Element Areas allows you to create areas filled with certain elements for example trees to create a forest. This rule is useful if you want to place single elements within a closed area rather than in a line as in Element Chains rule.
Typical objects for the Element Areas rule are:
- Humans
- Forests
- Bushes
For Element Area creation, MAGNET Modeler supports:
- Closed Strings
- Closed Polylines
- (Points and Lines based on certain attributes)
Strings and Polylines without an elevation assigned can be easily draped onto a surface.
Element Areas rule parameters
1. Layer
Click on layer to access a list of all available layers in your current MAGNET Office project. Select one or multiple layers from the list where the rule should be applied to.
2. Materials
Click on material to access the Material Library of MAGNET Modeler. Select existing material or insert a new material.
3. Description
Enter a description for the Element Areas rule. This will change the name of the rule within the Modeler Rules window. In case you have several Element Areas rules, this helps to easily identify them.
4. Group
Click on group to choose from a list of existing groups / sub groups or manually enter your group structure. Use the "/" character to create additional sub groups. For example: Existing/Office/Parking Lot.
5. Width
Enter a value for width to control the width of the texture. If this attribute is empty, the texture is controlled by the material properties (defaultwidth).
6. Height
Enter a value for height to control the height of the texture. If this attribute is empty, the texture is controlled by the material properties (defaultheight).
7. Randomness_size
You can apply a randomness_size by applying a percentage between 1 and 100.
8. Density
Change the density attribute to set the elements spacing along the linear entity.
9. Info text
Info text allows to add additional information, such as material, quality requirements or manufacturer. The info text information will be accessible in MAGNET Explorer via the Object Info tool.
10. Info URL
Info URL allows to add hyperlinks, such as a link to a manufacturers homepage or a design documentation. The info URL link will be accessible in MAGNET Explorer via the Object Info tool.
11. Interpolate
Interpolate (bottom) drapes the entities to the surface. The insertion point of the texture is at its center bottom. Interpolate (top) uses the entities elevation as the top of the object and stretches the texture down to the surface. This overrides both the width attribute and the defaultwidth. Interpolate (none) uses the entities elevation as the bottom of the object and assigns either the width attribute or the defaultwidth.
12. Position_offset
Position_offset allows a relative X, Y, or Z translation.
13. Rotating
Rotating (Yes) will automatically rotate the object to always face the viewer.
14. Rotation
You can change the direction of the object by editing the rotation value. 0 equals the X-Z plane.
15. Z_rotating
Z-rotating correlates with Z-rotation. Set it to (Yes) to rotate the Z-axis.
16. Z_rotation
Z-rotation will rotate the Z-axis. Setting this 90 will result in the picture lying on the ground.
17. Background_material
In case Rotating is set to (No), you can define a background_material, visible on the backside of the picture. If this is not set, the alpha channel of the picture is used. This means it looks the same from both sides.
18. Alignment
You can use the alignment option to align the object perpendicular to the surface triangles (surface) or leave it always vertical (normal).