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Xpresso: Getting the name of the currently displayed object inside of a cloner
Posted: 09 September 2021 08:38 AM   [ Ignore ]  
Total Posts:  5
Joined  2020-09-23

Hi Everyone,

I have a pretty specific question regarding xpresso.

Basically I have a cloner object, with 5 objects inside.
I’m displaying only one object randomly by playing with the seed.

My question is, is there a way to get the name of the object displayed in xpresso?

Let say I have a cube, a cylinder, a sphere, a cone and a tube.
Can I get xpresso to know what is the name of the currently displayed object inside of the cloner?
What would be the cloner entry that would give me that info?

Thanks in advance!

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Posted: 09 September 2021 03:27 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
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Hi thomas.pomarelle,

This is not an option in XPresso.

How about setting up the same MoGraph again and having the Text Object as child objects under the Cloner, while each Text object provides the needed name.
Example
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/ci19COOGgWdJXw1P5ZcQBq6fZ77CaCHcT14g6VlXeKE

If I knew more about the problem, perhaps a different idea would come up.

All the best

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Posted: 09 September 2021 04:07 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
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Ahhh thanks for the tip! That’s very clever and that solves the problem smile

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Posted: 09 September 2021 04:50 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
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I love the sound of “solves the problem”, thomas.pomarelle, thank you very much.

BTW.: Both Cloner can be “driven” from a Matrix Object via Inheritance, or even with Mode>Object inside of the Cloner

(I assumed that placing the Text object as a child to the object is not wanted…)

My best wishes for your project.

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
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Posted: 14 September 2021 05:49 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
Total Posts:  5
Joined  2020-09-23

Hi Dr.Sassi, it’s me again smile

So from what I told you earlier, my cloner contains multiple object, but I’m just showing one at a time randomly.

I noticed that when I use a cloner and set it to “random”, when I play with the seed, the objects are shown in the exact same order all the time. It’s a pattern that comes again and again.
Also, by default if the offset is set to 0, it shows only the first object of the hierarchy even when I change the seed.

So my question is, what would be the best way to have a cloner properly displaying on of the objects of the hierarchy in a true random manner?

Thanks in advance!

Thomas

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Posted: 14 September 2021 06:07 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
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Hi Thomas,

Please have a look here:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/fWJiSQoaadfi0mp5jCq5yNWBnDd14cJWn2AyAT9GUzX

Pure randomness is avoided. It is reproducible random normally. Why? Because if you have to re-render something after, e.g., a color change, you might not want to exchange all Multipass layers in your comp.

Anyway, I know what you want (I hope so), and that is random that is not 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 (… which can be a random sequence!)

So, my experience is that setting up a Random Effector with Min -25% and Max 125%, while in Modify Clone mode, will produce this randomness that we “expect”, the Cloner is set to Sort in this case. Use the Seed of the Random Effector.

Let me know if that works for you.

Cheers

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
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Posted: 14 September 2021 06:20 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]  
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Hi again,

Thanks for this quick reply!
Unfortunately it’s still a sequence. If you go through the seed again and again, it’s a pattern that comes around and you still end up having the same numbers one after each other.

I think I kind of found a solution using the shader effector instead, controlled by a noise.
If I animate the noise, the results seem to be unpredictable (or at least not that I can notice).

But it’s interesting to note that this can’t be achieve by the usual “random”.

Thanks for your help!

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Posted: 14 September 2021 07:25 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 7 ]  
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Hi Thomas,

Yes, as one of my professors always said: “Chaos is the inability to see structure” …or patterns.

Thanks for the update. Yes, I can see that it could be seen that way 06421075308310841 seems to have a pattern. So we if you would see the grouping in this way 064210 7530 8310 841 it seems going down only. If you group it differently 06 42107 53083 10841, it doesn’t. Randomly is tricky, as we have an expectation of what random is. As mentioned above, a result of random could be 1-9, but most people see something in it, as we all got conditioned that this is a sequence.

Anyway, I get the idea, just set the Effector> Mode> Random Mode> Turbulence. At least I can’t notice a larger structure in it. With numbers, it is easy. With 20 different objects, it might not be for the audience.
Example
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/CDKUuY1EOEdzRxfIddLybGAp1LPdlvjJyCTQ51vbU1w

Enjoy.

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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