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Using The Shift-Clone Method: Part II Working With Objects
Using The Shift-Clone Method: Part II Working With Objects
Figure 7-1: The Clone Options dialog box defines the new
object as a Copy, Instance, or Reference.
Cross- The difference between Copy, Instance, and Reference is discussed in the “Understanding
Reference Cloning Options” section in this chapter.
When a clone is created with the Clone menu, it is positioned directly on top of the original,
which makes distinguishing it from the original difficult. To verify that a clone has been
created, open the Select by Name dialog box by pressing H and look for the cloned object
(it has the same name, but an incremented number has been added). To see both objects,
click the Select and Move button on the main toolbar and move one of the objects away from
the other.
4. Name the clone First clone, select the Copy option, and click OK.
5. Click the Select and Move button (or press the W key) on the main toolbar. Then in the
Top viewport, click and drag the dinosaur model to the right.
As you move the model, the original model beneath it is revealed.
6. Select each model in turn, and notice the name change in the Create panel’s Name field.
Notice that the clone is even the same object color as the original.
7. With the Select and Move button still active, hold down the Shift key, click the cloned
dinosaur in the Top viewport, and move it to the right again. In the Clone Options
dialog box that appears, select the Copy option, set the Number of Copies to 3, and
click OK.
8. Click the Zoom Extents All button (or press Shift+Ctrl+Z) in the lower-right corner to
view all the new dinosaurs.
Three additional dinosaurs have appeared, equally spaced from each other. The spac-
ing was determined by the distance that you moved the second clone before releasing
the mouse. Figure 7-2 shows the results of our dinosaur cloning experiment. (Now
you’ll need to build a really strong fence.)
Figure 7-2: Cloning multiple objects is easy with the Shift-clone feature.
216 Part II ✦ Working with Objects
Note Instances and references can have different object colors, materials, transformations (moving,
rotating, or scaling), and object properties.
References are objects that inherit modifier changes from their parent objects, but do not
affect the parent when modified. Referenced objects get all the modifiers applied to the par-
ent and can have their own modifiers as well. For example, suppose that you have an apple
object and a whole bunch of references to that apple. Applying a modifier to the base apple
changes all the remaining apples, but you can also apply a modifier to any of the references
without affecting the rest of the bunch.
At any time, you can break the tie between objects with the Make Unique button in the
Modifier Stack.
When an object is selected, all its instances and references are surrounded with an orange
bounding box.
and click OK. Click the Zoom Extents All (or press the Shift+Ctrl+Z key) button to widen
your view.
4. Select all objects with the Edit ➪ Select All (Ctrl+A) command, and then Shift+drag the
doughnuts in the Top viewport to the right. In the Clone Options dialog box, select the
Instance option again and 3 for the Number of Copies and click OK. This creates a nice
array of two dozen doughnuts. Click the Zoom Extents All (or press the Z key) button
to see all the doughnuts.
5. Select a single doughnut, and in the Parameters rollout of the Modify panel, set Radius1
to 20 and Radius2 to 10.
This makes a nice doughnut and changes all doughnuts at once.
6. Select the Modifiers ➪ Parametric Deformers ➪ Twist command. Then in the Parameters
rollout of the Command Panel, enter 25 in the Angle field and select the Y Twist Axis.
This adds a slight bend to the doughnuts.
Cross- You can use modifiers to alter geometry. You can learn about using modifiers in Chapter 11,
Reference “Introducing Modifiers for Basic Object Deformation.”
Figure 7-3 shows the doughnuts all changed exactly the same. You can imagine the amount
of time it would take to change each doughnut individually. Using instances made these
changes easy.
Note As you apply modifiers to a referenced object, notice the thick gray bar in the Modifier Stack.
This bar, called the Derived Object Line, separates which modifiers get applied to all refer-
enced objects (below the line) and which modifiers get applied to only the selected object
(above the line). If you drag a modifier from above the gray bar to below the gray bar, then
that modifier is applied to all references.
Using referenced objects, you can apply the major changes to similar objects, but still make
minor changes to objects to make them a little different. Figure 7-4 shows the apples. Notice
that they are not all exactly the same.
Chapter 7 ✦ Cloning Objects and Creating Object Arrays 219
Figure 7-4: Even apples from the same tree should be slightly different.
Mirroring Objects
Have you ever held the edge of a mirror up to your face to see half your head in the mirror?
Many objects have a natural symmetry that you can exploit to require that only half an object
be modeled. The human face is a good example. You can clone symmetrical parts using the
Mirror command.
Cross- Learn more about inverse kinematics in Chapter 37, “Using Inverse Kinematics.”
Reference
Note By making the clone selection an instance, you can ensure that any future modifications to
the right half of the figure are automatically applied to the left half.
Figure 7-6 shows the resulting robot — who won’t be falling over now.
Chapter 7 ✦ Cloning Objects and Creating Object Arrays 221
Note When entering the number of Copies in the Snapshot dialog box, a copy is placed at both the
beginning and end of the specified range, so if your animation path is a closed path, two
objects are stacked on top of each other. For example, if you have a square animation path
and you want to place a copy at each corner, you need to enter a value of 5.
Tip The Snapshot tool can also be used with particle systems.
Figure 7-8: The Snapshot tool helps to build a tower of cubes in the shape of a helix.
Figure 7-9: The Spacing Tool dialog box lets you select how
to position clones along a path.
You can also specify Count, Spacing, Start Offset, and End Offset values. The drop-down list
offers several preset options, including Divide Evenly, Free Center, End Offset, and more.
These values and preset options are used to define the number and spacing of the objects.
The spacing and position of the objects depend on the values that are included. For example,
if you include only a Count value, then the objects are evenly spaced along the path including
an object at each end. If an offset value is included, then the first or last item is moved away
from the end by the offset value. If a Spacing value is included, then the number of objects
required to meet this value is included automatically.
The Lock icons next to the Start and End Offset values force the Start or End Offset values to
be the same as the Spacing value. This has the effect of pushing the objects away from their
end points.
Before you can use either the Pick Path or Pick Points buttons, you must select the object to
be cloned. Using the Pick Path button, you can select a spline path in the scene, and cloned
objects are regularly spaced according to the values you selected. The Pick Points method
lets you click to select the Start point and click again to select an end point. The cloned
objects are spaced in a straight line between the two points.
The two options for determining the spacing width are Edges and Centers. The Edges option
spaces objects from the edge of its bounding box to the edge of the adjacent bounding box,
and the Centers option spaces objects based on their centers. The Follow option aligns the
object with the path if the path is selected. Each object can be a copy, instance, or reference
of the original. The text field at the bottom of the dialog box displays for your information the
number of objects and the spacing value between each.
Tip Lining up objects to correctly follow the path can be tricky. If the objects are misaligned, you
can change the object’s pivot point so it matches the viewport coordinates. This makes the
object follow the path with correct position.
You can continue to modify the Spacing Tool dialog box’s values while the dialog box is open,
but the objects are not added to the scene until you click the Apply button. The Close button
closes the dialog box.