 30
Color ............................................................................................................................................... 30
Weight ............................................................................................................................................ 30
Time ................................................................................................................................................ 30
Orientation (only in “Grid Array” mode) ........................................................................................ 31
Animation Loop .............................................................................................................................. 31
Effectors Tab........................................................................................................................................ 31

3. Effectors..........................................................................................................34
General ........................................................................................................................................... 34
What do Effectors do?.................................................................................................................... 34
Parameter Tab...................................................................................................................................... 35
Transform Mode ............................................................................................................................. 36
Transformation Space ..................................................................................................................... 36
Position, Scale, Rotation ................................................................................................................. 37
These parameters let you do the following:................................................................................... 37
Scale ............................................................................................................................................... 37
Color ............................................................................................................................................... 37
Weight Transform ........................................................................................................................... 38
U / V Transform ............................................................................................................................... 40
Modify Clone .................................................................................................................................. 40
Time Offset ..................................................................................................................................... 41

Visibility .......................................................................................................................................... 41
Deformer Tab....................................................................................................................................... 42
Deformation ................................................................................................................................... 42
Falloff Tab ............................................................................................................................................ 44
General ........................................................................................................................................... 44
Shape .............................................................................................................................................. 45
Invert .............................................................................................................................................. 46
Visible ............................................................................................................................................. 46
Weight ............................................................................................................................................ 46
Scale ............................................................................................................................................... 46
Shape Source (Spline) ..................................................................................................................... 46
Sample Distance ............................................................................................................................. 46
Sample Detail.................................................................................................................................. 47
Source Link ..................................................................................................................................... 47
Shape Source (particle)................................................................................................................... 47
Sample Distance ............................................................................................................................. 47
Source Link ..................................................................................................................................... 47
Scale ............................................................................................................................................... 47
Falloff.............................................................................................................................................. 48
Clamped ......................................................................................................................................... 48
Spline .............................................................................................................................................. 48
Spline Animation Speed ................................................................................................................. 48
Group Effector..................................................................................................................................... 49
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 49
ReTime ............................................................................................................................................ 49
Start / End ....................................................................................................................................... 49
Effectors ......................................................................................................................................... 49
Shader Effector.................................................................................................................................... 50
Effector Tab Settings ...................................................................................................................... 50
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 50
Minimum / Maximum ..................................................................................................................... 51
Shading Tab Settings ...................................................................................................................... 51
Channel........................................................................................................................................... 51
Edit ................................................................................................................................................. 51
Texture Tag ..................................................................................................................................... 51
Offset X/Y, Length X/Y ................................................................................................................... 51
Tile .................................................................................................................................................. 51
Use .................................................................................................................................................. 52
Invert Alpha .................................................................................................................................... 52
UVW-Mapping in MoGraph ................................................................................................................ 52
Random Effector ................................................................................................................................. 54
Parameter Tab...................................................................................................................................... 54
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 54
Minimum / Maximum ..................................................................................................................... 55
Random Mode ................................................................................................................................ 55
Synchronized .................................................................................................................................. 56
Indexed ........................................................................................................................................... 56

Spline Effector ..................................................................................................................................... 56
Settings........................................................................................................................................... 56
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 56
Spline .............................................................................................................................................. 57
Mode .............................................................................................................................................. 57
Offset.............................................................................................................................................. 58
Start / End ....................................................................................................................................... 58
Clamp ............................................................................................................................................. 58
Segment Mode ............................................................................................................................... 58
Transform Mode ............................................................................................................................. 58
Inheritance Effector............................................................................................................................. 59
Settings........................................................................................................................................... 60
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 60
Inheritance Mode: Direct................................................................................................................ 60
Object ............................................................................................................................................. 60
Morph Motion Object..................................................................................................................... 61
Inheritance Mode Animation.......................................................................................................... 61
Falloff Based ................................................................................................................................... 62
Transform Space ............................................................................................................................. 62
Start / End ....................................................................................................................................... 62
Animation ....................................................................................................................................... 63
Step Gap ......................................................................................................................................... 63
Loop Animation .............................................................................................................................. 63
Step Effector........................................................................................................................................ 63
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 64
Minimum / Maximum ..................................................................................................................... 64
Spline .............................................................................................................................................. 64
Step Gap ......................................................................................................................................... 65
Target Effector..................................................................................................................................... 65
Settings........................................................................................................................................... 66
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 66
Target Mode ................................................................................................................................... 66
Use Pitch ......................................................................................................................................... 67
Reverse Heading ............................................................................................................................. 67
Up Vector........................................................................................................................................ 67
Repel............................................................................................................................................... 68
Time Effector ....................................................................................................................................... 68
Delay Effector ...................................................................................................................................... 69
Settings........................................................................................................................................... 69
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 70
Mode .............................................................................................................................................. 70
Sound Effector..................................................................................................................................... 70
Settings........................................................................................................................................... 71
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 71
Minimum / Maximum ..................................................................................................................... 71
Sound File ....................................................................................................................................... 71
Start Offset ..................................................................................................................................... 72

Apply Mode .................................................................................................................................... 72
Falloff.............................................................................................................................................. 72
Sample Mode.................................................................................................................................. 72
Clamp Output ................................................................................................................................. 73
Lower Cutoff................................................................................................................................... 73
Compression ................................................................................................................................... 74
Frequency Graph ............................................................................................................................ 74
Filter Shape ..................................................................................................................................... 74
Frequency Color.............................................................................................................................. 74
Use Filter ......................................................................................................................................... 74
Frequency / Bandwidth................................................................................................................... 75
Left Channel / Right Channel .......................................................................................................... 75
Play ................................................................................................................................................. 75
Scrub Sound ................................................................................................................................... 75
Formula Effector.................................................................................................................................. 76
Settings........................................................................................................................................... 77
Strength.......................................................................................................................................... 77
Minimum / Maximum ..................................................................................................................... 77
Formula........................................................................................................................................... 77

4. Other Objects and Tags ..................................................................................82
The Matrix Object ................................................................................................................................ 82
Generate Matrices Only .................................................................................................................. 82
So, what good are a bunch of little cubes that can’t be rendered? ............................................... 83
Generate Thinking Particles ............................................................................................................ 83
TP Group ......................................................................................................................................... 84
Follow ............................................................................................................................................. 84
Constrain ........................................................................................................................................ 84
Particle Priority ............................................................................................................................... 84
Fracture Object .................................................................................................................................... 85
Modes............................................................................................................................................. 86
Straight ........................................................................................................................................... 86
Explode Segments .......................................................................................................................... 86
Explode Segments & Connect ........................................................................................................ 86
Transform Tab/Effectors Tab........................................................................................................... 86
Instance Object.................................................................................................................................... 87
Object Properties............................................................................................................................ 88
Object Reference ............................................................................................................................ 88
History Depth ................................................................................................................................. 88
Transform Tab/Effectors Tab........................................................................................................... 88
Text Object .......................................................................................................................................... 89
General ........................................................................................................................................... 89
Depth:............................................................................................................................................. 90
Subdivision ..................................................................................................................................... 91
Shader Indexing.............................................................................................................................. 91
Caps Tab ......................................................................................................................................... 91
All, Lines, Words, Letters Tabs ........................................................................................................ 92

Effectors ......................................................................................................................................... 92
Axis X/Y .......................................................................................................................................... 92
Align Height.................................................................................................................................... 93
Tracer ................................................................................................................................................... 93
General ........................................................................................................................................... 93
Settings........................................................................................................................................... 94
Trace Link ........................................................................................................................................ 94
Tracing Mode .................................................................................................................................. 95
Handle Cloners ............................................................................................................................... 96
Include Cloner................................................................................................................................. 96
Sample Step .................................................................................................................................... 96
Trace Vertices.................................................................................................................................. 96
Trace Active..................................................................................................................................... 96
Use TP Subgroups ........................................................................................................................... 97
Space .............................................................................................................................................. 97
Limit................................................................................................................................................ 97
Spline Settings ................................................................................................................................ 97
Reverse Sequence ........................................................................................................................... 97
Spline Mask.......................................................................................................................................... 98
Mode .............................................................................................................................................. 98
Axis ................................................................................................................................................. 99
Create Cap ...................................................................................................................................... 99
Displace Deformer ............................................................................................................................. 100
General ......................................................................................................................................... 100
Settings......................................................................................................................................... 101
Emulation ..................................................................................................................................... 102
Strength/Height/Type ................................................................................................................... 102
Direction ....................................................................................................................................... 102
Object/Camera (Refresh tab) ........................................................................................................ 102
Backface Cull................................................................................................................................. 103
Shading Tab Settings .................................................................................................................... 103
Falloff Tab Settings ....................................................................................................................... 103
Extrude .............................................................................................................................................. 103
Transform...................................................................................................................................... 104
Extrusion Steps ............................................................................................................................. 104
Polygon Selection ......................................................................................................................... 105
Sweep Spline ................................................................................................................................ 105
Transform Tab ............................................................................................................................... 105
Effectors Tab................................................................................................................................. 105
Spline Wrap ....................................................................................................................................... 106
Settings......................................................................................................................................... 107
Spline ............................................................................................................................................ 107
Axis ............................................................................................................................................... 108
Strength........................................................................................................................................ 108
Offset............................................................................................................................................ 108
From/To ........................................................................................................................................ 108
Mode ............................................................................................................................................ 109

End Mode ..................................................................................................................................... 109
Size ................................................................................................................................................110
Size Strength..................................................................................................................................110
Spline Size......................................................................................................................................110
Spline Size Strength .......................................................................................................................110
Banking..........................................................................................................................................110
Rotation .........................................................................................................................................110
Rotation Strength ..........................................................................................................................111
Spline Rotation ..............................................................................................................................111
Spline Rotation Strength ...............................................................................................................111
Cache Tag ...........................................................................................................................................111
Settings..........................................................................................................................................112
Use Cache ......................................................................................................................................112
Bake ...............................................................................................................................................112
Clear Cache ....................................................................................................................................112
Bake Frame ....................................................................................................................................112
Clear Frame....................................................................................................................................112
Bake Sequence...............................................................................................................................112

5. Clone Tools .................................................................................................... 116
General ..........................................................................................................................................116
Linear Clone Tool ................................................................................................................................116
Start Position .................................................................................................................................116
End Position ...................................................................................................................................116
Clones Count .................................................................................................................................116
Generate ........................................................................................................................................117
Radial Clone Tool ................................................................................................................................117
Center ............................................................................................................................................117
Radius ............................................................................................................................................117
Axis ................................................................................................................................................117
Clones Count .................................................................................................................................117
Generate ........................................................................................................................................117
Grid Clone Tool ...................................................................................................................................118
Center ............................................................................................................................................118
Size ................................................................................................................................................118
Clones Count .................................................................................................................................118
Generate ........................................................................................................................................118
Placement Tab ....................................................................................................................................118

6. Shaders.......................................................................................................... 122
The MoGraph (channel) shader can be found in the material’s texture menu............................. 122
Color Channel ............................................................................................................................... 123
Index Ratio Channel...................................................................................................................... 123
Invert Output ................................................................................................................................ 123
Spline ............................................................................................................................................ 123
Beat Shader .................................................................................................................................. 124
Beats Per Minute........................................................................................................................... 124

Peak Interval ................................................................................................................................. 124
Range Curve.................................................................................................................................. 124
Invert ............................................................................................................................................ 124
Multi Shader ................................................................................................................................. 125
Mode ............................................................................................................................................ 125
Add ............................................................................................................................................... 125
To Layers ....................................................................................................................................... 125

7. Nodes............................................................................................................. 127
Data Node..................................................................................................................................... 127
Input Ports .................................................................................................................................... 127
Index ............................................................................................................................................. 127
Object ........................................................................................................................................... 128
Output Ports ................................................................................................................................. 128
Count ............................................................................................................................................ 128
Color ............................................................................................................................................. 128
Global / Local Matrix..................................................................................................................... 128
Position ......................................................................................................................................... 128
Visibility ........................................................................................................................................ 128
Scale ............................................................................................................................................. 128
UV ................................................................................................................................................. 129
Weight .......................................................................................................................................... 129
Rotation ........................................................................................................................................ 129
Falloff Node ....................................................................................................................................... 129
Input Ports .................................................................................................................................... 130
Falloff Matrix ................................................................................................................................ 130
Sample Position ............................................................................................................................ 130
Output Ports ................................................................................................................................. 130
Value............................................................................................................................................. 130
Falloff Tab .......................................................................................................................................... 131
Effector Node .................................................................................................................................... 131
Input Ports .................................................................................................................................... 132
Output Ports ................................................................................................................................. 132

Index.................................................................................................................. 134

1 Introduction to MoGraph

2 • 1 Introduction - MoGraph Reference Manual

1. Introduction
General
Welcome to the virtually limitless MoGraph module!
MoGraph offers the following exciting functionalities:


Various ways in which to clone objects.



Extensive control of clones via Effectors.



Several special shaders for texturing and controlling clones.



A special Text Object with individual controls for lines of text words and letters.



The paths of movement of vertices / particles can be displayed as splines using the “Tracer”.

2 special Deformation Objects that can be used to deform objects using splines (Spline Wrap) or textures
(Displace Deformer).




Effectors that can also be used as deformation objects.



Spline Mask, a boole object for splines.

An Extruder Object that can be used to extrude polygons of parametric objects. Each extrusion will be seen
internally as a clone and can thus be controlled using Effectors.


Almost anything can be combined within MoGraph. This offers sheer endless possibilities for the creation of motion graphics. For this
reason, we suggest you experiment as much as you can, even if what you want to do seems far too odd-ball. Just try it. MoGraph lets
you easily create spectacular, interesting effects using simple primitives. Believe it or not, the following image was created using a
single cloned cube and a single cloned sphere:

Spectacular motion graphics using simple primitives!

1 Introduction - MoGraph Reference Manual • 3

The next scene consists of only three parametric cubes that were cloned, made to intersect and positioned, colored and scaled
randomly using the Random Effector. Add a little depth-of-field and HDRI lighting (Advanced Render module) and you too can create
the following image:

3 cloned parametric cubes.

Imagine adding a Sound Effector (see chapter 3) to make the clones scale, move, rotate and even change their texture to the beat of
music. This is only a small sample of what great-looking effects MoGraph lets you create with relatively little effort.
Note:
MoGraph offers several objects with which new elements can be generated or that can be used to view existing
CINEMA 4D objects as clones, thus making them able to be affected by MoGraph (Cloner Object, Matrix Object,
Fracture Object, etc.). For purposes of convenience, we’ll refer to these objects as “clones” once they have been
taken over by MoGraph.

How are clones arranged onto other objects?
The following mini-tutorial demonstrates a randomly chosen example of how clones can be arranged onto an object.
Goal: Clones should be arranged to form a particular word.
1. First, the necessary clones have to be generated that will later be arranged onto a text spline. Create a sphere,
a text spline and a Cloner Object (main menu > MoGraph/Cloner Object). Reduce the sphere’s radius to 10m
and type any word into the text spline setting’s “Text” field.
2. Make the sphere a child of the Cloner Object and switch to the Cloner Object’s settings. Define the number
of clones in it’s “Count” setting (e.g. 500) and set “P.Y” to “0” and “P.X” to, for example, “2”. The result should
look similar to what’s shown in the image below. The arrangement of clones can be adjusted to the text length
by moving the Cloner Object itself and varying the “P.Y” setting:

4 • 1 Introduction - MoGraph Reference Manual

The text spline was placed into a Sweep NURBS in order to make it more visible.

3. In order to arrange the clones onto the spline, a Spline Effector is needed. To add a Spline Effector, select the
Cloner Object in the Object Manager and add a Spline Effector form the main MoGraph menu. The Spline Effector
will automatically be assigned to the Cloner Object (it will be located in the Cloner Object’s “Effector” field,
located in it’s “Effector” tab). Switch to the Spline Effector’s settings and drag the text spline from the Object
Manager into the Spline Effector’s “Spline” field. Subsequently, set “Segment Mode” to “Even Spacing”.
Your scene should now look like this:

Spline Effector strength settings: 100% at top, 40% at bottom.

If you now vary the Spline Effector’s “Strength” setting (Effector tab) you can transition the clones smoothly
between a linear and a spline arrangement. But this is relatively unspectacular. Thus...
4. Switch to the Spline Effector’s “Falloff” tab settings and set “Shape” to “Linear”. Now rotate the Spline
Effector around its Y-axis so that its Z-axis points in the direction of the linear clone arrangement (“Coord.”
tab: “W.B” = -90°). So, what have we just done? The Falloff settings can be used to limit an Effector’s effect.
The “Linear” setting makes the effect of the Effector work along its positive Z-axis. It will have no effect in the
negative direction of the Z-axis. In the same tab, increase the Effector’s Z-scale so that it encompasses 2 to 3
letters of the text spline. You can also do this interactively by simply dragging the orange grabbers in the editor
view. The effect of the Effector will work smoothly within the orange and red planes. If the Effector is now
moved or animated along the length of the clones, the clones will be arranged onto the text spline accordingly
(the Effector’s strength is set to 100% in the “Effector” tab).

1 Introduction - MoGraph Reference Manual • 5

The Spline Effector moves from left to right using a “Linear” falloff.

Now change some of the settings, e.g. set “Falloff” to “Sphere” or play around with some of the other settings and see what happens.
The settings are described in detail in the following chapters.

Object order in the Object Manager
CINEMA 4D has a strict hierarchy (sequence and order in the Object Manager) that defines exactly which object should be executed
when. In some instances, a hierarchy in MoGraph, can also be important. Each time other objects are affected by a Target Object, the
Target Object should be placed in front of those objects in the Object Manager. This helps avoid unexpected effects such as incorrect
depiction in the editor view, strange rendering effects, etc.
The following could be important factors:
A Cloner Object in “Object” clone mode that has arranged its clones onto the vertices of a target object (even
a target object that is deformed using a deformation object).


Effectors that use a target object, e.g. a Spline Effector (target: spline), Inheritance Effector (target: any object)
or Target Effector (target: any object).


Where can I find MoGraph components?


All MoGraph objects and tools are located in the main “MoGraph” menu.

The three MoGraph-specific shaders can be found anywhere where shaders can be selected, in the “Motion
Graphics” menu.


The MoGraph-specific bake function is implemented as a tag and can therefore be found under “File/MoGraph
Tags/Cache Tag.


2 Cloner Object

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 7

8 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

2. Cloner Object
General

The Cloner Object is THE object for the duplication of other objects, arranging clones onto vertices of other objects, arranging clones
onto splines, etc. The Cloner Object sets your object(s) up so they can be affected by various Effectors. These Effectors can be used to
“disrupt”, animate, color or modify your object and much more.

In order for the Cloner Object to work, the object to be cloned must be made a child of that Cloner Object.
The Cloner Object can in turn also be made a child object of another object if the clones should be arranged onto vertices, edges,
polygons of that parent object (“Mode” = “Object).

Cloner Objects can be arranged in just about any order in the hierarchy. Although very interesting effects can be achieved by using
the simplest elements.

In the image above, a Sweep NURBS was applied in conjunction with 3 Cloner Objects. Each Cloner Object worked as follows:


1st Cloner Object: Clones the Sweep NURBS thrice linearly (“Mode”=”Linear”)

2nd Cloner Object: Clones the result several times, in a radial manner (“Mode”=”Radial”) which results in a
single wire column.


2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 9

3rd Cloner Object: Clones the wire columns in a grid pattern (“Mode”=”Grid Array”), whereby several wire
columns were created.


If the above sample can be so easily created by animating the settings of Cloner Objects and Effectors you can imagine what kind of
spectacular effects you can achieve once you’ve gotten to know the MoGraph module a little better.
Cloner Objects can be made editable at any time (each clone will be converted into an actual object) by simply activating the Cloner
Object and selecting “Make Editable” in the Object Manager’s “Object” menu (or by pressing the “c”-key on your keyboard). Each
clone will be made an individual object.
Note:
We suggest you use this function sparingly, though. Otherwise it can be easy to loose track of what you’ve
done, and limitations can occur when baking for animations (see chapter 4). Aside from that, you can end up
creating hundreds of thousands of clones that can be a killer for your workflow.

Make Object Editable
MoGraph also offers other clone-generating objects, such as the Matrix Object, the Fracture Object and more that share some of the
Cloner’s settings, like those in the “Transform” and “Effectors” tabs. These are only described here with regard to the Cloner but the
functions are the same.

Object Tab
The four available modes all have their own corresponding settings, which will be displayed for the mode selected.

Object Mode
When in this mode, a Cloner’s children will be assigned to other objects. There are two methods that can be used to tell the Cloner on
which object clones should be generated:
1. Make the Cloner Object a child of the “shaping” object.

10 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

2. Place the “shaping” object into the “Object” text field.

If both of the above-mentioned conditions are true, #2 will receive priority.
The clones will be assigned as follows:


Polygonal objects: Vertices, edges, polygon center, randomly arranged onto an object’s surface, selections.



Splines: Along the splines.



Particle emitters or Thinking Particles particle groups: Onto the particles.



Matrix Objects: A clone will be positioned onto each vertex of the matrix.

Note:
A Cloner will also function if it is itself a child of a polygon object, spline or emitter. In the case of the emitter,
the “Object” text field should not contain any object. Even Cloner Objects within a hierarchy can be cloned,
e.g. if the hierarchy below is used:

Clones / Fix Clone / Fix Texture
These functions are the same as described under “Linear Mode” (p. 17).

Object
Objects such as those listed in the image above can be placed into this field. The object that defines the “shaping” must be made a child
of the Cloner. The settings that will subsequently be made available will correspond to the shape used. These settings are described
below.

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 11

Polygonal Objects

If a polygonal object is used as a cloner, the clones will be arranged onto its vertices, edges, polygons, surfaces or selections. Either
polygonal or parametric primitives can be used. Of course HyperNURBS can also be used. By nature, many vertieces will be created ,
thus really bogging down your computer due to the immense number of clones that will be generated.

Up Vector
Activating the “Align Clone” option clearly aligns a clone’s Z-axis but not the rotation around it. Picture a surface, deformed using a
Displace Object and an animated noise, on whose vertices clones have been arranged. When viewing the animation you will see that
the Z-axis point in the direction of the corresponding surface normals but the rotation around this axis takes place in a more or less
random fashion. If an up vector is now set (using the coordinate system of the object on which the clones grow) this random rotation
will be halted. Basically, this works in the same fashion as the “Align” expression (CINEMA 4D Tags), the only difference being that a
ready-made vector has to be selected instead of a target object being defined.
As an alternative, a Target Effector can also be used. The result will be similar.

12 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

Mode

Use this setting to define where the clones should be arranged:


Vertex: A clone on each vertex point.



Edge: A clone on each edge (additional settings will be made available).



Polygon Center: A clone on each polygon center.



Surface: Clones randomly arranged over an object’s entire surface.

“Edge” mode offers the following options:
Offset: Moves the clones along the edge (values less than 0% or greater than 100% can also be define, whereby
the movement of the clones will not be limited to the edges).




Scale on Edge: The clones will be scaled in the direction of the edge.

Edge Scale: Use this slider to adjust the size of the clones in the direction of the edge (only available if “Align
Clone” and “Scale on Edge” are active).


Selecting “Surface” will make the “Seed” and “Count” settings (“Seed”: Different values will result in different random arrangements;
“Count”: Number of clones that will be randomly arranged onto the object’s surface). If this mode is selected when working with a
selection, the clones that lie outside of the selection will be hidden. For example, if a specific number of clones to be arranged onto a
given surface have been defined (e.g. 473), only those clones on the selection will be displayed (e.g. 34).

Selection
Any vertex-, edge-, or polygon selection made using the Selection Tag can be placed into this field. The clones will then be arranged
only in the area of that selection.

Enable
Use this setting to enable or disable cloning on a given Selection Tag.

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 13

Restrict to Live Selection
Use this setting to restrict the clones to a currently active selection.

Splines

A simplified DNA strand created using two helix splines. Clones were used to create the base pairs.

If the Cloner is used in conjunction with a spline (spline primitives will work as well), the clones will be arranged onto the spline. The
type of spline used does not play a role (the Cloner offers settings that can be used to arrange clones uniformly).
The Spline Effector can also be used to, among other things, evenly transform any arrangement of clones onto a spline.

Align Clone
Activating this setting will make the clones follow the shape of the spline tangentially with their Z-axis.

Mode
Use this setting to define how the clones will be spaced on the spline:

14 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

Count: Use the neighboring “Count” setting to define the number of clone segments. Clone spacing will not
be uniform, but dependent upon the spline interpolation (i.e. “Natural”, “Even” or “Adaptive”). This result is
more often not desired and can be countered by the following modes.


Step: Use the neighboring “Step” setting to define the interval between clones along the spline. The spline
will be covered in its entirety by clones.


Even: Use the neighboring “Count” setting to define a number of clones. The clones will be arranged with
equal intervals along the spline.


Per Segment

At top: “Per Segment” not active. At bottom: “Per Segment” active.

Activate or deactivate this setting depending on whether the defined number of clones or steps should be applied to a spline as a whole
or per spline segment (each segment will then be viewed as an individual spline).
Smooth Rotation

At top: “Smooth Rotation” not active. At bottom: “Smooth Rotation” active. Long cylinders were cloned along a helix-shaped spline).

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 15

If irregular results occur, as in the top half of the above image, this setting should be activated in order to achieve a more exact
calculation of angles for all clones. Irregular results very often occur when splines with few defined vertices are used. Nevertheless,
activating this option can also lead to unwanted results:

Top: “Smooth Rotation” not active. Bottom: “Smooth Rotation” active.

Both marked clones are located on a straight spline segment. If “Smooth Rotation” is active, the clones will be rotated smoothly, thus
preventing a tangential orientation (which can occur if “Smooth Rotation” is not active).

Offset

16 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

A spline always has a beginning (yellow in point mode) and an end (red). If “Offset” is set to 0%, clones will be arranged from the
beginning to the end of the spline. If the “Offset” value is raised, the first clone (as well as all subsequent clones) will be arranged further
along the spline, in accordance to the value entered. If “Loop” is also active, all clones will be arranged along the spline in a complete
loop. If “Loop” is not active, the clones that are arranged past the end of the spline will be deleted. Setting the “Rate” slider to a value
not equal to 0% will cause the clones to circle in the course of an animation (setting keys for “Offset” will not be necessary).

Offset Variation
Use this setting to vary the otherwise equal intervals between clones.

Start / End
Use these settings to limit or expand the arrangement of clones along the spline.

Loop
If “Offset” and “Rate” are set to values not equal to 0%, clones arranged past the end of the spline will be deleted (“Loop” not active)
or seamlessly (without transition) reinserted at the beginning of the spline (“Loop” active).
“Loop” should always be activated if the clones should circle endlessly on the spline.

Rate
“Rate” basically functions like “Offset”, with the exception that the clones will move automatically when the animation is played,
without having to set keys. This setting defines the distance the clones should travel per frame of animation. Activate “Smooth Rotation”
if any irregular movement should occur.

Rate Variation
Use this slider to randomly vary the clones’ velocity. If the value defined is high enough, individual clones can even be made to move
in reverse. Values less than 0% and greater than 100% can also be defined.

Random Seed
This setting influences the random dispersion of velocity of the clones. Vary this value to randomly vary the clones’ velocity.

Particles (CINEMA 4D)

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 17

If a Cloner is used in conjunction with a CINEMA 4D emitter, a clone will be created for each particle. This, combined with the numerous
available Effectors, offers possibilities above and beyond what the CINEMA 4D particle system by itself can offer.

Align Clone
If this setting is active, the clone’s Z-axis will be aligned with the particle velocity vector, which will result in a tangential behavior along
the particle path. The Emitter’s “Tangential” setting must also be activated.

Velocity Stretch
Use this slider to stretch the clones in the direction of the velocity vector. The clones will be stretched proportional to the particle speed.
The greater the particle speed, the more the clones will be stretched, independent of the value entered for “Velocity Stretch”.

Particle Scale
The Emitter’s “End Scale” setting can be used to generate uniform particle growth. This slider merely multiplies this Emitter setting.

Particles (Thinking Particles)

Thinking Particles can also be used in conjunction with MoGraph. Simply drag the desired Thinking Particles group from the Thinking
Particles Settings (Plugins / Thinking Particles / Thinking Particles Settings) into the “Object” field. Clones will then be created for the
particles.

Include Sub Groups
If this setting is active, sub-groups (in the order they are arranged in the Thinking Particles Settings) of the particle group placed into
the “Object” field will also be included.

Behavior
Two types of behavior are available:

18 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

Standard TP: Reflects the normal behavior of Thinking Particles, with the exception that the clone size can be
varied via the “Particle Scale” slider. The “Particle Scale” slider multiplies the value defined for the “Size” setting,
for example for the “P Storm” node.


Stretch TP: When in this mode, clones can be scaled along the velocity vector using the “Velocity Stretch”
slider. Clone size can be defined using the “Particle Scale” slider. “Particle Scale” multiplies the value defined
for the “Size” setting, for example for the “P Storm” node.


Linear Mode

When in this mode, a clone’s child objects will be arranged linearly (can also be curved), originating from the Cloner. The clone’s
“Position”, “Rotation” and “Scale” settings can be modified which will cause the child objects to move accordingly.

Clones
Use this setting to define in which order a clone’s child objects should be cloned. The following options are available:


Cluster

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 19

Three objects cloned in “Cluster” mode (“Fix Clone” not active). The three original objects were placed a slight distance apart; if all
would have been placed at the same location, each of the resulting clone clusters would have consisted of three clones at the same
location.

A clone’s child objects will quasi be packed into one cluster and this cluster will be cloned as a whole.


Iterate

A clone’s child objects will be cloned in the order they are arranged in the Object Manager, from top to
bottom.


Random

A clone’s child objects will be arranged randomly when cloned. The random arrangement can be varied by
modifying the neighboring “Seed” value.


Blend

This mode has two functions: First, it can blend parametric primitives with differing settings, as shown
below:

20 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

In the image above, two parametric cubes were cloned, each of which have differing settings “Scale” and “Fillet
Radius” settings. The “Blend” ensures a correct interpolation of the object settings. The blend mode can also
be applied to more than two child objects at once, whereby the interpolation of the settings will take place in
the order they appear in the Object Manager. The parametric primitives must all be of the same type (otherwise
no parametric interpolation will result!). Settings or options not able to be interpolated cannot be modified
smoothly, but will abrupt.
Example:
The “Blend” mode can also be used to blend spline shapes. The best results can be achieved if both splines have
approximately the same number of vertices.

Lights, including their colors and many other settings, can also be cloned, the results of which can be very
interesting:

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 21

In this example, color, shadow density and the diameter of the visible light were blended.

Two Cloners (each in “Grid” clone mode) were made children of a third in “Linear” mode (“Clone” set to “Blend”;
“Fix Clone” not active, P.X”, “P.Y” and “P.Z” =0).

The “Blend” setting can be used to blend different Cloners.


Sort

The “Sort” mode first flexes its muscle when used in conjunction with Effectors (those that support this mode
must have their “Parameter” tab’s “Modify Clone” value set to greater than 0%). The respective Effector can
then vary position, scale, rotation, etc. as well as the sequence of child objects used to affect the Cloner. If no
Effector were applied, only the first child would be cloned.

22 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

Example:

A Shader Effector was used in the previous image. The child objects are analyzed in the sequence they are
arranged and affect the cloning process accordingly (black=first object; white=last object).

Fix Clone
If this setting is not active, differences in position, scale and rotation between the Cloner and the objects to be cloned will be made
apparent by the fact that the clones will also be rotated, scaled or moved. This makes sense especially in the “Cluster” clone mode since
the objects to be cloned would otherwise share the same location (see next image).
If this setting is active, the first clone will assume the position, scaling and rotation of the Cloner (for you XPresso lovers out there: its
matrix will be assumed).

At top are the three objects to be cloned, each at a slightly different location. Center: “Fix Clone” not active. Bottom: “Fix Clone” active.

If this option is not active, position, scale and rotation values of animated objects to be cloned will be assumed for the clones.

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 23

Fix Texture

An arrangement of clones with a texture applied as a surface projection. Left: No Effector. Center and right: Random Effector with “Fix
Texture” not active and “Fix Texture” active, respectively.

If a Cloner is textured, the “Fix Texture” setting will define if the texture should be projected onto the arrangement of clones not
affected by the Effectors, thus fixing it on the clones. If the clones are then moved or rotated via an Effector, the texture will move with
it. Otherwise the clones will basically move through the texture and will be affected by the texture according to their location.
This method works with every projection type, except for UVW-mapping.

Count
Enter the number of clones to be created here. Each clone will be moved, rotated or scaled by a certain value relative to the previous
clone in accordance with the values entered for P.X., P.Y, P.Z, R.X, R.Y, R.Z, S.H, S.P or S.B.

Offset

“Offset” will move the first clone, in accordance with the value entered, in the direction of subsequent clones, thus offsetting the entire
line of clones. The function graph can also be used to define how “Offset” will be applied along the length of the line of clones.

24 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

Mode
Use this mode to define if the “Position”, “Rotation” and “Scale” settings should apply per step (“Per Step”) or end point (“End Point”:
the values will be interpolated between the start and end points). You can switch modes at any time.
The Step Effector has a similar function. The Step Effector also offers you a spline graph which can be used to define how the modified
settings should be applied along the length of the clone.

Amount

An increasing “Amount” value from left to right. Only the position of each clone changes (scale and rotation can also be modified).

This slider affects the actual effectiveness of the nine clone settings below it (position, scale, rotation), starting at “0”. Mathematically
seen, “Amount” is merely a multiplying factor that affects these nine settings. This setting can be used to create good-looking growth
effects.

Position, Scale, Rotation
Use these settings to define if and how clones should be modified relative to the next clone’s position, scale or rotation.
If “Per Step” is selected, the values will reflect the difference to the previous or next clone. If “Endpoint” is selected, the values will
reflect the difference between the first and last clone, and the values in-between will be interpolated. The position of the last clone can
be modified interactively by dragging the orange handle in the editor view (as long as the “Step” settings have not been modified).

The Step Functionality
The “Linear” mode can also be used to arrange clones along a curve or spiral, not just in a straight line, as the name may suggest. This
can be done using the following settings:

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 25

Step Mode

From left to right: “Cumulative” and “Single Value” modes, respectively.

Use “Step Mode” to define if the change in rotation should steadily increase from clone to clone (“Single Value”) or between the first
clone and the last clone, starting at “0” (“Cumulative). The latter results in spiral-like clone arrangements.

Step Size

From left to right: Decreasing “Step Size” value (the spiral shape was a result of entering rotation values for all three “Rotation” settings).

Use this setting to define the step interval between individual clones. This is paramount to scaling the entire arrangement of clones
(not only the clones themselves!), starting from the origin of the Cloner.
“Step Size” can also be used to animate a telescope extending (the “Amount” setting cannot be used to achieve this effect since it
would simultaneously increase the cylinder diameter).

26 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

Telescoped cylinders with varied “Step Size” values in “Per Step” mode.

Step Rotation
Use these three fields to define the curvature of the “clone line”. If all values are set to 0°, no curvature will occur. Raising these values
will increase the curvature accordingly.

Step Rotation H/P/B
Modifying at least two of these values will result in the spline being spiraled; modifying only one of these values will cause the spline
to bend in the direction of the respective value (H=Y-axis; P=X-axis; B=Z-axis).

Radial Mode

Selecting this mode will arrange a clone’s child objects circularly around the center of the Cloner.

Clones / Fix Clones / Fix Texture
These settings work exactly as described for the “Linear” setting.

Count
Use this setting to define the number of clones to be arranged onto the radius.

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 27

Radius
This is the radius onto which the clones will be arranged around the Cloner. The radius can also be edited interactively, simply by
dragging the orange handles in the editor view.

Plane
Use this setting to define the axis plane on which the circle and clones should lie, whereby the Cloner’s coordinate system remains the
deciding factor.

Align
If this setting is active, each clone will be arranged with its X-axis tangential to the circle. If this setting is not active, each clone will
orient itself in accordance with the Cloner’s coordinate system.

Start Rotation / End Rotation

Use these settings to define onto which part of the circle the clones should be arranged. Values less than 0% and greater than 100%
can also be defined (this will result in overlapping).

Offset
Use this setting to let the clones move along the circle.

Offset Variation
Use this setting to randomize the arrangement of clones for a more “coincidental” look.

28 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

Grid Array

Selecting this mode will arrange a Cloner’s child objects in a grid-like manner. This can be used to achieve effects such as the one
below:

The object (insert) was cloned and its rotation varied in the “Grid Array” mode.

Some very nice effects can be achieved by letting an Effector fly through such an arrangement of clones.

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 29

Since using “Grid Array” can generate very many objects, thus slowing the editor view, the following CINEMA 4D level of detail settings
can be used:


Editor view: Display / Level of Detail



Display Tag. Assign the Tag to the Cloner.

Clones / Fix Clones / Fix Texture
These settings work exactly as described for the “Linear” setting.

Count
Use this setting to define the number of clones to be arranged in the X-, Y-, and Z-directions.

Size
Use this setting to define the scale (expansiveness) of the entire arrangement of clones in the X-, Y-, and Z-directions. The orange
handles can also be used to resize the arrangement of clones interactively.

Form

There are three types of forms from which to choose: “Cube”, “Sphere” and “Cylinder”. As you can see in the example above, when in
“Cylinder” or “Sphere” mode, superfluous clones that don’t fit into the shape will simply be ignored.

Fill
Lowering this value will reduce the number of clones on the inside of a defined shape accordingly – even to the point where the shape
is made hollow (only its outer shell will remain).

30 • 2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual

Transform Tab

Display
Use these settings to aid in displaying various clone properties. These properties will be displayed in the editor view in the form of
colored vertices (it may be necessary to hide the objects to be cloned in order to be able to see the vertices). The following options
are available:


None: The vertices will not be visible.



Weight: Each clone’s weighting will be displayed from red (0%) to yellow (max. weighting).

UV: The internal UV-coordinates will be shown, starting at 0,0,0 (black), i.e. black to red, black to green and
black to blue, respectively.




Color: The clone color.

P.X, P.Y, P.Z, S.X, S.Y, S.Z, R.H, R.P, R.B
Use these settings to rotate, move or scale each clone using its own coordinate system. Simple animations can be defined that will
affect each clone uniformly. For example, modifying the “R.H” value will make all clones rotate uniformly around their Y-axis.
Even more control can be gained by also applying Effectors, which can affect individual clones using certain scaling factors.

Color
Included in MoGraph are several shaders that work in conjunction with Cloners. If a material containing a MoGraph color shader is
assigned to a Cloner, each clone will assume this color as its “initial color”, which can subsequently be influenced by Effectors.

Weight
Use this setting to assign each clone an initial weighting. Each Effector can then use this value to affect the clone accordingly. More
about what can be done using weighting is explained in chapter 3 under “Weight Transform”.

Time
Let’s say an object has been cloned whose position (or any other setting) was animated. The clones will assume this animation with
the delay defined here.

2 Cloner Object - MoGraph Reference Manual • 31

If the “Fix Clones” option is active, it may occur that only one of the animated settings will work. Animated position, scale or rotation
settings will not work.

Orientation (only in “Grid Array” mode)
Use this setting to define the direction in which the W-axis if the UVW-coordinate system should point.

Animation Loop
If active, animations of parameter-animated clones will be looped.

Effectors Tab

Place all Effectors into this field that should affect the Cloner. Effectors can be
added to this field by:


Dragged into this field from the Object Manager.



Creating a new Effector for an active Cloner.

Clicking on the green checkmark will deactivate the Effector, clicking on the red “x” will again activate the Effector. This can also be
done in the Object Manager. (the effect of the Effector will be applied globally).
Each Effector has a corresponding slider below the “Effectors” field, with which the Effector’s strength can be adjusted. This value will
be multiplied with the Effector’s “Strength” setting.
Note:
Arranging the Effectors in different sequences (top to bottom) in the “Effectors” field will lead do different
results. For example, if a Random Effector and a Spline Effector are placed into this field: If the Spline Effector
is executed before the Random Effector, all clones will not be able to be arranged onto the spline, which would
be the case if the Random Effector were executed first.
Also important is the sequence in which Effectors with weighting transformations are executed, i.e. if Effector
3 should use Effector 2’s weighting, Effector 3 should be placed after Effector 2 in the list.
The sequence of Effectors can be modified simply by dragging them to their desired positions.

3 Effectors

34 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

3. Effectors
General
Effectors are objects that can affect the following:


Clones, matrix, text objects, etc., i.e. all MoGraph clone-generating objects.



MoGraph extruder objects (see chapter 4 “Extruder Object”).



“Normal” CINEMA 4D deformation-free objects (e.g. those that can be made a child of a Fracture Object).



As deformation objects on an object’s points or polygons (see also “Deformation Tab”).

Effectors must be arranged in the following manner in order to work:

Left, the Random Effector affects a Cloner Object; right, the Random Effector effects CINEMA 4D objects.

An Effector created for a clone-generating object will be placed in the Effector list (left).

What do Effectors do?
Effectors take existing clones, objects, object points (only their respective positions) or object polygons and vary their position, size,
angle and many other properties, according to Effector-specific idiosyncrasies (see chapter 3 “Parameter Tab”).


The Random Effector.



The Step Effector sequential.



The Shader Effector in conjunction with a texture, etc.

How do Effectors work?
For those who really want to know the nitty-gritty:
Effectors can be separated into two groups:
1. Effectors that ascertain an initial value per clone and transform them based on individual clone parameters
(those that can be found in the “Parameter” tab). These Effectors are:


Shader Effector: Ascertains an initial value from a texture’s gray scale.



Formula Effector: Ascertains an initial value based on a formula.



Random Effector: Ascertains an initial random value.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 35



Sound Effector: Ascertains an initial value based on the sound level of various frequencies.



Step Effector: Ascertains consecutive initial values between 0 and 1, which are then assigned to each clone.



Time Effector: Ascertains a steadily increasing initial value in the course of an animation.

These Effectors ascertain the respective initial value, multiply it by strength, min/max values, falloff, and with the values set in the
“Parameter” tab. Thus, a final position for each clone is calculated. Sounds a little complicated, but don’t worry, MoGraph can also be
understood by those of you don’t read math books in your spare time...
2. Special Effectors that, for example, use a spline or other animated object, etc. to carry out some sort of
action. These Effectors are:


Inheritance Effector: Assumes the position or animation of a reference object.

Delay Effector: A special effect that affects every clone modification with regard to position, size and rotation
simultaneously, e.g. to let them all bounce.




Spline Effector: Arranges clones on a spline.



Target Effector: Arranges clones.



Group Effector: Groups Effectors into one Effector.

Note:
In the following, for the purposes of convenience and easier reading flow, the term “clone” is used in place of
listing “clone, matrix, text, extruder object, objects, object points, object polygons, etc.” each time.

Parameter Tab

Most Effectors have a “Parameter” tab in which all clone properties that should be affected by the Effector can be. Of course there are
exceptions to the rule, as is the case with the Target Effector – it does not have a “Parameter” tab.

36 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Some Effectors, like the Spline Effector or the Delay Effector, only have an effect on part of the clone properties described below.
Irrelevant properties will be grayed out.

Transform Mode

From left to right: Result without Effector, “Relative” mode, “Remap” mode, both with a Shader Effector with an integrated gradient and
“Scale” transformation.

In the image above, the Effector affects the scaling of the clone. Depending on what transformation mode you select, the clones will
be scaled via addition to the original size (“Relative” – mathematical: “clone parameter” + (clone parameter*Effector value”) or starting
from “0” (“Remap”, mathematically: “clone parameters*Effector value”).
Select “Absolute” when applying position transformation. The clones will generate in the direction of a point defined with P.X, P.Y
and P.Z.

Left the result, right the Shader Effector containing the gradient (insert) and with a position transformation applied.

Transformation Space
Most clone transformations that require a direction, e.g. position, angle or rotation, can be assigned a coordinate system here. Imagine
this coordinate system in each clone, from which point the transformation takes place. You can select from the following:


Clone: The clone coordinate system.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 37



Effector: The Effector coordinate system.



Object: The object coordinate system of the object generating the clones (e.g. the Cloner Object itself).

Position, Scale, Rotation
These parameters let you do the following:
1. You can define what the Effector should vary: Position, scale and/or angle. Simply activate the desired option
and additional parameters will be made available correspondingly.
2. Define areas in which the Effector should vary the clones with respect to position, scale and angle, based on
the individual capabilities it was given.
Simply put, the Effector establishes values between 0% and 100%, whereby 100% reflects the maximum values that can be entered
for position, scale and angle.
Example:
A Shader Effector has been applied in conjunction with a black-and-white gradient. Black=0% and white
=100%. If you now enter a value of 300m for P.Y, 300m will be the maximum Y-distance the clones will be
moved by the Effector (to the location where the shader is colored white).

Scale
The following options will be made available when “Scale” is activated:
Uniform Scale: The clones will be scaled uniformly in all three directions. If this option is not active, each
direction can be set separately.


Absolute Scale: It can occur, that negative weighting or scaling can result if unusual settings have been applied
(e.g. cloned particles in conjunction with a Random Effector). The clones will then point in the wrong direction.
Activating this option will eliminate this effect.


Color

Left: Shader Effector. Right: Random Effector

38 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

The color modes primarily define if and how colors interpolated by an Effector will be combined with clone colors – those of the object
from which the clones have been generated (see chapter 6, “Color Shader”). The Shader Effector and Random Effector are, though,
somewhat different. Both generate shader and random colors when in the “Effector Color and Alpha” and “Effector Color no Alpha”
modes, whereas other Effectors only output grayscales.


Off: No color transformation. The clones will receive the color defined in the Cloner.

Color with Effector Alpha: Use the color slider to define a color to be mixed with the original clone’s color,
taking into account the alpha value of the Effector itself (the gray scale that corresponds to the “Effector Color
no Alpha” mode).


Color no Alpha: Use the color slider to define a color with which the clones will be colored, taking into account
the falloff. This color has nothing to do with the Effector-specific transformation, i.e. it doesn’t matter if you define
the color for a Formula Effector or a Step Effector, the clones will be colored uniformly within the falloff.


Effector Color no Alpha: When applying the Shader Effector in conjunction with a Random Effector, the shader
defined in the Shader Effector’s “Shading” tab will interpolate random colors. When using other Effectors, a
gray scale value corresponding to the Effector’s effect will be interpolated.


Effector Color and Alpha: See aforementioned point. In addition, an Effector-specific alpha channel will be
taken into account (interpolated from the gray scale values of the colors created).


All modes, except for “Off”, offer a “Blending Mode” menu from which you can define the mode with which the interpolated colors
should be mixed with the Cloner’s colors. The following modes are available:


Mix: An average color between that of the Effector color and of the Cloner Object will be interpolated.



Add, Subtract, Multiply: The colors will either be added, subtracted or multiplied.

Divide: The Cloner’s color will be divided component-wise through the Effector color. This mode is not really
a very effective one – it’s more for playing around with.


Weight Transform
Imagine you can use one Effector to control any number of other Effectors: If, for example, a texture (Shader Effector) should define
where the transformation of a Random Effector should have an effect. This is what “Weight Transform” does.
Basically, weighting can lie anywhere between 0% and 100%. The weight of any clone can be made visible by selecting the “Weight”
display mode in the clone-generating object’s “Transform” tab. When that clone-generating object is active, the weight of each of its
clones will be displayed and assigned a color between red and yellow, depending on the amount of weight it has (it may be necessary
to make the clone-generating object invisible).


Red: Weight = 0%



Yellow: Weight = 100%

This weighting can be used by any other Effector when this Effector’s “Weight” slider in the “Falloff” tab is varied.
Example:

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 39

Above is an array of clones with a single cloned cube in the “Grid Array” clone mode. A Step Effector with the “Spline” function graph
(see insert) was assigned to the cloned object. All settings for the Step Effector’s “Parameter” tab have been deactivated, except for
“Weight Transform”, which was set to 100%. The only thing the Step Effector does now is give each clone a weighting of between 0%
and 100%, as the red-to-yellow coloring of the grid shows.
If, for example, you want to use this weighting to control a Random Effector, follow these steps:
Create a Random Effector and assign it to the Cloner. Make sure the Random Effector is executed after the
Step Effector is executed (Cloner’s “Effectors” tab). Subsequently, make the desired changes to the position,
scale and angle settings.


Set the Random Effector’s “Weight” in the “Falloff” tab to 0%. It’s also a good idea to set “Shape” to
“Infinite”. Otherwise the Effector’s falloff may still have an influence (unless, of course, this is exactly the effect
you want...).


The result:

40 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

In the image above, the effects of position-, scale-, and angle transformation (and, if desired, all other transformations) caused by the
weighting of the Step Effector can be seen. Using this weighting, any number of additional Effectors can be made to affect the Cloner.
Sometimes it may be necessary to reset this weighting: The weighting can be set back to a defined starting value of 0% by creating a
Shader Effector and setting its “Strength” value to 100% and “Maximum” and “Minimum” values to 0%, respectively (“Effector” tab).
This shader must then be arranged behind all other shaders within the cloned object that are affected by the initial weighting.

U / V Transform
All clones have internal UV-coordinates (they have nothing to do with texturing), with which the effect of each Effector is calculated.
U / V Transform can be used to affect how Effectors that use these UV-coordinates, e.g. the Formula Effector, work.

Modify Clone
Use this parameter if you want an Effector to affect a clone’s child objects. This can be useful if the following is true:


You have made several objects to be cloned children of a Cloner.



The “Clone” setting has not been set to “Cluster”.

We suggest the “Sort” mode, which will make the effect more visible.
Example:

The Cloner Object in the image above was set to “Sort” and was subsequently assigned a Step Effector (see “Step Effector). A “Modify
Clone” setting of 100% will produce a result as shown above. The distribution of clones will change in accordance with any changes
made to the “Modify Clone” setting. Values less than 0% or greater than 100% are also possible, which will vary the number of child
objects used to create clones.
“Modify Clone” also works with other Cloner Object modes – the setting then simply modifies the number of clones to be modified:

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 41

The Step Effector curve (insert) causes the effects shown above when “Random” mode has been selected. The “Modify Clone” value increases
from left to right.

Time Offset

A cylinder animated using two different deformation objects: Left, a Shader Effector; right, a Step Effector.

Lets say you have an object, animated solely via parameter animation (light source, deformation object, etc.). It would be nice if an
Effector could generate clones from that object at different intervals. This is what “Time Offset” does.
In the image above, Taper and Bend objects were animated from frame 0 to 20. Each Effector was assigned a “Time Offset” value of
20 - the Effectors distribute the clones with the temporal offset in accordance with the gray scale values (Shader Effector), i.e. from
clone 0 to the last clone (Step Effector) or from wherever the corresponding Effector draws its input values.

Visibility
Use this setting to affect the visibility of clones. This option can’t be used with every Effector, though. This option can, for example,
be used in conjunction with the Random Effector to randomly make clones invisible (make sure “Minimum” is set to -100%). The Step
Effector and Shader Effector will hide clones set to “0”. This can occur with the Step Effector at the point at which the spline is set to
“0” along the X-axis. In the case of the Shader Effector, this will occur in areas of black.

42 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Deformer Tab

The main function of Effectors is to work together with Cloners (see chapter 2, “Cloner”), whereby the clones will be deformed
differently, depending on the Effector used.
All Effectors can also be used as deformation objects for normal polygon objects. Simply make the Effector a child of the object or make
it, together with other objects within a hierarchical level, a child of a parent object. The “Deformer” tab also offers several additional
useful settings. As you can see in the screen shot above, there are only a few transformations from which you can choose.
Note:
Using an Effector as a deformation object is useful if, for example, you want objects already placed under a Null
Object to affect and Effector without the use of a clone-generating object. All objects will be treated equally,
i.e. the Random Effector will arrange all objects with an offset of, for example, 1000m. The Effector cannot
assign different values to different objects. If you want do to this, though, these objects must be made children
of a Fracture Object (see chapter 4).

Deformation
Various options are available, depending on how an Effector should affect objects:


Off: No deformation.



Object: The objects as a whole will be modified.



Point: Each point will be moved individually.



Polygon: Each polygon will be moved individually using its own polygon coordinate system.

In the image below, the Random Effector was used to demonstrate how each element is moved.

From left to right: “Object” mode, “Polygon” mode, “Point” mode. In the example on the right, all polygons were disconnected as well (main
menu: Functions/Disconnect).

You can also use splines to transform objects using the Spline Effector, assuming the object has been sufficiently subdivided. A torus
was used to create the examples pictured below.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 43

Increasing Spline Effector strength values from left to right with “Deformation” mode set to “Point”.

Or how about a Simple Effector (a Shader Effector without a shader, only position transformation), whose falloff is defined by
particles:

The Effector falloff (in this example using a Plane) is defined by a radius around each particle.

As you can see, a myriad of possibilities is available. As is the case with so many CINEMA 4D features, experiment to your heart’s content
– there’s much to be discovered just by playing around with various settings.
Note:
There are some limitations when using Effectors as deformation objects: Transformation of color, “Time Offset”,
weighting, etc. will not work. Concentrate on using the “Parameter” tab’s “Transform” menu. The Target Effector
and Group Effector cannot be used as deformation objects.

44 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Falloff Tab
General

All Effectors have their own “Falloff” tab. Use the settings in the “Falloff” tab to define properties such as shape, expansion and much
more for that Effector. Thus, the Effector can be limited in its spatial expanse (also with splines, particles, etc.). In the following, a
Shader Effector without a loaded texture will be used to explain the settings that influence the R.P of each clone. Falloff works analog
to any other parameter to be influenced.

The falloff of a spherical Effector. The actual falloff begins outside of the red radii.

An Effector’s dimensions are displayed using the following colors:


Yellow: Maximum Effector expanse, beyond which it has no effect.

Rot: The Effector’s strength is at its maximum within the red radii, outside of which the falloff begins, and
continues to the yellow radii.




Orange: Grabbers that can be moved interactively to adjust the Effector or falloff.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 45

If you animate an Effector to pass through a group of clones, the falloff settings can be used to create soft transitions between areas
not affected by the Effector and areas affected by the Effector.

An animated Effector with properly adjusted falloff settings results in a uniform displacement as it passes through a group of clones.

Shape

Clockwise from the top left: “Box”, “Sphere”, “Cylinder”, “Linear”, “Source” (spline), “Source” (particle).

You can select from the following:
Infinite: No falloff will be applied to the strength of the Effector. The Effector will affect the entire scene with
full strength.




Box, Cylinder, Sphere: The corresponding shape will result.

Linear: Falloff will take place along the Effector’s Z-length. The following applies: Full strength in the negative
Z-direction, no strength in the positive Z-direction.


Source: Splines or particles can be used and the falloff will take place within a certain distance surrounding
the spline or particle.


46 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Invert
Inverts the falloff.

Visible
Use this setting to turn the Effector’s visible radius on or off (as long as “Shape” is not set to “Infinite”).

Weight
Use this setting to define to what degree an Effector should take into account any potential clone weighting (see also “Weight
Transform”). A value of 100% means that the Effector will ignore the clone weighting; a value of 0% means the clone weighting will
have a maximum effect.

Scale
Use this setting to define the three-dimensional size of the Effector.

Shape Source (Spline)
Sample Distance

Left a lesser, right a greater “Sample Distance” value.

Internally, a number of sample points (set using “Sample Detail”) are assumed along the spline, around each of which a radius is created.
The clones will be affected within these radii. If “Sample Detail” is set high enough, a tube will be visible around the spline, its radius
equal to the “Sample Distance” setting.
Note:
Interesting effects can be achieved when used in conjunction with the Displace Deformer (see chapter 4,
“Displace Deformer”).

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 47

Sample Detail
As you already know “Sample Detail” defines the detail with which the spline form will emulate the sample points. The higher the value
set, the longer it will take to calculate and the more accurate the emulation will be.

Source Link
Drag a spline from the Object Manager into this field on whose basis the effect of the Effector should be calculated.

Shape Source (particle)

Effectors can have an effect within a certain radius (“Sample Distance”) around particles.

Sample Distance
The Effector will have an effect around a particle within the distance defined here. Falloff will have an effect ranging from the center
of each particle to the defined “Sample Distance” value.

Source Link
Drag the emitter (CINEMA 4D) or particle group (Thinking Particles module) into this field.

Scale
Use this setting to scale the entire Effector, including falloff and the corresponding radii.

48 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Falloff

An increasing “Falloff” value from left to right.

Use the “Falloff” setting to define the radius (red) within which falloff should have an effect. The Effector’s effect will be full strength
ranging from its center to this (red) radius. The Effector’s effect will fall off to zero from the red radius to the yellow radius (“Scale”).
If “Falloff” is set to zero, the Effector’s strength will be full strength within its overall size (yellow radius: “Scale”). If “Falloff” is set to
maximum, a uniform transition from the Effector’s center (max) to its overall size (“Scale”(min)) will take place.
Tip:
You can achieve some nice effects by letting Effectors with a maximum “Falloff” value pass through clone
groups!

Clamped
Normally, the falloff value lies between 0 and 1. This setting is acceptable for most areas of use: Let’s say you set an Effector’s P.Y value
to 200m. The strength of its effect is strongest at its center so the clone will be located at P.Y=200m. There are times, though, when
you want to define larger values, independent of the “Falloff” value. To do so, deactivate the option and the resulting effect within the
effective falloff will be increased dramatically.
Using this method, you can create interesting “controlled” explosions:


Create a Random Effector and activate the “Position” option (“Parameter” tab).



Set “Shape” to “Linear” in the “Falloff” tab and move the Effector through the clone group.

Spline
You can custom-define a falloff using this spline curve. Define the falloff that will take place between the red (falloff begin) and yellow
(max. effect range) radii.

Spline Animation Speed
If the falloff you defined using the spline curve should take place over time, enter a value greater than “0” here. A value of 100%
represents a one-second cycle.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 49

Group Effector

Three Effectors in one Group Effector.

The Group Effector is useful for grouping various Effectors that should be executed at a specific time via the “ReTime” function. If, for
example, you’ve discovered an interesting or especially effective combination of a Step Effector and a Random Effector, you can group
them in a Group Effector and assign the Group Effector to other objects as desired, without having to again assign the individual
Effectors.

Strength
As is the case with all Effector, the “Strength” slider defines the Effector’s strength. Values less than 0% and greater than 100% can
also be defined.

ReTime
Let’s say you’ve used a Group Effector to group several Effectors that have animated settings and the timing is a little off. You can
either modify each Effector’s animated setting or you can simply activate the “ReTime” setting and each animation within the “Start”
and “End” frame range will be compressed. This works best if all animations begin at frame “0”.

Start / End
Define the frame range within which the Effector animation should take place. The smaller the frame range, the faster the animation
will run.

Effectors
Drag all Effectors from the Object Manager into this field that you want to place into the Group Effector. These Effectors will then no
longer be assigned individually to the cloned object. Otherwise their effect would be doubled. Only the Group Effector will be present
in each Effector’s Effector list. The Effectors will be executed in their defined sequence (see chapter 2, “Effectors Tab”).

50 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Shader Effector

Above, a noise (Voronoi) is used to define position and rotation of the clones via its gray scale values.

The Shader Effector primarily uses a texture’s gray scale values to transform clones. To do this, the texture somehow needs to be
projected onto the clones. UV-mapping is used in place of texture tags.
The Shader Texture can also be used to color clones (as well as lights!) directly. Simply define the following:


A texture in the “Shading” tab (faster method) or

Drag a material containing a texture in a texture channel onto the Shader Effector and select the corresponding
texture channel in the “Shading” tab’s “Channel” menu. In case you have several texture tags, simply drag the
corresponding tag into the “Texture Tag” field. (offers better projection control).


When using linear or radial clone modes, we recommend using the “2D-U” “Color Gradient” shader.
Note:
The Shader Effector serves well as a “basic” Effector if, for example, you only want to influence the clones based
only on their position, scale and angle falloff settings. Make sure no shader or texture tag has been loaded in
the “Shader” tab.

Effector Tab Settings
Strength
Use this slider to adjust the overall strength of the effect. As usual, values less than 0% and greater than 100% can be entered.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 51

Minimum / Maximum
Use these settings to reduce or expand the effect’s area of influence.
Example:
“P.Y” has been set to 200m in the “Parameter” tab. A noise shader, that normally provides values between “0”
(black) and “1” (white), will vary between 0m and 200m, relative to “Minimum” and “Maximum” values of 0%
and 100% respectively. If you would set “Minimum” to 30% and “Maximum” to 120%, the clones would be
placed between 60m and 240m respectively.

Shading Tab Settings
The following settings are the same as for the Displace Object (see chapter 4, “Displace Object”), with the exception that the Displace
Object lets textures be projected onto object points, and not onto clones.

Channel
There are basically two methods for projecting textures onto a group of clones.


With the help of an additional texture tag.



With a shader that doesn’t contain a texture tag (then only UVW-mapping)

First, select a material channel from the “Shading” tab’s “Channel” menu, upon which the “Texture Tag” text field will be made available.
You can then drag any texture tag from the Object Manager into this text field. The texture contained in the material will now be
applied in the material channel you selected.

Edit
Clicking on this button will open the corresponding shader’s properties in the Attribute Manager for quick editing.

Texture Tag
If you select “Custom Shader” a texture selection menu will be made available. From this menu, a texture or bitmap to be used by the
Effector can be selected. We suggest the use of the texture tag method since it is simpler to use. Furthermore, the texture tools can be
used to adjust texture coordinates interactively.

Offset X/Y, Length X/Y
If “Custom Shader” is selected, several settings will be made available with which the texture can be moved (offset) or scaled (length)
within the UV-coordinates. When using noise shaders, though, “Space” should be set to “UV (2D)”.

Tile
Use this setting to define whether or not the texture should be tiled.

52 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Use
Use this setting to define how the Shader Effector should view the colors it elicited from the clones. This only applies to the assertion
of internal values, mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, and not for the coloring of clones.
Alpha: If the shader or texture (e.g. a QuickTime video) contains an alpha channel, selecting this option will
evaluate the alpha channel. If no alpha channel is present, the gray scale values will be used.




Gray: The gray scale will be used.



Red, Green, Blue: Each color will be used individually.

Note: The “Alpha” mode does not work in conjunction with the layer shader. Use a different mode instead.

Invert Alpha
Inverts the effect of the alpha channel.

UVW-Mapping in MoGraph
MoGraph has a lot of mysterious settings beginning with “U” or “V”. The reason for this is that all clones possess internal U,V, and W
coordinates. This coordinate system always has a range from “0” to “1”. How this coordinate system spans the clones is illustrated in
the image below:

U,V,W coordinate span; text object from top to bottom; line text index; word text index; all text index.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 53

These UVW-coordinates have nothing to do with the texturing of clones. They serve exclusively to help Effectors assign each clone a
value so that it may be transformed.
Example:

In the image above, a simple cube was cloned linearly using a Cloner Object (insert top left). Next, assign a
Shader Effector (with “Scale” active and UVW-mapping) containing the gradient shown at center to the Cloner.
The first clone’s “u” value = “0”, the last clone has a “u” value of “1”. The scaling of the clones is a result of the
applied gradient (type “2D-U”).
If the first Cloner Object is now placed into the second Cloner Object (this time with clone mode set to “Radial”),
the result will be as pictured at the top left (insert).

If the second Cloner Object is also applied to the same Shader Effector, the result will be as pictured at the
right. Don’t forget that “u” runs along the radius where start and end points of the pictured gradient meet (1st
clone: u=0; last clone: u=1).

54 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Random Effector

Left, the initial state of the clones; right, the Random Effector was applied (position and angle were randomly modified).

Computer graphics can easily be recognized as such by its often all-to-uniform look. The Random Effector’s job is to give your clones an
irregular arrangement / look. This Effector’s abilities are not limited to just position, rotation or size but can also modify color, weighting
and more. Weighting in particular can help in achieving interesting effects when the Random Effector is used to simultaneously control
other Effectors (or inversely). See also “Weighting Transformation”.

Parameter Tab

Strength
Use the “Strength” slider to adjust the Effector’s overall strength.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 55

Minimum / Maximum
Use these sliders to decrease or expand the Effector’s range.
Example:
“R.H.” is set to 360° in the “Parameter” tab. If “Minimum” and “Maximum” are set to 0% and 100%, respectively,
the clone angles will randomly vary between 0° and 360°. If “Minimum” and “Maximum” were set to -25% and
+25%, respectively, the clone angles would randomly vary between -90° and +90°.

Random Mode

Clockwise from the top left: “Random Mode” “Random”, “Gaussian”, “Noise”, “Turbulence” (very large “Scale” values used for demonstration
purposes). Transformation was done with “P.Y”.

Four random modes are available:
Random / Gaussian: These two modes provide truly random results. “Gaussian” generally provides somewhat
lower values as does “Random”. Modifying the “Seed” value will result in completely different random values.


Noise / Turbulence: Internally, a 3D noise is used to supply the clones with random values. “Turbulence” ensures
that the noise is less uniform. “Noise” in particular is good for animating random values because it modifies the
random values in a constant, harmonious manner. Basically, it has the same effect as noise loaded into a Shader
Effector. Noise / Turbulence offer the following settings:


Space: When set to “Global”, the noise is fixed in space, i.e. when the Cloner Object moves, the clones receive
modifiable random values, in addition to the temporal modification (if the animation speed is > 0). When set to
“UV”, the values (i.e. the spatial values, not those with regard to animation) remain constant when the Cloner
Object moves.


Scale: This value represents the noise’s global scale. In the image above, very large “Scale” values were used
for demonstration purposes, which actually has less to do with randomness. If the noise in the image above
were made much smaller, the wave-like structure would become much more inconspicuous. Eventually each
clone will really only randomly receive values from its neighbor.


56 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Synchronized
Activate this option if the same values for position, scale and angle, etc. should apply. Otherwise an individual random value will be
interpolated for each transformation.

Indexed
Important for “Noise” and “Turbulence” modes: If this option is not active, equal random values for X, Y, and Z will be ascertained
when “Noise” is sampled internally, which can lead to diagonal movement when an animation is played.
Activate this option to interpolate different random values, which will result in more random and natural movements.

Spline Effector

The Spline Effector takes the clones and arranges them in turn on a spline. Clones and spline points are numbered internally. Simply put
(i.e. without having changed any settings), the Spline Effector will arrange the first clone at the start of the spline and the last clone at
the end of the spline. The positions of the clones that lie between the first and last clones will be interpolated based on various settings.
This is all done by the Cloner Object as well. The trick is to get the various settings to make the clones move smoothly from their initial
position (or scale, or angle) onto the spline. The clones can also be moved relative along the length of the spline or a copy of the spline
will be assigned to each clone, along which the clones can move along (see below “Transformation”).

Settings

Strength
Use this slider to adjust the distance of the clones from the spline: A value of 0% means the clones will not approach the spline; a value
of 100% will place the clones directly onto the spline (in so far as no other settings oppose this action).
If you want various splines to blend into one another, make sure the start and end points of the clones and spline lie in very close
proximity of each other. Otherwise, an unwanted overlapping of clone movements could result.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 57

From left to right: Increasing “Strength” values. In the top row, clones and spline match (start and end points lie very close together); in the
bottom row, clones and spline are twisted in opposing directions.

Spline
Drag a spline object or tracer (see chapter 4, “Tracer) from the Object Manager into this field.

Mode
There are three modes from which to choose. They have the following properties:


Step: The clones will be placed with equal intervals onto the spline.

Falloff: In this mode, the position of each clone is primarily dependent upon the Effector’s falloff setting.
Depending on the size of the falloff value, the clones will flow along the length of the spline. This works especially
well in conjunction with the “Linear” falloff type and a maximum falloff value.


Relative: If the clones have irregular intervals between them in the X, Y or Z directions before the Effector
has taken effect, these irregular intervals can also be retained, proportionally, by the clones arranged on the
spline.


A text object with an Effector in the “Letters” tab. At top: “Step” mode. At bottom: “Relative” mode.

58 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

This is especially useful when working with text because the relative letter spacing will be maintained (only works with single-line
text).

Offset
If “Strength” is set to 100%, modifying “Offset” will make sure the clones wander along the spline. Lesser “Strength” values will
produce interesting effects.
This is the most important setting when it comes to letting clones wander along a spline.

Start / End
Every spline has a starting point and an ending point (these are colored yellow and red on splines made editable in point mode). Use
the “Start” and “End” settings to define the area of the spline on which the clones should be arranged. If “Start” is set to 0% and “End”
to 100%, the clones will be arranged along the entire spline.
Tip:
If raising the “Strength” setting results in an intersection of clones, i.e. the first clone lies on the end of the
spline and the last clone on the start of the spline, it often helps if you simply invert the positions of the “Start”
and “End” sliders.

Clamp
If an offset value not equal to 0% has been selected, this setting determines whether clones that land on a spline’s start or end points
should be deleted, or appear on the opposite end of the spline.

Segment Mode
If splines consisting of several segments are used, these settings define the clones’ behavior on the splines. The following settings are
available:
Use Index: The segments are numbered (internally), starting at “0”. The “Segment” setting can be used to
define a single segment to be used.


Even Spacing: The clones will be distributed equally across all spline segments, their intervals remaining
constant per segment.


Random: Clones will be distributed randomly across all spline segments. The random distribution can be
varied by modifying the “Seed” setting.


Transform Mode
Here are several Effector-specific settings: If “Absolute” is selected, the clones will be arranged directly onto the spline, which is exactly
what most users want.
The other modes are especially then useful, if both “Start” and “End” are set to 0%. The clones will then move as shown in the image
below when the “Offset” setting is varied:

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 59

At top: A varied “Offset” setting and “Start” and “End” set to 0%. At bottom: Initial states with “Offset” set to 0%.

Relative to Spline: Varying the “Offset” value will move the clones in unison, relative to the spline, without
being placed onto the spline.


Relative to Node: Imagine a copy the spline on each clone (with its first spline segment oriented in the direction
of the Z axis), which the clone follows via the “Offset” variation.


Activating “Rotation” will make the “R.H”, “R.P” and “R.B” settings available, with which each clone can be rotated according to its
coordinate system.

Inheritance Effector

Spectacular effects can be achieved by using the Inheritance Effector. Position, angle and animations are passed on (“inherited”) from
one object to another. Furthermore, an object’s clones can be more-or-less morphed onto the clones of another Cloner. In the past,
these types of effects were only possible using the Thinking Particles module.

60 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Settings

Strength
Use this setting to adjust the strength of the Effector’s influence. 0% will have the same effect as deactivating the Effector itself. Values
less than 0% or greater than 100% can also be entered.

Inheritance Mode: Direct
In this mode, clones will inherit states directly from the “parent object”, without temporal delay.

Object
Drag the object (“parent object”) into this field whose position, angle and size should be passed on. The results will differ, depending
on whether you drag a normal object or one of the MoGraph Cloner Objects (e.g. Cloner Object or Matrix Object, etc.) in to this field.
The “parent object” can, of course, be animated.


Normal object

The “parent object” has been moved to a position across from the Cloner Object and rotated. This results in a transformation of the
clone’s position and orientation.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 61



Morph Motion Object

The Inheritance Effector can be used to transition from one Cloner Object to another (each in “Object” clone mode). The “Morph
Motion Object” option must be activated.

If you use a MoGraph object (Cloner, matrix object, etc), the clones of the original object will be transferred to the clones of the
MoGraph object. When creating such effects, we suggest the Cloner Object and “parent object” contain pretty much the same number
of clones.

Morph Motion Object
If this option is activated, effects such as the one pictured in the previous image will result. If this option is not active, behavior as
described for “Normal Object” will result.

Inheritance Mode Animation

The reference object is rotated 90° in the course of the animation. Left: “Step Gap” = 0. Right: “Step Gap” = 2.

62 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Whereas “Inheritance Mode” “Direct” automatically activates the “Position”, “Scale” and “Rotation” settings, the “Inheritance Mode”
“Animation” transfers animation data which can be made to affect individual clones one after the other.
The following special settings are available.

Falloff Based
If this setting is activated, the clone will be affected by the reference object’s complete animation within the Effector’s falloff. Where
the Effector’s falloff is zero (where the Effector’s maximum influence lies), the reference object will be in its final state; where the
Effector’s falloff has no influence at all (outside of the Effector’s range of influence), the reference object will be in its initial state. The
greater effect can be achieved by deactivating this setting.

Transform Space
Use this setting to define how a conglomerate of clones should go about inheriting an animation. This can best be seen when applied
to an animated (rotation or scale) reference object:


Generator: The entire conglomerate of clones will rotate/scale around a single axis.



Clone: Each clone will rotate/scale around its own axis.

“Clone” and “Generator” modes.

Start / End
Use these settings to define within which frame span the reference object should affect the clone. We suggest the reference object
animation be started at frame “0”. Otherwise, effects may result that are very difficult to control.
By varying the “Start” and “End” settings, the speed of the transferred animation can be adjusted. The transferred animation can run
either faster or slower than the reference object animation.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 63

Example:
The reference object rotates 180° between Frames 0 and 20. The “Start” and “End” values are set to 100 and
150, respectively. The clones will now rotate in unison (“Step Gap” = 0) 180° from frame 100 to 150.
Animation
Use this setting to define from which state the clones should inherit the animation:


From (Out): The reference object’s starting point.



To (In): The end of the reference object’s animation.

Step Gap
If you want each clone to inherit the reference object’s animation individually and with a certain time lag (instead of all clones inheriting
the animation at once), set “Step Gap” to a value greater than “0”. A value of “0” will let all clones inherit the animation simultaneously,
whereas a value of “2” will result in each clone animation beginning with a 2-frame delay to the clone before it.
The reference object’s rotation and angle can also be animated, which can result in interesting effects.

Loop Animation
Activate this setting if you want to loop the reference object’s animation for the clones. Otherwise, the animation will stop after one
loop. This works best if “Animation” is set to “To (In)”.

Step Effector

The Step Effector works like this: Each defined transformation is applied to the last clone, and the transformation of the clones in
between (i.e. clone “0” to the last clone) is interpolated.

The Step Effector with “S.Y” set to “10”; the last clone is 10 times larger in the Y-direction than the first clone.

64 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

The following applies to the numbering of clones:
Clone mode “Grid”: When looking at the grid in the Z-direction: The first clone is at the bottom left. The
sequence is basically as follows: 1st row at bottom front from left to right, 2nd row at bottom front from left to
right, etc., then from front to rear.


Polygon objects / splines: If cloning takes place on polygonal objects or splines, the first clone is always the
one that is on the first object point or spline point.




Particles: The first clone will be on the temporally first particle.



Instance object: The first clone is the one directly behind the animated instanced object.

Strength
Use this setting to adjust the strength of the Effector’s influence. 0% will have the same effect as deactivating the Effector itself. Values
less than 0% or greater than 100% can also be entered.

Minimum / Maximum
The values entered for the settings in the “Parameter” tab represent maximum values for those transformations. The Effector is free
to choose from a range of values between 0% and this maximum value if the “Minimum” and “Maximum” sliders are set to 0% and
100%, respectively. Adjusting these sliders will affect the range of values from which the Effector has to choose accordingly.
Example:
“R.P” is set to 90° in the “Parameter” tab. The following will apply:


Minimum = 0%; Maximum = 100%: The first clone will be located at 0°, the last at 90°.



Minimum = -100%; Maximum = 100%: The first clone will be located at -90%, the last at +90%.

Spline

The transformation shown is a result of the spline setting (insert) and a “S.Y” setting of 10.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 65

Use these function graphs to influence the interpolation between the first and last clone. The interpolation will take place as it is shown
by the graph.

Step Gap

“Step Gap” settings from left to right: 0,2,10.

Use this setting to influence the interpolation values between the beginning clone and end clone. Increasing values greater than “0”
will result in a lessening of the difference between each clone; differences between clone groups, within which no transformations
take place, will still be evident.

Target Effector

The clones are oriented towards the “Object Target”. In this example, “Use Pitch” has been activated.

Use the Target Effector to make clones orient towards a Target Object, each other or the camera.

66 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Settings

Strength
Use this slider to adjust the strength of the Effector. A “Strength” setting of 0% means the Effector will have no effect.

Target Mode
Depending on the option selected, the clones will orient themselves according to:
Object Target: The clones will be oriented themselves with their Z-axis in the direction of the “Object Target”.
The “Object Target” is defined by dragging the desired object into the “Target Object” field. If this field is left
blank, the Target Effector itself will be used.


Look at Camera: The clones will always orient themselves with their Z-axis in the direction of the camera in
the 3D view.


Next Node / Previous Node: Each clone will orient itself with its Z-axis according to the previous or next clone.
In the example below, a torus was used to demonstrate:


Each clone orients itself according to the previous or next clone.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 67

Use Pitch
If this setting is activated, a clone’s Z-axis will always point to the “Object Target”; if this setting is not active, the rotation’s pitch
direction will remain unchanged. An up vector can also be set.

Reverse Heading
Instead of the positive Z-axis, the negative Z-axis will attempt to orient itself to the target.

Up Vector

Clockwise from top left: “Use Pitch” deactivated; “Use Pitch” active; additionally, “Up Vector” set to “Object”; additionally “Target Mode” set
to “Look at Camera”.

As soon as “Use Pitch” is activated, the clones will point with their Z-axis exactly in the direction of the position defined in “Target
Mode” (in as far as “Reverse Heading is not active). The rotation of the clones, though, is herewith still not set entirely. One of several
pre-defined vectors or “Object” can be selected from the “Up Vector” menu in whose direction the clones should be oriented with
their X-axis (in as far as the “locked” Z-axis permits).

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Repel

Clones can be pushed away from a target object (here red) by activating the “Repel” setting. “Distance Strength” here has been set to 100%.

The following sliders appear when “Repel” is activated:
Distance: Defines the minimum distance the clones must have from the target object (or an Effector in other
modes) before being displaced.




Distance Strength: Use this slider to adjust the strength of the repulsion.

Time Effector

The Time Effector establishes its transformation values in accordance with the length of the animation. Thus, this Effector is ideal for
creating effects based on animation length without having to set keys.
Example:
Let’s say a bunch of clones should move at 300m / sec. Simply create a Time Effector and set “P.Y” to 300m.
That’s it. Without having set a single key, this bunch of clones will move with a constant 300m / sec. in the
Y-direction.
If, in addition, the weighting should change from 0% to 100% within 10 second, simple set “Weight
Transformation” to 10%. Yep, that’s it, you’re done.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 69

In the example above, a Time Effector is used to affect the clones in “P.Y”, with the falloff shown (insert graph). The effect will continue
endlessly, without a single key being set.

Except for the “Strength”, “Minimum” and “Maximum” sliders, the Time Effector has no other special controls. Use the “Strength” slider
to adjust the strength of the effect (values less than 0% and greater than 100% are possible). Use the “Minimum” and “Maximum”
sliders to limit or expand the value range accordingly.

Delay Effector

The Effector moving in a circular motion (not the Delay Effector!) drags a “trail” behind it as it moves. The “trail” is a result of the Delay
Effector.

The Delay Effector ensures that the effects of other Effectors with regard to position, scale and rotation do not begin abruptly, but
with a specified temporal delay. Basically an “effect trail” is dragged behind the corresponding Effector.
Important:
The Delay Effector should be arranged after the Effectors it should affect, i.e. it should be arranged after (below)
these Effectors in the MoGraph object’s “Effector” list in the “Effector” tab.
“Spring” is a very useful option for letting clone movements look more realistic. Using the Delay Effector saves time because adjustments
to the Timeline (e.g. Curves) are done more-or-less automatically that result in realistic movements.

Settings

70 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Strength
As is the case with all Effectors, this slider is used to define the overall strength of the Effector.

Mode
The three available modes can be characterized as follows:
Blend: The clone states will first be blended quickly, then slowly. Use the “Strength” slider to adjust the overall
speed with which this occurs.


Spring: As the name suggests, the clones will behave as though they have springs between them, resulting in
slight residual oscillation. Over-oscillation can also occur. Large values will increase residual oscillation, i.e. the
larger the value, the softer the springs.


Even: This mode will uniformly blend the clone states. Use the “Strength” setting to adjust the speed with
which this occurs.


Note:
Problems may be encountered when using this Effector in conjunction with scene motion blur (see “Post Effects
in your CINEMA 4D reference manual).

Sound Effector

Using the Sound Effector, clones can be transformed using the frequencies emitted by sound files!
Note:
If the audio sounds flawed when played in the editor, deactivating “All Frames” under “Animation / Frame Rate”
in main C4D menu can help.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 71

Settings

Strength
As is the case with all Effectors, this slider is used to define the overall strength of the Effector. Values less than 0% and greater than
100% can also be defined.

Minimum / Maximum
Use these sliders to limit or expand the internal range of values defined for the transformations.
Example:
“S.Y” is set to 30. If “Minimum” and “Maximum” have been set to 0% and 100%, respectively, the clones will
be scaled to 0 during times of absolute silence and to 30 when the frequency is loudest. If “Minimum” and
“Maximum” are set to 50% and 80%, respectively, the clones will consequently be scaled between 15 (silent)
and 26 (loud). Values less than 0% and greater than 100% can also be defined.

Sound File
Load a .wav or .aif sound file into this field. The files must be uncompressed.
The following is supported:


11,22 kHz and 44 kHz



8-bit and 16-bit

One second of CINEMA 4D animation is equal to one second of sound from the sound file. In other words, if a CINEMA 4D animation
is played at 25 fps, the sound file’s frequency spectrum will also be interpolated (sampled) at 25 fps.

72 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Start Offset
Enter the frame at which the sound file should start playing here. If “100” is entered, the sound file will start to play at frame 100 and
the Sound Effector will have no effect before frame 100. A negative value can also be defined.
Apply Mode

Left: “Step” mode. Right: “All”; at the bottom left the clones are not affected by the Effector, the Sound Effector scales the clones only in the
Y-direction.

“Apply Mode” defines how the sound file should affect the clones. There are two options from which to choose:
All: Each clone will fidget just like the other to the rhythm of the music. No differentiation is made between
frequencies.


Step: Frequencies will be assigned accordingly to clones, from clone 0 to the end clone. If, for example, the
“Linear” clone method was selected (as in the image above), the lower frequencies will affect the clones at the
left and the higher frequencies will affect the clones at the right. Higher frequencies will thus have an effect
upon the numbering of the clones. The Effector will affect the clones according to how high or low the volume
is set.


Falloff
This setting is only available if “Apply Mode” has been set to “All”. Use the “Falloff” setting to adjust how quickly the Effector value
will fall after peaking. A setting of 0% will cause the Effector value to fall instantaneously; increasing the “Falloff” setting will slow
the fall of the Effector value accordingly.

Sample Mode
In order for the Sound Effector to be able to ascertain workable values from the “chaos” of a sound file, a small excerpt (e.g. one
millisecond) is analyzed each time it is sampled. From this excerpt, frequency values are ascertained. How this happens is defined by
the following modes:


Peak: The peak within the excerpt is used.



Average: The average value within the excerpt is used.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 73

Switch: This mode offers only two states: 0 and maximum. If no tone is detected, “0” will be output; if even
the faintest tone is detected, the Effector will have a maximum effect.


The difference in resulting amplitude between “Average” and “Peak” are minimal. “Average” results in somewhat smaller amplitudes
than “Peak”.
Clamp Output

At top: “Lower Cutoff” deactivated; at bottom: active.

This setting is only available if “Sample Mode” is set to “Peak” or “Average”.
Activating this setting will cut the amplitudes off at a specified length. Even if a given sound file has a very high volume at certain
spots the Effector will only have an effect at those spots with the maximum value. Extremely high values that can result from large
compressions will thus be absorbed.

Lower Cutoff

The effect of a 440Hz sound file. The amplitudes can be “cleaned up” by setting “Lower Cutoff” to its maximum value.

74 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Use this setting to remove some of the chaos from the effects of the Sound Effector. Sounds are made up of a mixture of diverse
frequencies that are difficult to single out. “Lower Cutoff” makes sure that frequencies with a lower volume are increasingly ignored
the higher this value is set.

Compression
Use this setting to increase the effects with quieter sounds.

Frequency Graph
This function graph offers you a visual representation of the frequency dispersion of the sound sample in its momentary state. The
lower frequencies are depicted at the left and the higher frequencies at the right at their corresponding volume settings (decibels).
Furthermore, the frequency band is displayed in blue below. The graph will not be updated as the animation is played. Simply click on
the graph to get a view the current frequencies.

Filter Shape
Use this function graph to set a varying multiplier across the entire frequency spectrum. A straight line on the Y-level will influence the
Effector’s effect, whereas areas near “0” will reduce the Effector’s effect to “0”.

Frequency Color

Cube clone using “Linear” mode and colored according to their frequency using “Frequency Color”. Additionally, the Sound Effector is set to
affect “P.Y”.

This color gradient will only work if “Color Mode” is set to “Effector Color no Alpha” in the Sound Effector’s “Parameter” tab. The
gradient reflects the frequency band: Left the lower frequencies, right the higher frequencies. Note the cubes in the image above that
are only slightly affected by the Effector (volume is low in these segments) and have received only little color.

Use Filter
Activate this setting if you want to specify exactly which frequency range should be used by the Sound Effector.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 75

At left a small frequency excerpt, at right a larger excerpt. The Effector is set to affect “P.Y” only.

Specific frequency ranges can be filtered out of a sound file. For example, you can select a lower frequency range if you want to filter
out higher frequencies.

Frequency / Bandwidth

Use these settings to define a frequency band to be used by the Sound Effector. If, for example, “Frequency” and “Bandwidth” are set to
2000Hz and 2000Hz, respectively, a frequency range between 1800Hz and 2200Hz will be used and the rest marked blue. If the frequency is
subsequently changed, the bandwidth will be calculated accordingly so the frequency range can maintain the same number of octaves.

If the bandwidth is too small only a relatively rough Effector resolution can materialize.

Left Channel / Right Channel
Use these settings to define which channels should be used when playing stereo sound files. A mono sound file requires only one
channel.

Play
Press to play the sound file, press again to stop.

Scrub Sound
If this option is active, the sound file will be played while the animation plays or when the time slider is moved manually.

76 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Formula Effector

Now here’s an Effector that will put a smile on the faces mathematicians amongst you. This Effector lets you create complex formulas
with which you can control it.
The Formula Effector is not all that easy to understand, so let’s back up a little: You’re already familiar with the Shader Effector that
effects clones using a texture and its gray scale values. The areas of black are given an internal value of “0”, the areas of white a value
of “1”, and of course all the gray tones in-between that are also given an internal value. If, in the Shader Effector’s “Parameter” tab,
“P.Y.” is set to 300, clones will be moved in the Y-direction between 0m and 300m in accordance with the gray scale values.
So, how does the Formula Effector fit into all of this? Instead of simple color or gray scale values, values from a formula are used that
define where a given clone should be placed, between 0m and 300m (or outside of this range – simply add a “2” to the formula and
all clones will be placed at a height of 600m).

At top the initial state of the clones, at bottom with the Formula Effector applied, containing the following formula: “sin((id/count)*360”.

In the example above, the Formula Effector uses the formula: “sin((id/count)*360”. As you can see, the results of the formula can vary,
depending on the sinus function between 1 and -1. If “P.Y” is set to 300m these values will be transformed and vary between -300m
and +300m. Consequently, if a simple “2” were entered into the “Formula” field, the clones would be placed at 600m. Since a linear
arrangement of clones sets the value for the first clone to u=0 and the value for the last clone to u=1, the same result can be achieved
by using the formula “sin(u*360)”.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 77

Settings

Strength
Use this slider to define the strength of the Effector.

Minimum / Maximum
Use these sliders to adjust the Effector’s range of influence. Values less than 0% or greater than 100% can be defined.
Let’s assume you have entered the following formula: “t*px”. If “Minimum” and “Maximum” were also set to 0% and 100%, respectively,
extreme values would quickly be reached. It would, therefore, be advisable to set “Maximum” to 1% (or even much smaller, depending
on your scene or the desired result).

Formula
The following variables can be used when writing a formula:


px, py, pz: X-, Y- or Z-coordinates



rx, ry, rz: Rotation for each dimension



sx, sy, sz: Scaling for each dimension



u,v,w: The (internal) UV-values for each clone



id: The individual clone number (all clones are numbered sequentially, beginning with “0”)



count: The clone number



falloff: The falloff value for each clone

t: Animation time, i.e. if this variable is added to the formula, it will automatically be animated. This setting
uses a slider as multiplier.




f: The frequency. This setting uses a slider as a multiplier.

78 • 3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual

Varying “t” adjusts the animation speed, varying “f” varies the spatial frequency.

3 Effectors - MoGraph Reference Manual • 79

4 Other Objects & Tags

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4. Other Objects and Tags
The Matrix Object

For the most part, the Matrix Object carries out the same functions as the Cloner. Therefore, please refer to the Cloner description in
chapter 2 for a description of all shared functions.
The Matrix Object has two main functions:
It creates orthogonal matrices as opposed to the clones created by the Cloner. This allows CINEMA 4D
deformation objects (e.g. bend objects, bones, etc.) to have an optimal effect on the Matrix Object (see
below).


For owners of the Thinking Particles module: In addition to matrices, Thinking Particles particles can be created.
What this basically means is that matrices and particles alike can be affected by Effectors.


Note:
The Matrix Object itself does not generate anything that can be rendered. How, then, is it possible to arrange
clones onto the matrices created? Easy: Create a Cloner (see chapter 2), set its “Mode” to “Object” and drag the
Matrix Object from the Object Manager into the “Object” field. The Cloner’s child objects will now be arranged
onto individual matrix positions.

In the following, only those Matrix Object settings that differ from those of the Cloner will be described. These settings can be found
within the “Generate” setting.

Generate Matrices Only
When in this mode, matrices will be created that are displayed as small cubes, but cannot be rendered. (these matrices can be seen as
little coordinate systems whose orthogonal state will not be influenced by deformers).

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So, what good are a bunch of little cubes that can’t be rendered?

Top: Initial state. Bottom: Bend object applied.

Answer: A lot of good. In the image above, bend objects were used to affect clone arrangements. In both cases, the effect of position
and rotation are the same. However, where no Matrix Object is applied, the Cloners will be distorted - which, in most cases, is an
undesired effect. If the deformation object effects the Matrix Object, only position and rotation of the clones will be modified. No
geometry will be distorted.
By also applying CINEMA 4D deformation objects, another weapon in your clone-positioning arsenal can be added.

Generate Thinking Particles

For owners of the Thinking Particles module, selecting this option makes interfacing with Thinking Particles possible. This option lets
the Matrix Object act as an Emitter, letting clones be affected by Thinking Particles nodes and vice-versa. Particles will be created in
the very first frame of animation.

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TP Group
Drag the particle group (from the Thinking Particles settings) that should be disrupted by the particles created by the Matrix Object
into this field. Leave this field empty if the particles generated should be assigned to the “All” group.
Note:
If your scene contains two or more Matrix Objects that generate Thinking Particles, make sure that they are
each assigned to different particle groups. Otherwise unwanted results may occur.

Follow
Use this slider to define how much of the initial clone movement (e.g. from an animated Matrix Object) will be transferred onto the
particles/clones.
If this slider is set to 100%, clones and particles will be affected uniformly by TP-Nodes and MoGraph
Effectors.




If this slider is set to 0%, particles will not be affected by Effectors.

The function of the “Follow” setting can be compared with the “PMotioninheritance” TP-Node, the only difference being that the
movement of the matrices/clones will be inherited. In doing so, the differences in speed of the matrices/clones is taken into account,
allowing the TP-Particles to continue moving freely based on the Thinking Particles nodes (e.g. if “PWind” was applied, its effect will
be added to the movement of the matrices/clones).

Constrain
Use this slider to define exactly how particles should come to lie on the actively changing position of the matrices/clones. If the slider
is set to 100%, TP-Nodes will have no effect and the TP-Particles will be completely constrained onto the matrices/clones. If this slider
is set to 0%, the TP-Particles will be able to move freely. The trick to using the “Constrain” setting is to effectively mix back and forth
between matrices/clones and particles, i.e. letting TP-Nodes have influence and subsequently relinquishing control to MoGraph.
Normally this setting will result in a calming effect. If this setting is increased to 100% in the course of an animation, the clones will
assume the position they would have if “Generate” were set from to “Matrices Only”.

Particle Priority
If the matrix Thinking Particles functionality is viewed as an internal Effector and not as a separate object, these options define where
the Thinking Particles Effector should be placed within the list of Effectors:


Before Effectors: First on the list of Effectors.



After Effectors: Last on the list of Effectors.

The behavior of clones, as well as the visible limits of an Effector’s falloff in the editor view, is better discernable when “Before Effectors”
has been selected. When in this mode, clones will in fact react in accordance with the visible falloff limits. If “After Effectors” has
been selected, clones will only react if the Effector affects the Thinking Particle’s starting position (this effect will only be visible if the
Effector’s falloff has not been set to “Infinite”).
Example:

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Let’s say we want to do the following: We have a ring-shaped Matrix Object whose clones should be randomly
dispersed by a Random Effector that enters the scene from the right. The clones should then fall (gravity) and
come to rest on both planes.
So, how is this done?
1. Create a Matrix Object, set “Generate” to “Thinking Particles” and assign a Random Effector with a “Linear”
falloff to it. Set “Follow” to 100% and “Constrain” to 0%. Reposition and animate the Effector so it passes
through the arrangement of clones.
2. Create an XPresso Tag and set up a “PPass”, “PGravity” and two “PDeflector” nodes. Connect the “PPass”
node’s output port to each of the other input ports and modify their respective settings accordingly (deflector
type: object; assign each deflector node a different layer and set “Bounce” to 30%, for example).

Done. The clones will react to both MoGraph and Thinking Particles. If you raise the “Constraint” value in the
course of the animation you will see that the clones will move in the direction of the clone position that would
have resulted if Thinking Particles had not had an effect. Use this setting to regulate the strength of the Thinking
Particles effect.

Fracture Object

The Fracture Object does two things:


It views all child objects as clones that can be affected by any Effector.

If the child objects also happen to be unrelated objects (e.g. spline segments in extrude NURBS or objects)
that have been separated into their individual components via the “Disconnect” command, these individual
components can also be viewed as clones.


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The Fracture Object itself can be separated into its individual components via the “Make Object Editable” or “Current State to Object”
commands, taking into consideration each command’s settings.

Modes
Straight
If this mode is selected, each child object will be viewed as an individual clone. Use this mode if you want to open an old scene where
no MoGraph was used and want to now let Effectors affect certain objects within this scene.

Explode Segments

Left: “Explode Segments”. Right: “Explode Segments & Connect”. Both have a Random Effector applied.

When this mode is selected, spline segments (i.e. a Text Object in an Extrude NURBS) and polygon objects’ non-related polygons will
be viewed as clones. Internally, the same functionality as in the “Disconnect” function is used.
This option can be used to create nice explosion effects.

Explode Segments & Connect
In this mode, a subsequent optimization is carried out after the segments have been exploded that fuses overlapping vertices. For
example, if an Extrude NURBS is used, the surface areas will not be viewed as separate clones (see image above).

Transform Tab/Effectors Tab
Please refer to chapter 2, “Transform Tab” and “Effectors Tab”, respectively, for a description of the settings contained in these tabs.
The functionalities are the same.

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Instance Object

An animated instance object with a sphere placed into the “Object Reference” field and a “History Depth” of 20. A Step Effector with “Scale”
active has been applied.

An animated Instance Object can look back at its own “history” a specified number of frames and create past states in the form of
instances. These instances, in turn, are regular clones that can be affected by any Effector (especially effective is the Step Effector).
Press the CTRL-key if you want to view the effect in the editor view without playing the animation itself.
Instance objects can also be made children of Cloners, which can result in spectacular animations:

An Instance Object was made a child of a Cloner (“Radial” clone mode).

Note:
Instances can only be rendered in the Picture Viewer if the Instance Object was baked, i.e. with a MoGraph
cache tag assigned to it (see chapter 4, “Cache Tag”). Furthermore, when a scene is opened, instances will only
be shown if the Instance Object has been baked. In other respects, strange results can occur (e.g. with scene
motion blur), in which case it always helps to bake the clone-generating object.
Note 2:
If the fact that the original object is visible bothers you, simply place the Instance Object and the Cloner Object
into a Null Object, assign the Null Object 2 red vertices (not visible in the editor view or when rendered) and
the Instance Object 2 green vertices (visible in the editor view and when rendered. Alternately, the object can
also be moved outside of the view of the camera.

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Object Properties

Object Reference
Drag the object to be used to generate the instances from the Object Manager into this field. When an Instance Object is created it
will automatically place any object that happens to be active into this field. The first instance will be arranged at the position of the
Instance Object itself. The position of the original object that was referenced is therefore non-crucial and can thus be moved out of
the field of view of the camera.
Clone or Tracer Objects can also be placed into this field, which can lead to spectacular effects. Feel free to experiment with these
settings, the possibilities are practically endless.
Note:
Animating the referenced object’s position, scale or rotation settings won’t do any good - the Instance Object
itself must be animated.

History Depth
Use this setting to define the number of frames the Instance Object will look into the past when it generates instances.

Transform Tab/Effectors Tab
Please refer to chapter 2, “Cloner” for a description of the settings contained in these tabs. The functionalities are the same.

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Text Object
General

Clockwise from top left to center, Random Effector in the following fields: No Effector; “Letters”; “Lines”; “Words; in all three of the
aforementioned.

An important part of MoGraph is animating text. Of course there is also an object designed to handle this task: The Text Object. Any
Effector can be used to affect letters and/or words, lines or an entire paragraph (these elements will be referred to in the following
as clones).
Many of the Word Object’s settings with regard to defining text, fonts, etc. mirror those of the spline text object (refer also to your
CINEMA 4D reference manual). The Text Object can also be made editable at any time (simply select the object and press the “c” key).
Each letter will be transformed into a spline in an Extrude NURBS.

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In the editor view, many colored points will be visible. Each represents the center of a particular clone (letters, words, etc.), around
which they will rotate, for example. The following colors represent the following objects:


Green: Letters



Blue: Words



Turquoise: Lines



White: All elements

The center points can be placed into the text plane (see below).

You should already be familiar with the settings within the red frame form the text spline (described in your CINEMA 4D reference
manual). The functionalities are the same. What’s new:

Depth:
Internally, the Text Object uses the Extrude NURBS to make it three dimensional. Use the “Depth” setting to define the extend of the
text’s 3D depth.

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Subdivision
Use this setting to define the subdivision of the extruded text elements. In most cases, a value of “1” will suffice. Only if you want to
deform the text elements further, e.g. bend them, should “Subdivision” be set higher.

Shader Indexing

From left to right: “All Letter Index”; “Line Letter Index”; “All Letter Index” with a color shader whose “Channel” setting has been set to
“Index Ratio”.

Each letter of the Text Object is numbered internally. Depending on which “Shader Indexing” option is selected, the letters of the Text
Object will be numbered consecutively (“All Letter Index”), or the numbering will start again at “0” for each line (“Line Letter Index”)
or word (“Word Letter Index”). So, what is this good for? Well, a color shader (see your CINEMA 4D reference manual) with an “Index
Ratio” channel setting uses this numbering for orientation. Furthermore, the internal U-coordinates also orient themselves according
to this numbering scheme. The U-coordinates, which always have a range of 0 to 1, will be assigned to the letters as follows:


All Letter Index: From the first letter of the text to the last.



Line Letter Index: Per line.



Word Letter Index: Per Word

Caps Tab
Please refer to your CINEMA 4D reference manual for more about caps.

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All, Lines, Words, Letters Tabs

Each of these tabs offers the same types of settings which can be used to modify the entire Text Object, its lines of text or its words,
all on their own level. Although a couple of exceptions apply: “Align Height” is not available for the “All” tab and color can only be
assigned to all letters in the “All” tab.

Effectors
Drag all Effectors that should affect the Text Object on a specific level (all, line, word, letter) from the Object Manager into this field.

Axis X/Y

Top: “Align Height” not active. Bottom: “Align Height” active. Center points within a highlighted frame can be accessed and modified using
the “Axis” setting.

Each level of text (all, lines, words, letters) has its own center point around which the respective levels rotate or can be scaled. This
center point can be moved two-dimensionally within the text plane. This can be done by dragging the crosshair in the “Axis” window
or by manually entering X and Y values in the neighboring fields. The range of movement is defined by the text plane, e.g. “Words”
allows movement within the entire surface of the words, “Letter” allows movement within the space of each letter.

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Align Height

Text arranged onto a spline. Top: “Align Height” not active, at bottom active.

Activating this setting will cause the “Height” setting to be disregarded when the center point of that level is ascertained. This will cause
the baseline to be maintained, as shown above. Activating this setting is recommended when arranging text onto a spline.
A slider will be made available beneath the “Axis” setting for each Effector applied to it.
The “Transform” settings are the same as described for the Cloner (see chapter 2).

Tracer
General

The Tracer creates splines internally, which lets Tracers be used in place of splines:


NURBS (Sweep NURBS pictured above)



Spline Effectors, etc.

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The Tracer “traces” the movement of particles or object vertices and creates splines from these paths. The Trace Object can also be
converted to splines via the “Make Editable” command in the Object Manager’s “Object” menu. You can also simply interactively move
the object to be “traced” in the editor view to create splines.
Settings

Trace Link

The path of a cube (top) and a circular plane (bottom) are being traced using the Tracer.

Drag the object(s) to be traced (polygonal objects or splines) from the Object Manager into this field. To trace particles, drag either the
emitter (CINEMA 4D) or the particle group (Thinking Particles settings) into this field.
The Tracer can even be applied to PLA and Pose Mixer animations...

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Tracing Mode

At top: “Connect All Objects”. At bottom: “Trace Paths”. Both using one Particle Emitter.


Trace Paths: Paths of object vertices or particles will be made to splines.



Connect All Objects: Objects or particles will be connected with a segment by a common spline.

Connect All Elements: Objects or particles (object vertices can also be connected, depending on the type of
traced object or the “Handle Cloners” modes) from different objects traced by the same Tracer will be connected
by a common spline but connected by different segments.


Two clones have been placed into the same Tracer (the Tracer lies in a Sweep NURBS). At top: “Connect All Elements”. At bottom: “Connect
All Objects”.

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Handle Cloners
If several Cloners are nested in each other, the Tracer must know how to handle these objects. The following options are available:
Nodes Only: Only the Cloner that has been placed in the “Trace Link” field will be used. This Cloner’s child
objects will be ignored.


Immediate Clones: Any child objects of the object located in the “Tracer Link” field that are also clones will
be included.


Clones from clones: All clones will be included that are child objects of the Cloner located in the “Tracer Link”
field.


From left to right: “Nodes Only”; “Immediate Clones”; “Clones from Clones”. “Trace Vertices” active. Insert: Object hierarchy. The Tracer
follows the Cloner, which moves from left to right.

Include Cloner
This setting should be activated if the Cloner (not the clones!) should be included as a spline when the splines are generated internally.
In most cases, though, this won’t be necessary.

Sample Step
Use this setting to define at which frame interval (in an animation) in internal spline vertices should be set. 1= one spline vertex each
frame.
Tip:
If “Type” is set to “B-Spline”, nice splines can be generated even if higher values for “Sample Step” are
defined.

Trace Vertices
When tracing splines or polygonal objects, use this setting to define whether all object or spline vertices should be traced (active) or
only the object’s center (not active).

Trace Active
Use this setting to temporarily turn the Tracer off. This will result in gaps in the splines, thus creating spline segments.

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Use TP Subgroups
Particles can be placed into groups as desired when using Thinking Particles. Use this setting to define whether child objects of the
particles groups in the “Trace Link” field should also be included.

Space
You can position the Tracer and the object to be traced at any location. The following two options are available:
Global: This will basically pull the rug out from under the splines, i.e. when the Tracer Object is moved, the
spline tracings will be strongly affected. The object to be traced doesn’t have to be moved - this would move
the surrounding space itself.


Local: The traced splines will be positioned relative to the Tracer Object. Only if the Tracer’s position is set to
0,0,0 will the spline tracings match the traced object exactly. Otherwise the tracings will appear at a distance
equal to the Tracer Object’s distance from the world coordinates. What this basically means: In certain situations,
an emitter that has been traced and placed into a Loft NURBS can be controlled more easily.


Limit

These effects were achieved by using different “Limit” modes.

The spline length can be limited in the following ways:


None: No limit will be set. All movements will be made to splines.

From Start: Splines will be generated from the very beginning of an animation up to the number of frames
defined by the “Amount” setting to the right.


From End: The moving object or particle will drag a trail behind it. The length of this trail is defined by the
number of frames set in the “Amount” setting to the right.


Spline Settings
This is where the type of spline to be generated is defined. The options should already be familiar to you from your CINEMA 4D reference
manual.

Reverse Sequence
Activate this setting if you want to internally reverse the sequence of the vertices.

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Spline Mask

The Spline Mask is paramount to a Boole Object for splines (see your CINEMA 4D reference manual). Use the Spline Mask to cut out,
connect, etc. spline shapes. This works best when the splines are smooth and all in on the same plane.
This is a very good tool for quickly creating spline shapes. Spline Mask objects can be used everywhere where a normal spline can be
used:


Extrude NURBS



Sweep NURBS, etc.

Furthermore, every (closed) spline shape can be displayed in polygon mode. A Spline Mask can be converted to a polygon object via
the “Make Editable” or “Current State to Object” commands (“Create Cap” must be active).
Note:
If unwanted effects such as rough edges should occur, change the spline interpolation type to, for example,
“Natural” and increase the number of vertices.

Mode

The spline arrangement at the lower left were used to create the surrounding shapes. From top left: A union B; B subtract A; A intersect B; A
subtract B.

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Use this setting to define how both splines, which should lie on the same plane, should be combined:


A union B: The splines will be added together.



A subtract B: The second spline in the Spline Mask will be subtracted from the first.



B subtract A: The first spline in the Spline Mask will be subtracted from the second.



A intersect B: The intersection of the two splines will remain.

Axis
Set this setting to reflect the same axis of the plane both splines lie on. For example: Both splines lie on the XY-plane, so “Axis” should
be set to “XY (along Z)” (this only applies if the Spline Mask Object is still in the unmodified state in which it was created since its
coordinate system will be used) in order to guarantee a flawless boole of the splines.

Create Cap
If this setting is active, a polygon layer will be created within the closed spline (another reason both splines should lie on the same
plane). This is how the results in the image above were achieved. Depending on how many spline vertices are used, the resulting
polygon can contain very many surfaces.
Note:
The algorithm has limits when dealing with segment vertices of both splines that lie exactly on top of each other
(try using a circle spline and a cog wheel spline in the states in which they were created in conjunction with the
Spline Mask). Rotating, scaling or moving the splines slightly can help.
A Spline Mask can contain several nested Spline Mask children. This method can be used to easily create complex
shapes using simple primitive splines:

Several nested Spline Masks in an Extrude NURBS.

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Displace Deformer
General

At left the editor view, at right the rendered view. The plane has a relatively height subdivision.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could create displacement effects (see your CINEMA 4D reference manual) using a deformation object and
have those effects visible in the editor view? Have you ever spent a lot of time simply experimenting and test rendering just to see how
far-reaching the displacement is so you could finally align objects to it? Now your frustrations have an end: The Displace Deformer
shows the displacement object per object deformation in the editor view, and does not have to be rendered in order to make the
effect visible.
The Displace Deformer functions as a deformation object and must therefore be made a child of the object to be deformed (or be in
the same hierarchy, below a common parent object). Make sure the object to be deformed contains enough subdivisions.
Note:
With certain constellations (assuming you have an object that was deformed using the Displace Deformer,
with whose help you have placed clones on the deformed object using a Cloner) the deformed object should
be arranged before the Cloner in the Object Manager. Otherwise the editor view can display false results
(arrangement of clones on the undeformed object). This applies only to the editor view; the rendered view will
display the correct results.
Note2:
The Displace Deformer can also be applied to splines. Below, a noise shader in the Displace Deformer has been
applied to a circle spline. The circle spline, in turn, lies in a Sweep NURBS, which is cloned linearly by a Cloner.
Additionally, a Step Effector was used for scaling and rotation.

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Note 3:
Even users of Sub-Polygon Displacement (Advanced Render module) will benefit from this tool. Even though only
the “normal” displacement is displayed, which completely depends on object resolution, this basically reflects
the actual dimensions of the final rendering (assuming you haven’t used objects with only 8 vertices...).

Of course the Displace Deformer also functions in conjunction with all other MoGraph objects. In the example below, a ring was
deformed using a Displace Deformer and a noise shader. Subsequently, a sphere was cloned using the Cloner in “Object” mode:

If this ring were to be animated in its current position with the noise set to world coordinates (“Space” = “World”), really cool morphing,
blobbing effects will result.

Settings

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Emulation
If this setting is active, the Displace Deformer will attempt to emulate a displacement created by the “Displacement” material channel.
Naturally, this can only work if a material with an active “Deformation” channel is applied to the object to be deformed. If this option
is not active, the Displace Deformer can be assigned its own texture in the “Shading” tab.
Note:
Mixing textures is only possible if “Emulation” is active.

Strength/Height/Type
These settings should already be familiar to you from the normal CINEMA 4D material displacement settings. Their functions are
identical.

Direction
Use this setting to define the direction in which the displacement should work. The following options are available:


Vertex Normal: The shift will take place in the direction of the vertex normals.

Spherical: The shift will take place around an imaginary sphere whose center lies within the Displace
Deformer.


Planar: The shift can be made to take place in the +X, -X, +Y, -Y, +Z and -Z directions via the added “Orientation”
setting.


From left to right: The ring in its initial state without Displace Deformer; with Displace Deformer and “Vertex Normal” mode; with Displace
Deformer and “Spherical” mode.

Object/Camera (Refresh tab)
Deactivating these two settings will speed up the editor view display. Some deformations will simply not be refreshed. These settings
have no influence on the final rendering. You can select from:
Object: When the object to be deformed is moved, its deformation will be shown when this setting is active.
The deformation will not be shown if this setting is not active.


Camera: For camera-based mapping methods, this setting defines whether or not deformations should be
refreshed if the camera is moved.


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Backface Cull
If this setting is active, object surfaces not facing the camera will not be deformed. This also serves to speed up the editor view. This
setting also has no influence on the final rendering.

Shading Tab Settings
These function the same as the settings described for the Shading Effector’s “Shading” tab (see chapter 3). The exception: A texture
tag assigned to the object to be deformed (or the Displace Deformer itself) can be used to affect the object, as long as “Channel” is
not set to “Custom Shader”.

Falloff Tab Settings
The displacement effect can be spatially limited. These settings work exactly as do the falloff settings for the Effectors (see chapter
3).

Extrude

This deformer can be used to extrude any number of an object’s polygons. Granted, that’s nothing new - the “Matrix Extrude” function
can do the same. But the Extrude deformer can do more:
The MoGraph Effectors affect each step of the extrusion (depending on the settings of the “Transformation”
mode) as if it were a normal clone, i.e. the complete functionality of the Effectors can be used when
extruding!




Polygons of parametric primitives can be extruded.



You can extrude along a spline.

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Transform
Two modes are available:
Per Step: Internally, a clone will be created for each original polygon to be extruded. Subsequently, the
transformation will take place once per extrusion step, according to the Extrude Object’s settings, and once
according to any Effector(s) applied.


From Root: Internally a row of several clones will be created along the length of the extrusion. The Effectors
will then have an effect along the length of the extrusion.


Images at left: “Per Step” mode. At right: “From Root” mode.

In general, the best results can be achieved by using the “Per Step” setting in conjunction with most Effectors. “From Root” is best
used when extruding using the Spline Effector or a spline defined in the field below.

Extrusion Steps
Use this setting to define the number of extrusion steps.

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Polygon Selection
If the extrusion should be limited to a selection tag only, place that tag into this field. Otherwise all polygons will be extruded.

Sweep Spline

Extruding using a spline. If the end result is subsequently placed into a HyperNURBS, a shape as pictured at the far right will be created. A
Step Effector was also applied.

This setting is only available in “Per Step” mode. Placing a spline (any spline) into this field will cause the extrusion to take place along the
length of the spline. Internally, copies of the clones will be arranged onto each polygon, in such a way that the first two spline vertices
point in the direction of the surface normals. The extrusion will then take place along these virtual spline copies. Spline subdivision and
the number of extrude steps both have an effect on the extrusion itself.
The spline will control the extrusion, limiting the effectiveness of the Extrude Object’s “Transformation” tab settings. Instead, the Step
Effector will be effective, e.g. to continuously narrow extruded elements to the tip of an object.

Transform Tab
Use the settings in this tab to define how each clone, i.e. each extrusion, will differ in position, scale or rotation.
Don’t forget that these settings will be limited in their effectiveness if using an extrusion spline since the spline will control the
extrusions.

Effectors Tab
See chapter 2, “Effectors Tab”. Note that for the most part only position, scale and rotation transformations will work in conjunction
with the Extrude Object.
Note:
When using Effectors, the “Visibility” setting (see chapter 3) can be used to limit extrusion. This offers additional
control over extrusions, which is useful when working with parametric objects on which it is not possible to
make a polygon selection.

106 • 4 Other Objects & Tags - MoGraph Reference Manual

Spline Wrap

A pen is moved along a spline as is deformed accordingly.

Spline Wrap works like a deformation object and deforms objects using a spline. An object will move along a spline and be deformed
accordingly.
If a spline with several segments is used, each segment will be assigned its own copy of the deformed object, functioning more-orless like a Cloner.

4 Other Objects & Tags - MoGraph Reference Manual • 107

Settings

Spline
Place the spline (or spline primitive) along which an object should be deformed. The quality of the spline’s interpolation will have
an effect on the quality of the deformations. The object to be deformed should also contain enough subdivisions to allow it to be
deformed.

108 • 4 Other Objects & Tags - MoGraph Reference Manual

Axis

The pen is pointing in the X-direction of the world coordinate system. Set “Axis” to either “+X” or “-X” if the pen should be arranged along
the length of the spline.

Imagine the axis as a direction in the world coordinate system that runs along the length of the Spline Wrap, passes through the original
undeformed object, and transfers object vertices onto that object. If you use an oblong-shaped object that would normally run along
the length of the spline with its longitudinal axis, the object will point in a direction of the world coordinate system and “Axis” should
be set accordingly.

Strength
Use this slider to adjust the overall strength of the deformation. In most cases, the slider can stay at 100%.

Offset
Use this slider to move the deformed object along the spline. Values of less than 0% and greater than 100% can also be defined - this
can lead to interesting effects, especially when “End Mode” is set to “Extend”.

From/To
Use these sliders to define over which stretch of spline the deformations should take place. For example, if “From” is set to 0% and
“To” to 100%, the deformed object will be stretched along the entire length of the spline.

4 Other Objects & Tags - MoGraph Reference Manual • 109

Mode

Modes from top to bottom: “Fit Spline”; “Keep Length”; Spline Wrap turned off.

Depending on which option “Mode” has been set to, 0% (“From”) and 100% (“To”) will have the following results:


Fit Spline: The object to be deformed will be stretched to fit along the length of the spline.



Keep Length: The object to be deformed will maintain its length with regard to the above-mentioned axis.

End Mode

Top to bottom: “Clamp” mode; “Extend” mode.

The “End Mode” options have the following effect when an object is moved along the length of a spline via the “Offset” slider:

110 • 4 Other Objects & Tags - MoGraph Reference Manual



Clamp: The object will end at the ends of the spline.

Extend: The object will extend beyond the ends of the spline in accordance with the direction of the respective
end, and will not be deformed further.


Size

“Size” and “Scale” examples.

Use these function graphs to define the apportionment of size along the length of the deformed object. Scaling occurs on a plane
vertical to the spline tangent. The graph’s X-axis reflects the length of the deformed object, i.e. if the object is moved along the spline
via “Offset”, its scaling will remain constant (in contrast to the “Spline Size” graph).

Size Strength
Use this slider to adjust the strength of the spline scaling.

Spline Size
Use this function graph to define the change in scaling of the deformed object over the length of the spline, i.e. if the object moves
along the length of the spline via an “Offset” variation, the objects scaling will be modified dynamically.

Spline Size Strength
Use this setting to adjust the spline size strength.

Banking
Use this setting to rotate (bank) the deformed object uniformly around its long axis.

Rotation
Use this graph to twist the object into itself along its length. The strength of this twisting is defined by the following setting, “Rotation
Strength”.

4 Other Objects & Tags - MoGraph Reference Manual • 111

Rotation Strength
Use this slider to define the strength of the “Rotation” effect described above.

Spline Rotation
Use this graph to twist a given object along its length, i.e. if the object is moved along the length of the spline using “Offset”, the
degree of twisting will vary according to position

Spline Rotation Strength
Use this slider to adjust the strength of the “Spline Rotation” described above.

Cache Tag

The Cache Tag is located in the Object Manager menu under “File/MoGraph Tags/Cache Tag”. This tag is used to bake the movements
of the clones, taking into account all applied Effectors (it must be assigned to these objects):


Cloner Object



Text Object



Matrix Object



Fracture Object



Instance Object

When objects are baked, position, rotation and size information is saved internally, without having to be calculated “live”. By nature,
the file size will increase accordingly. This increase in file size is displayed in MB under “Memory Used”.
MoGraph animations should be baked in the following instances:


When rendering using NET Render

If you want to make Instance Object effects visible or if they should be visible upon opening the scene
itself.




When using Delay Effectors



When using Thinking Particles within MoGraph.



When the editor view is too slow due to a large number of objects to be rendered.



Anytime you sense the animation is not behaving correctly.

The different states of the Cache Tag will be colored as follows for easy recognition:


Black: No internal cache files exist. Calculation will be done “live”.

112 • 4 Other Objects & Tags - MoGraph Reference Manual



Green: The cache will be used. Calculation will not be done “live”.

Red: Internal cache files exist, “Use Cache” is deactivated (or, momentarily, no files exist - this result can be
achieved by pressing “Clear Frame”). Calculation will be done “live”.


The bake process can be halted at any time by pressing the ESC-key.
Settings

Use Cache
Use this setting to define whether or not internal cache files should be used or not. If none exist, calculations will be done “live” by
default.

Bake
Pressing this button will bake either the entire animation (setting not active) or the part of the animation defined in the “Bake Sequence”
settings

Clear Cache
Pressing this button will clear the entire internal cache: The .c4d file will be reduced in size accordingly and any subsequent calculation
will be done “live”.

Bake Frame
Pressing this button will bake only the current frame.
Note:
A baked Matrix Object cannot generate Thinking Particles!! In case particles are present in your scene anyway, go
to the first frame of the animation and press the “Clear Frame” button. Particles and cache are now present.

Clear Frame
Pressing this button will clear the current frame from the cache. This lets you, for example, modify Effector settings whose effects need
to be seen right away. Bake the frame once modifications are complete so it is again placed into the cache.

Bake Sequence
If this setting is activated, the exact frame span you want to bake can be defined using the “From” and “To” settings.

4 Other Objects & Tags - MoGraph Reference Manual • 113

Note (when baking nested Cloner Objects):
If you clone Cloner Objects or an Instance Object, difficulties can be encountered if clone-generating child
objects are affected by local Effectors. If, for example, a child object affected by a Delay Effector or an Effector
with an active falloff (whereby the falloff will not include all clones), the corresponding effects can only baked
in part or not at all. Objects should generally be bake from bottom to top, i.e. the child objects first.

5 Clone Tools

5 Clone Tools- MoGraph Reference Manual • 115

116 • 5 Clone Tools- MoGraph Reference Manual

5. Clone Tools
General
The three clone tools can be used to interactively clone an active object. Simply click in the editor view and drag the outer edge of the
clone arrangement. This can be repeated several times (each time a Cloner will be created with either the initially active Cloner or, if
preferred, an instanced object as a child object).
If several objects happen to be active, all will be cloned in the “Iterate” mode (see “Linear” mode). After having cloned an object
interactively, the tool will continue to be active and several settings can be subsequently fine-tuned.
The MoGraph tools can be used in conjunction with the following keyboard shortcuts:


SHIFT: Vary the number of clones.



SHIFT+CTRL: Vary the number of clones in the Z-direction in conjunction with the Grid Clone Tool.

Linear Clone Tool

Start Position
These settings represent the coordinates of the first clone (the location where you initially clicked with the mouse button) in the threedimensional world coordinate system, in consideration of the Placement Plane (“Placement” tab). This position will automatically be
entered here and can subsequently be fine-tuned.

End Position
These settings represent the coordinates of the last clone, i.e. where you let go of the mouse button.

Clones Count
These settings can also be varied by simultaneously pressing the SHIFT-key.

5 Clone Tools- MoGraph Reference Manual • 117

Generate
Use this setting to define if the original object or the instanced object should be generated as a child object of the Cloner. An instanced
object can be used to create interesting trail effects.

Radial Clone Tool

Center
These settings represent the center of the radial clone arrangement (the location where you initially clicked with the mouse button) in
the three-dimensional world coordinate system, in consideration of the Placement Plane.

Radius
This setting represents the radius of the radial clone arrangement, i.e. the location you let go of the mouse button.

Axis
Use this setting to select the level of the world coordinate system on which the radial clone arrangement should be made. The center
of the arrangement will remain unaffected.

Clones Count
These settings can also be varied by simultaneously pressing the SHIFT-key.

Generate
Use this setting to define if the original object or the instanced object should be generated as a child object of the Cloner. An instanced
object can be used to create interesting trail effects.

118 • 5 Clone Tools- MoGraph Reference Manual

Grid Clone Tool

Center
These settings represent the center of the cubic clone arrangement within the three-dimensional world coordinate system.

Size
These settings represent the dimensions of the cubic clone arrangement in the X-, Y-, and Z-directions.

Clones Count
Use these settings to define the number of clones in the three-dimensional grid arrangement. These settings can also be modified
interactively in conjunction with the following keyboard shortcuts:


SHIFT: Count in Y and Z-direction.



SHIFT+CTRL: Count in Z-direction

Generate
Use this setting to define if the original object or the instanced object should be generated as a child object of the Cloner. An instanced
object can be used to create interesting trail effects.

Placement Tab

All three Clone Tools have a “Placement” tab. The settings in this tab are used to define the plane on which the cloning will occur, in
accordance with where the mouse was clicked. The following placement options are available:

5 Clone Tools- MoGraph Reference Manual • 119

Distance From Camera: The clones will be arranged onto a plane perpendicular to the point of view of the
camera and run through the world coordinate system origin.


Auto Plane: The clones will be arranged onto a visible plane. This plane is oriented according to the world
coordinate system and thus facing the camera as frontally as possible. This ensures a quick and easy placement
of clones on one of the three main planes.


Object Surface: If an object is placed into the “Target Object” field, the start and end clones will always lie on
this object (when using the Radial Clone Tool, this will apply to the center of the radius). This is a very practical
feature when spanning rows of clones between points on an object.


Rows of clones can be quickly and easily be created on an object in the “Object Surface” placement mode.

6 Shaders

6 Shaders - MoGraph Reference Manual • 121

122 • 6 Shaders - MoGraph Reference Manual

6. Shaders
The MoGraph (channel) shader can be found in the material’s texture menu.

Color Shader
There are several methods with which to color clones:


A material is not applied: Clones can be colored using the settings available for the Cloners or Effectors.

For advanced material effects, a material with a color shader in the color channel can be created. It should be
assigned to the Cloner. Any number of additional material channels can be added.


Create a basic material without a color shader and assign it to the Cloner or one of the other clone-generating
objects. All MoGraph-specific colors will be ignored. Furthermore, the texture will be projected onto the entire
arrangement of clones. The opposite, though, is true for the next method.


Create a material and assign it to the Shader Effector. The Shader Effector will now, based on Shader and
projection type, select a color for each clone. This color will be assumed by the entire clone (see image below).
While in the same mode, the Random Shader can be used to randomly vary the color of the clones.


Create a material using the color or multi shader and assign it to the Cloner. The Color Shader sorts out the
Cloner’s color and the various colors affected by the Effectors and can thus be applied to numerous material
channels.


Left: Texture Tag on Shader Effector. Right: Texture Tag on Cloner.

Note:
If you place several objects into a Null Object and subsequently clone that Null Object, the colors varied by the
Effectors will not be passed on to the objects in the Null Object. To circumvent this, make the objects to be
cloned children of the Cloners instead.

6 Shaders - MoGraph Reference Manual • 123

Color Channel
This is where the colors are defined that are to be assigned by the respective Cloner (“Transformation” tab) or varied by the Effectors
(“Parameter” tab).
Index Ratio Channel

Main image: Color shader in the alpha channel in “Index Ratio” mode. Insert: Color shader in the color channel in “Index Ratio” mode.

Selecting this mode will assign each clone a grayscale value between black and white, increasing according to the internal U-coordinates.
Use this mode if you want to hide cloned, e.g. using the “Alpha” material channel.
Note:
When in “Grid” mode, the coloring of the clones will not transition smoothly but in series.

Invert Output
Normally, clone “0” will be assigned the value black and the last clone white. Activating this setting will reverse this assignment.

Spline
Use this function graph to precisely adjust the transition from white to black. Clone “0” is represented by the left end of the graph, the
last clone by the right. “Y Max” = white.

124 • 6 Shaders - MoGraph Reference Manual

Beat Shader

The Beat Shader is ideal for use in simulating such effects as the beat of a heart or other rhythmic effects. Based on its settings, the
Beat Shader creates a temporal mix between black and white in accordance with the “Range Curve”. This shader is thus predestined to
be loaded into a Shader Effector where it can have a direct effect on all settings to be transformed (including color).
This shader can also be loaded into the Displacer Deformer where it can, based on the falloff settings, be used to deform an object in
a limited manner.

Beats Per Minute
Use this setting to define the rhythm’s frequency, i.e. how often the “Range Curve” should cycle per minute of animation (when the
peak is equal to 100%).

Peak Interval

The temporal effect of the “Range Curve” on a color gradient at 100% and 50%, respectively.

If this slider is set to 100%, the “Range Curve” will be repeated seamlessly. If a value less than 100% is defined, the curve will be scaled
horizontally from left to right, thus leaving a “null zone” at the right of the graph. As shown in the image above, the double heart beat
will beat quicker when set to 50%. After each second beat nothing will occur while the “null zone” is played.

Range Curve
Use this curve to define the mix between white (maximum) and black (minimum). This curve will be cycled according to the “Beats Per
Minute” setting.

Invert
Use this setting to invert the effect of the shader.

6 Shaders - MoGraph Reference Manual • 125

Multi Shader

An example for a possible setup. A Multi Shader was loaded into the material assigned to the Cloner. The Shader Effector uses a black-towhite gradient to manage the allocation of the three shaders. This can also be done using a Step Effector.

A multi shader can contain several individual shaders that it can assign to clones using differing criteria.

Mode
Use this setting to define which color values will be used in the allocation, or if the shaders should be allocated uniformly across all
clones.
Index Ratio: The shaders will be allocated uniformly across all clones (e.g. for “Radial” and “Linear” clone
modes, the following would be true: If 2 shaders are applied to 10 clones, the first 5 clones will be assigned
the first shader, the last 5 the second shader. For other clone modes, the U-coordinate will be used for the
orientation of the UVW-coordinate system).




Color Brightness: The clone’s grayscale value.



Color Red/Green/Blue: A clone’s individual grayscale value.

Add
Click this button to add a new empty shader selection.

Sub
Pressing this button will delete shaders one at a time. The first two shaders cannot be deleted by pressing this button.

Clear
Pressing this button will delete all shaders. Two empty shader selection fields will remain.

To Layers
This button will be active if a video has been loaded into the shader. As soon as the button is clicked, each (!) frame of the video will be
viewed as a separate shader. Make sure short videos are loaded. Otherwise your computer will be bogged down for quite a while...

7 Nodes

7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual • 127

7. Nodes
MoGraph XPresso Nodes give you access to MoGraph-generated clone and effector properties. For example, you can use the Falloff
Node of a falloff field visible in the editor view for your XPresso setup.

Data Node

Use this Node to read out all relevant data of subsequent clone-generating objects (any Effectors that affect these objects will be
taken into account):


Cloner Object (see chapter 2)



Matrix Object (see chapter 4)



Fracture Object (see chapter 4)



Instance Object (see chapter 4)



Text Object (see chapter 4)

In this example, the properties for clone #9 are being read out.

Input Ports
Index
Feed the index number of the clone-generating object into this port. Internally, all clones are numbered sequentially - beginning with
0. An individual index value can also be defined for an active Node in the Attribute Manager.

128 • 7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual

Note:
Text Object clones can only be read out on the letter “plane” (see chapter 4).
Object
Connect the “Object” output port of the clone-generating object whose properties should be read out to this input port. The following
clone-generating objects can be used:


Clone Object (see chapter 2)



Matrix Object (see chapter 4)



Fracture Object (see chapter 4)



Instance Object (see chapter 4)



Text Object (see chapter 4)

Output Ports
Many of these output ports can be connected to the input ports of the same name on the Effector Nodes (see below).

Count
The number of clones of the clone-generating object.

Color
This port reads out a clone’s color, as defined in the clone-generating object and by any Effectors affecting that object.

Global / Local Matrix
This port reads out the individual clone matrix. A local matrix refers to the object that lies above it in the hierarchy, i.e. if the Cloner
Object is moved, normally the global matrix will be modified, not the local matrix.

Position
This port reads individual clone positions out as vectors, taking into account any Effectors.

Visibility
This port contains the visibility property as a boolean value of 0 or 1. The visibility of clones can be spread across clones randomly by
using the Random Effector, for example.

Scale
This port reads out the scale value as a vector.

7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual • 129

UV
This port reads out the clones’ UVW-coordinates that run in the direction of one of the three dimensions, respectively, from 0 to 1.
These UVW readouts are important with regard to the Effectors. For example, the “U”, “V” or “W” value(s) can be used as variables in
a formula defined for the Formula Effector.
Weight
This port reads out the weighting for each clone.

Rotation
This port reads out each clone angle as a vector.

Falloff Node
The Falloff Node’s purpose is to allow XPresso access to the MoGraph falloff functionality. The falloff field displayed in the editor view
can then also be applied to any XPresso effect. All that’s necessary is that the “Value” output port be included in the effect. The falloff
values generally range between 0 (beyond the range of the maximum (yellow) effect) and 1 (within the range of the (red) falloff field)
and can be set to any value range using the “Range Mapper” XPresso Node.

The position of the sphere is fed into the “Sample Position” input port. Depending on its placement in the falloff field, one of the three
positions pictured above will result.

130 • 7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual

Input Ports
Falloff Matrix
Any object can be connected to this port (preferably a Null Object) and be used to define the position and direction of the falloff field.
In most cases, the “Global Matrix” output port can be used. This setting is also available in the Attribute Manager.

Sample Position
Feed position vectors into this port. The falloff will be calculated exactly at this position. This value will then be automatically passed
on to the “Value” output port. This setting is also available in the Attribute Manager.

Output Ports
Value
This port reads out the calculated falloff value. This value will generally lie between 0 and 1 and can be set to any output value range
using the “Range Mapper” XPresso Node.
Example:

Here the Falloff effects the cube’s “Fillet Radius”.

The setup shown above scales the “Fillet Radius” of each cube in relation to its position within the falloff field. The “Range Mapper”
Node serves to increase the output value of the Falloff Node from 0 - 1 to 0 - 100. All cubes are contained in the Iterator Node, “Object
List”.

7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual • 131

Falloff Tab

This tab contains many settings that work exactly as those described for the falloff function in chapter 3.

Effector Node
This Node lets you ascertain all output values of a given Effector. Normally you would feed clones’ properties (those that can be read
out using the Data Node) into the input ports and grab the values that have been modified by the Effector at the output port. Naturally
any object can be affected, whereby the “Global Matrix”, “Weight” and “Strength” output ports are the most important.
Note:
The output values of Special Effectors (see chapter 3) such as the Delay Effector and the Inheritance Effector
do have limitations. Weight cannot be read out since this setting cannot be affected by the Effector itself. Only
those values can be read out that are also present in the respective Effector’s Attribute Manager settings.

Several properties of clone #2 (“Index” ports) are read out, both before and after the Effector’s effect. In both cases the color remains the
same because the Random Effector’s “Color” mode (“Parameter” tab) is set to “Off”, thus resulting in no change in color.

132 • 7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual

Input Ports
Connect the Random Effector’s “Object” output port to the “Effector’s” input port. “Time” is a time offset effect that can be fed with
data which will simply be added to the Effector’s result when an output port of the same name is tapped. All other input ports are
basically self-explanatory and can, for the most part, be tapped by the output ports of the same name, respectively.

Output Ports
The output ports read out settings modified by the attached Effector.
Worth mentioning here is “Strength”, a result of combining strength (as defined for a given Effector), falloff, the prevailing scale of
a given Effector controlled by the value of an input port (see chapter 3 “How do Effectors Work?”) and “Weight” (“Weight” will be
multiplied). These two ports are perfect for modifying “normal” XPresso setups (see “Example” below).
“Global Matrix”, “Color”, “UV”, “Visibility” and “Time” area each values that are modified by the Effector and will only lead to
meaningful results if their input ports are fed with data. “Visibility” is a boolean value that is generated by the Effector that will return
a value of “0” when it reaches a certain threshold.
Example:
Let’s assume you have a certain number of light sources and you want to use a shader to control their intensity.
This is not a problem when using the Node Effector:
1. Create a Shader Effector and assign a texture to it with a “Flat” projection. Set “Channel” to “Color” in the
Shader Effector’s “Shading” tab (of course the shader should be placed into the corresponding material’s color
channel) and drag the Shader Effector’s texture tag into the “Texture Tag” text field. Use the texture tools to
adjust the projection so that all light sources are covered by the texture.

2. Using the XPresso setup below, the intensity of the light sources can be adjusted using the shader shown
(insert).

7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual • 133

Using the “Object List” Node, to which all light source have been assigned, all of the lights’ global matrices
will be applied to the “Effector” Node. The “Effector” Node will calculate a “Weight” value for each position
which, in turn, will read out a reasonable intensity for the light sources via the “Range Mapper” Node. There
you have it: Controlling intensity of light sources using a shader. This method can also be used to control an
unimaginable number of object settings.

134 • 7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual

Index
A
After Effectors 84
Align Height 92
All Letter Index 91
All tab 92
animated instance object 87
Axis window 92
A intersect B 99
A subtract B 99
A union B 99

B
Before Effectors 84
Behavior of clones 84
B subtract A 99

C
Clamp 110
Cloner Object 8
Align Clone 11
Blend 19
Cloning lights 20
Cluster 18
Edge 12
Even 14
Iterate 19
Loop 16
Polygon Center 12
Random 19
Sort 21
Standard TP 18
Stretch TP 18
Surface 12
Target Effector 11
Vertex 12
Clones from clones 96
clone angle 129
Clone Tools 116

Color 132
Connect All Elements 95
Connect All Objects 95
Constraint 85
cool morphing, blobbing effects 101
Create Cap 98
Current State to Object 86
Custom Shader 103

D
Deformer Tab 42
Deformation 42
Object 42
Off 42
Point 42
Polygon 42
Simple Effector 43
Spline Effector 42
deform objects using a spline 106
Delay Effector 69, 131
Mode 70
Settings 69
Strength 70
Depth 90
Disconnect 85

E
Editor window. Siehe viewports
Effectors 34
Clone-generating objects 34
Delay Effector 35
Effector groups 34
Formula Effector 34
General 34
Group Effector 35
How do Effectors work? 34
Inheritance Effector 35
Random Effector 34
Shader Effector 34
Sound Effector 35
Special Effectors 35

7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual • 135

Spline Effector 35
Step Effector 35
Target Effector 35
Time Effector 35
What do Effectors do? 34
Effectors Tab 31
Random Effector 31
Sequence of Effectors 31
Spline Effector 31
Effector Nodes 128
End Mode 108
explosion effects 86
Extend 108, 110
Extrude NURBS 89, 98
Extruding using a spline 105

F
Falloff 4
Falloff Node 127
Falloff Tab 44
Box 45
Clamped 48
Effector dimensions 44
Falloff 48
Infinite 45
Invert 46
Linear 45
Sample Detail 47
Sample Distance 46, 47
Scale 46, 47
Shape 45
Shape Source (particle) 47
Shape Source (Spline) 46
Soft transition 45
Source 45
Source Link 47
Spline 48
Spline Animation Speed 48
Visible 46
Weight 46
Fillet Radius 130

Fit Spline 109
Formula Effector 76
Complex formulas 76
Formula 77
Mathematician 76
Minimum / Maximum 77
Strength 77
From Root 104

G
Generate Matrices Only 82
Generate Thinking Particles 83
Global Matrix 132
global matrix 128
gravity 85
Grid clone mode 64
Grid Clone Tool 118
Center 118
Clones Count 118
Generate 118
Size 118
Group Effector 49
Effectors 49
ReTime 49
Start / End 49
Strength 49

H
HDRI lighing 3
History Depth 87

I
Immediate Clones 96
Inheritance Effector 59, 131
Animation 63
Falloff Based 62
Inheritance Mode 60
Inheritance Mode Animation 61
Loop Animation 63
Morph Motion Object 61
Normal object 60

136 • 7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual

Object 60
Start / End 62
Step Gap 63
Strength 60
Transform Space 62
input port 128
Instances 87
Introduction 2

K
Keep Length 109

L
Letter 92
Linear Clone Tool 116
Clones Count 116
End Position 116
Generate 117
Start Position 116
Line Letter Index 91
local matrix 128
Loft NURBS 97

M
Make Editable 94
Make Object Editable 86
Matrix Extrude 103
Matrix Object 82
Matrix Objects 10

N
Nodes Only 96

O
Object order 5
Object Tab
Align 27
Align Clone 13, 17
Align in CINEMA 4D 11
Amount 24

Behavior 17
Clones 10, 18, 26, 29
Count 14, 23, 26, 29
Edge Scale 12
elocity Stretch 17
Enable 12
End Angle 27
Fill 29
Fix Clone 10, 22
Fix Clones 26, 29
Fix Texture 10, 23, 26, 29
Form 29
Grid Array 28
HyperNURBS 11
Include Sub Groups 17
Linear Mode 18
Loop 16
Make Object Editable 9
Mode 12, 13
Object 10
Object Mode 9
Offset 12, 15, 23, 27
Offset Variation 16, 27
Particles (CINEMA 4D) 16
Particles (Thinking Particles) 17
Particle emitters 10
Particle Scale 17
Per Segment 14
Plane 27
Polygonal Objects 11
Polygonal objects 10
Position 24
Radial Mode 26
Radius 27
Random Seed 16
Rate 16
Rate Variation 16
Restrict to Live Selection 13
Rotation 24
Scale 24
Scale on Edge 12
Selection 12

7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual • 137

Size 29
Smooth Rotation 14
Splines 13
Spline Effector 13
Start / End 16
Start Angle 27
Step 14
Step Mode 25
Step Rotation 26
Step Size 25
Stop Rotation 26
Up Vector 11
Orthoganal matrices 82
Other Objects and Tags 82
output port 128

Pose Mixer 94
PPass 85

P

S

Parameter Tab 35, 54
Color 37
Indexed 56
Minimum / Maximum 55
Modify Clone 40
Position 37
Random Mode 55
Scale 37
Strength 54
Synchronized 56
Time Offset 41
Transformation Space 36
Transform Mode 36
U / V Transform 40
Visibility 41
Weight Transform 38
Parametric cubes 3
PDeflector 85
Per Step 104, 105
PGravity 85
PLA 94
Placement Tab 118
Planar 102
PMotioninheritance 84

R
Radial Clone Tool 117
Axis 117
Center 117
Clones Count 117
Generate 117
Radius 117
Random Effector 54, 132
Irregular arrangement 54
Range Mappe 130
Range Mapper 129, 133
RTTM. Siehe Realtime texture mapping
Sample Position 129
Segment Mode 4
Shaders 122
Add 125
Beats Per Minute 124
Beat Shader 124
Clear 125
Color Brightness 125
Color Channel 123
Color Red/Green/Blue 125
Color Shader 122
Index Ratio 125
Index Ratio Channel 123
Invert 124
Invert Output 123
Mode 125
Multi Shader 125
Null Object 122
Peak Interval 124
Range Curve 124
Spline 123
Sub 125
To Layers 125
Shader Effector 50

138 • 7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual

2D-U 50
Color Gradient 50
Effector Tab Settings 50
Shading Tab Settings 51
Shader Indexing 91
Sound Effector 3, 70
All 72
Apply Mode 72
Average 72
Bandwidth 75
Clamp Output 73
Compression 74
Falloff 72
Filter Shape 74
Frequency 75
Frequency Color 74
Frequency Graph 74
Left Channel 75
Lower Cutoff 73
Minimum / Maximum 71
Peak 72
Play 75
Right Channel 75
Sample Mode 72
Scrub Sound 75
Sound File 71
Start Offset 72
Step 72
Strength 71
Switch 73
Use Filter 74
spectacular animations 87
Spherical 102
Spline Effector 4, 56
Clamp 58
Even Spacing 58
Mode 57
Offset 58
Random 58
Relative to Node 59
Relative to Spline 59
Segment Mode 58

Settings 56
Spline 57
Start / End 58
Strength 56
Transform Mode 58
Use Index 58
spline length 97
Spline Mask 98
Step Effector 63, 87
Instance object 64
Minimum / Maximum 64
Particles 64
Polygon objects / splines 64
Spline 64
Step Gap 65
Strength 64
Subdividion 91
Sweep NURBS 4, 98

T
Target Effector 65
Distance 68
Distance Strength 68
Look at Camera 66
Next Node / Previous Node 66
Object Target 66
Repel 68
Reverse Heading 67
Settings 66
Strength 66
Target Mode 66
Up Vector 67
Use Pitch 67
Text Object 92, 128
text plane 90
The Tracer 94
Thinking Particles 82, 94
Time 132
TP-Nodes 84
TP Group 84
Tracer Objects 88

7 Nodes - MoGraph Reference Manual • 139

Trace Paths 95
Transform Tab 30
Animation Loop 31
Color 30
Display 30
Orientation 31
Rotate clones uniformly 30
Time 30
Weight 30

U
UVW-Mapping in MoGraph 52

V
Vertex Normal 102
virtual spline copies 105
Visibility 132
visibility 128

W
weighting 129
Words 92
Word Letter Index 91

X
XPresso Nodes 127
XPresso setup 127, 132
XPresso Tag 85
XY-plane 99



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