Patterncloner

Patterncloner is an object plugin for distributing instances in a grid array while following a preset pattern which instance source should be repeated and in which direction.

Get it on Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/a/1792556

Or get it on Gumroad: https://gumroad.com/l/c4d-patterncloner

Table of Contents

1. Description
   1. Example
2. Attributes
   1. Settings
   2. Pattern
   3. Overrides
3. Patterns

Description

Patterncloner uses a text representation of a table to describe which element from the child objects of the source Null should be instanced along a grid plane. The number of rows and columns of the grid is derived from the step size and the size. The elements are chosen from the name declared in the pattern and based on the regular expression declared under the Settings tab.

The plugin has been build and tested with Cinema 4D R23.008

Example

Considering the following source Null object setup:

• Sources_Grp
  • Interior_WallBottom_Grp
  • Interior_WallMiddle_Grp
  • Interior_WallTop_Grp

An Identifier Pattern like:

_([a-zA-Z]+)_ # this will match objects with a name like SomeText_ThePatternClonerName_Grp

And a pattern like:

WallBottom

This would repeat the element Interior_WallBottom_Grp along the plane axis. If more then one element matches the criteria the element will be randomly selected from those.

Attributes

Settings Tab

• Pattern Delimiter: Where the pattern should be split on the horizontal axis of the Pattern parameter
• Identifier Pattern: Regular Expression for detecting the source objects
• Source: Link to the Null object containing the objects that should be distributed
• Step Size: Distance between objects when distributed

Pattern Tab

• Pattern: The pattern that should be repeated along the plane axis
• Flip: Flip pattern horizontally (Left <-> Right)
• Flop: Flop pattern vertically (Up <-> Down)
• Axis: The plane along which the repetition should appear
• Seed: Seed for random selection of source objects
• Size: Size of grid array that needs to be filled with source object instances

Overrides Tab

Use Add and Remove buttons to create overrides.

• Object Class: Name of source object that should be inserted instead
• Row: Number of row where the override should be applied
• Column: Number of column where the override should be applied

Patterns

A Patterncloner pattern looks somewhat like this:

WallBottom|WindowBottom
WallMiddle|ArcMiddle
WallTop|ArcTop

Which will be repeated in a 5 x 5 grid like this since no axis repetition is configured:

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5
WallBottom	WindowBottom	WallBottom	WindowBottom	WallBottom
WallMiddle	ArcMiddle	WallMiddle	ArcMiddle	WallMiddle
WallTop	ArcTop	WallTop	ArcTop	WallTop
WallBottom	WindowBottom	WallBottom	WindowBottom	WallBottom
WallMiddle	ArcMiddle	WallMiddle	ArcMiddle	WallMiddle

You can however set up how elements should be repeated per axis. Horizontal repetition is declared by adding an * behind the element name. Vertical repetition is declarerd by adding :* behind the element name. Appending *:* repeats the element on both axis.

WallBottom|WindowBottom
WallMiddle:*|ArcMiddle:*
WallTop|ArcTop

Which will be repeated in a 5 x 5 grid like this:

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5
WallBottom	WindowBottom	WallBottom	WindowBottom	WallBottom
WallMiddle:*	ArcMiddle:*	WallMiddle:*	ArcMiddle:*	WallMiddle:*
WallMiddle:*	ArcMiddle:*	WallMiddle:*	ArcMiddle:*	WallMiddle:*
WallMiddle:*	ArcMiddle:*	WallMiddle:*	ArcMiddle:*	WallMiddle:*
WallTop	ArcTop	WallTop	ArcTop	WallTop