City teaser: https://youtu.be/CiAP_Rlzy2w

Space teaser: https://youtu.be/nrxdGiAg_XU

\\\ Important \\\ since version 1.98 ia scatter needs the Geometry script plugin enabled \\\ the plugin comes with unreal engine editor and to enable it you can follow the steps at the beginning of this video: https://youtu.be/UE9ssc-jXnI \\\

version 1.98 video: https://youtu.be/UE9ssc-jXnI

version 1.86 video: https://youtu.be/tyj6IwMbePs

version 1.69 video: https://youtu.be/6u5mIGt9jGk

version 1.01 video: https://youtu.be/I2-KUAUw3h8

Hello,

I have been scattering objects on objects for more than 20 years now, and for this I have used literally every tool and software that existed throughout the years. Gathering all my scattering experience, favorite options, test cases and methodology, I released ia scatter for blender in blendermarket about 8 months ago.

The introduction of nanite and nanite foliage support makes unreal engine perfect for extreme instancing.

This right here is the unreal engine version of ia scatter. It can be used to scatter instances of static meshes or blueprint actors on any surface. sutable for abstract, plants, nature, rocks, buildings, antennas on buildings, suitable for anything.

Whether you're creating a large open-world environment or a small indoor scene, ia scatter will help you bring life to your project and create natural and immersive scenes in no time. This tool helps you scatter assets with a few clicks, creating a seamless and convincing environment in minutes, easily, with precision and control. Save time and increase productivity by avoiding tedious manual placement, while still retaining the flexibility to make changes on the fly.

Features:

• Area, spline, planar, linear and point tracing options. 1D and omnidirectional
• static mesh voxelization distribution and texture map instance projection
• static mesh and actor(blueprint) instancing (with probability setting)
• convex / concave detection mode
• clustering
• scale falloff gradient with ratio control
• look-at rotation options and target (3d widget)
• use spline from separate actor
• apply spline rotation to instances
• fixed instance distance along spline
• tracing special behavior based on physical materials and selection of actors
• ignore actors from trace (trace passthrough)
• Avoid overlapping (2 methods) and instance minimum distance
• Slope angle distribution
• function in control panel with autoPopulate (append selected static meshes or blueprints to selected ia scatter(s))
• function in control panel to convert scattered instances to actual scene actors
• Scattering area can be rotated to face any direction
• Separate instanced mesh relative scale
• Complete instance rotation control with rotation snapping
• Complete instance uniform and non uniform scale control
• Align instances to normal
• Instances distance from face (along normal)
• Instance collision type selection
• both construction script and event graph / runtime execution

And I plan on adding new functionality whenever I imagine any new trick.

enjoy :)

current version 2.09 [24.Apr.2023]

version 2.09 [24.Apr.2023]:

• fixed a bug with landscape physical materials. now landscape LayerInfo physical materials are taken into account for special behavior
• added "refresh ia actter every frame" option to make ia scatter work with animated surfaces and parameters in runtime and in cinematics
• now clustering works with voxelization
• changed ia scatter behavior, now the scale transform of ia scatter blueprint is also taken into account
• added MF_ia_foliageWind
• added ia scatter version number in ia scatter debug category
• removed BP_ia_scatter_noGeometryScript
• enabled nanite in some of the assets
• added some more assets

version 1.98 [07.Apr.2023]:

• added voxelization distribution method
• added texture map support
• moved instance collision type and instance physical material to ia scatter instance inheritance category. added cast shadow, culling start/end
• fixed random seed bug. now, enabling clustering and changing clustering settings does not affect the cluster center. this means an ia scatter can be used to cluster instances around instances of another ia scatter
• exposed ia scatter parameters to the sequencer for animating in cinematics.
• fixed a bug that resulted in ia scatter area resetting on ia scatter duplication
• added two more assets

version 1.86 [20.Mar.2023]:

• added clustering
• added point (spherical omni) tracing option
• added invert tracing start/end option
• added relative instance probability
• replaced EUW_ia_scatter_convert_tool with EUW_ia_scatter_control_panel. now there is an option in the control panel to populate selected ia scatter blueprints with the selected static meshes and blueprint actors
• changed tracing exclusions system. now it is called special behavior and multiple physical materials and actors can be selected to participate in this special behavior
• added option to assign physical material to instances
• added variation to the default ia scatter instance material
• added one more asset
• fixed the scale of the included assets

version 1.69 [10.Mar.2023]:

• added convex / concave detection mode
• added option for fixed instance distance along spline (suitable for brick walls for example)
• ia scatter can now execute at runtime as well. this means parameters can be modified during play<
• added tracing exclusion options based on physical material: ignore/do not populate on PM_ia_scatter/populate only on PM_ia_scatter/populate only under PM_ia_scatter
• added hierarchical instances option
• added tooltips and descriptions
• added extra assets

version 1.54 [19.Feb.2023]:

• added no tracing button
• renamed "tracing method" to "distribution method"
• added display less instances button in ia scatter control panel and number of less instances setting in the ia scatter debug panel
• removed the spline type selection since it was causing problems. spline type can be changed graphically by right clicking on the spline
• added display proxy button (beta feature, proxies may be improved in the future)

version 1.49 [13.Feb.2023]:

• added area and planar downwards tracing options
• added spline, linear and point, downwards and omnidirectional tracing options
• added actor(blueprint) instancing support
• added scale falloff gradient with ratio control
• added instances look-at rotation options and target (3d widget)
• added tracing exclude/interrupt by physical material
• added actors to ignore from trace (trace passes through)
• added option to use spline from separate actor and apply spline rotation to instances
• added refresh ia scatter button
• added randomize seed button
• fixed rotation order. now align to normal and random rotation work together properly
• fixed ia scatter updating when dragged, resulting in much faster workflow
• fixed arrays not getting cleared properly

version 1.01 (initial version) [8.Feb.2023]