Scatter Tools

Is this the same as PCG?

All of the Scatter Tools in Dash is built by ourselves, without PCG. Compared to PCG, scattering with Dash is an easy way to fill your world through scattering, all without needing to learn or use any nodes. Our idea is to build scatter tools for all different scenarios you might need in your UE5 environment, for example, if you are creating a forest or a grass field, Surface Scatter does it for you with 2 clicks and if you want to create a fence around the forest, just draw a spline around it and then Path Scatter creates the fence for you. Of course, when you need to adjust the scatter we have added all the different settings you might need in each of our scatter tools, all with easy to use sliders or checkboxes to make sure you can get the result you want in seconds.

Performance wise, Dash scattering is very similar to PCG as we are using the same data type for the results, HISM. So you don't need to worry about that, just search for what you need in the Dash prompt bar and most likely we got a tool ready to be used for your specific need. Let's dive into what Scatter Tools we currently have! (More is being added continuously based on the user feedback and requests we get in our Discord)

Surface Scatter

Scatter vegetation, debris, garbage and much more. Lots of different masking possibilities and other controls to get the perfect result, all inside our ease to use UI. The masking abilities include; angle, noise, landscape layer, height, texture, proximity to other objects, splines or instances, by light direction and vertex color.

Path Scatter

Scatters objects along the input curves/splines. Perfect for creating fences, paths, cliff formations or anything you could think of that would follow the shape of any spline. Of course this tool also comes with a bunch of different settings and masks.

Decal Scatter

Scatter decals on any type of meshes. Perfect for situations where you want to break up a repetitive surface material, add a bunch of dirt or blood splatter or just bring in detail without having to place each decal manually.

Physics Tool

This tool lets you run a physics simulation with the purpose of placing your assets more naturally, based on the collision of the meshes. You turn it on, select what assets should have collision enabled and then you can move them around, duplicate them or simply drop them from some height. All giving you placement that makes sense.

Physics Paint

If duplicating an asset during the physics simulation is not enough for you, you can instead use the Physics Paint, it lets you select one or more assets and then you can paint them around in your scene, all falling down naturally, respecting the other assets. With some hot keys you can of course control the brush size, the amount of assets spawning etc.  

Grid Scatter

Creates an instance grid of the input objects. This might not be as common as the previous scatter tools but it is perfect for creating procedural rock/brick structures/buildings/statues as you can fully customize the dimensions, the rotations and also use random remove to make the structure look old and worn out. Another good example is if you want to create a tiled floor or roof with much variation in the rotations and angles of the tiles.

Radial Scatter

Scatter objects in a radial pattern. This has very similar use cases as the Grid Scatter but the main difference is that it does it creations in a radial pattern. But as you can control all the dimensions, including height, it could be perfect for creating a sports stadium full of seats in increasing height for each row.

Volume Scatter

Scatters objects inside a mesh. If you ever need to scatter objects according to a specific 3D shape, this tool is for you! It can be useful to create interesting structures, scatter a flock of birds in the sky or even astroids in space.

Mesh Scatter

Scatter objects on the components of the input mesh, for example the vertices, edges and faces.