Leaves & Flowers (Simulation)

This section controls how leaves, flowers, and fruits are distributed and how they grow over time. If you are using a preset that includes fruits, these are managed directly within the Flowers collections and parameters.

Prerequisite: Baking

Leaves and flowers will only appear in your scene once both Step 1 - Core Growth and Step 2 - Foliage Growth have been Baked.

Assets Management

The Assets panel is where you manage the specific 3D models used for your foliage.

  • Asset List: You can see all assigned assets here. To remove an asset, simply click the X icon next to its name.
  • Adding New Assets:
    • Source: View 3D: Select an object (Mesh or Curve) in your viewport, then click + Add Selected.
    • Source: Asset Browser: Select an asset in your Blender Asset Browser, then click + Add Selected.
  • Naming Tip: Assets with "flower" in their name are automatically sorted into the Flower list upon import.

Growth (Age-based Animation)

The Growth panel defines the "birth" animation of each leaf or flower based on its age.

  • Logic: To create a realistic growth effect, assets start small and aligned with the branch, then gradually scale up and tilt to their final orientation.
  • Start & End Values: These represent "age". They define when the asset begins and finishes its transition for Angle and Scale.

Repartition (Density Control)

This section defines how densely the foliage is packed onto the branches.

Repartition Leaves

  • Distance Leaves: Sets a base distance between each leaf instance.
  • Min Distance (Key Feature): Set a minimum distance between leaves. This uses a dynamic calculation to prevent leaf clusters and overlapping.
    • Note: Because this is a dynamic calculation, you must run the animation timeline to see the results after changing this value.

Repartition Flowers

  • Repartition Mode:
    • Start: Flowers grow only at the base of branches (near the core).
    • End: Flowers grow only at the tips of branches.
    • Every: Flowers are distributed along the entire length.
  • Flower Probability: Controls the chance of a flower appearing.

Orientation & Scale

Fine-tune the final look and movement of your foliage.

Orientation

  • Alignment: Standard controls to align assets to the branch tangent, branch normal, target surface, or global Z-axis.
  • Animation Smooth Rotation: This is a critical parameter for growth animations. It prevents "flickering" or snapping when a leaf reaches its final orientation.
    • Usage: A value of 0.7 provides light smoothing; 0.95 provides very strong smoothing. You must play the animation to update this effect
    • This uses a dynamic calculation, you must run the animation timeline to see the results.

Scale

Defines the final size of assets based on their position on the branch:

  • Tip: Scale of assets at the youngest part of the branch.
  • Base: Scale of assets at the oldest part of the branch.