Shape Modifiers

They are a key functionality in ShapeX the usage of which should be mastered in order to create the most realistic models.

Modifiers determine the properties of the objects as a function of position in space, hence it is important to know as much as possible about coordinate systems in general (Spherical, Cartesian & Cylindrical) and how they are used in ShapeX. See Coordinate Systems for more information on this topic.

Modifiers are assigned to an object in the form of a list or Modifier Stack. This list of operators is executed on the object from the top to the bottom. For many of the modifiers the order in which they are executed does not matter. However, some operators, e.g. those that globally or locally involve some form of rotation, need to be stacked in the right order to produce the desired result. It is therefore important to know whether they order can be reversed or not. Knowledge about commutative properties of operators, or sufficient experimentation, is useful here.

Modifiers

Overview

Modifiers are a operators in the 3-D module that allow you to add or change, i.e. modify properties of an object in the scene.

There are different types of modifiers, some change the geometry of the mesh objects, others assign scalar or vector type physical properties such as density or velocity, respectively.

After adding or selecting a particular modifiers, its Properties are displayed under the Modifier Stack. These can then be edited either by changing parameter value fields or after opening additional dialogs or graphs.

Adding or deleting modifiers is done using the blue + and the red x sign, respectively. When you select a modifier you can move it up and down in the stack with the green arrows. More than one modifier of the same type can be applied with different coordinate systems. In some cases you might have to change the Operation setting from Replace to either Add or Scale, otherwise the last modifier of this type replaces all previous ones. Using combinations of the same type of modifiers allows a larger variety of structures to be build.

Modifiers can also be copied and pasted with the corresponding buttons. When you use the paste button, a small dialog will open that asks you to decide whether the modifier should be a copy or and instance of the original modifier. When you choose copy then the new modifier will be completely independent from the other. However, and instanced modifier will always change together with its original and vice versa. Instanced modifiers are a great tool to provide the same parameters for more than one object, while only needing to change a single one of them.

Types of Modifiers

Physical Modifiers

Physical modifiers add or change physical properties as a function of position. They include the Density, Temperature, Pressure, Image Texture, Taper, Velocity, GField and BField.

The Boost modifier is a helper modifier to the scalar physical modifiers and is used to change those quantities, but depending on the geometry of another mesh object. This is useful, for instance, to reduce or cut out part of the density of one object using another.

Geometry Modifiers

Geometry modifiers change the structure of the polygon mesh. They include Bump, Curvature, Displacement, Image Displacement, Projection, Random, Sculpt, Shear, Shell, Size, Spiral, Squeeze, Squish, Stretch, Texture Displacement, Twist, Universal, and Warp.

The geometry modifiers move the vertices of a polygon mesh within the local coordinate system of an object. If you move or rotate the local coordinate system with a Rotation or Translate modifier, then the geometry modifiers act in the transformed coordinate system. Note that the Displacement modifier is a geometry modifier and moves only the vertices, but not the origin of the local coordinate system is does the Translate modifier. This is useful when you want to move a complete object, such as a small sphere within a fixed coordinate system and apply, for instance, the Velocity or Density modifiers in the original coordinate system.

Modifier Parameter Panel: Common Parameters

The parameters that modifiers take vary considerably. They are described in the sections for individual modifiers.

What they have in common are the Name field and the Enabled flag.

In the Name field you can set a name for this particular modifier, which is strongly recommended, since it allows one to easily identify a modifier, which becomes more and more important once the number of modifiers increases for a particular object or for the project itself. It is especially important once the Modifier Module is used to manage a large number of modifiers.

As the name implies, the Enabled flag allows one to enable or disable a particular modifier.

Modifier Module:

The Modifier Module becomes important once a model contains a large number of objects and modifiers. Often different objects have similar basically the same modifiers that have at least some parameters in common. If they are not instances of each other or have their parameters organized as global variables, the Modifier Module allows you to select a number of modifiers and change their parameters in a single operation. It also provides a good way to get an overview of which modifiers are used by which objects as well as the possibility to sort them by type. For more details on the Modifier Module go to its more detailed description in its own section of this manual.