ZenGrove

Affect

Affect

Chooses which branches are affected. Active Branches uses the latest generated layer. Active + Descendants also includes growth from that layer. Active Generated Hierarchy additionally includes ancestors created by that same generated contribution. Entire Input uses everything arriving here. Attached children follow a moved parent even when they are not reshaped themselves.

Options: Active Branches · Active + Descendants · Active Generated Hierarchy · Entire Input

Default: Active Branches

Setup

Distribution

Count sets leaves per eligible parent. Density uses branch length available for leaf placement.

Options: Count · Density

Default: Count

Hull

Volume Geometry

Captures a closed mesh limiting leaves to branch regions inside it. Capture Selected Hull assigns it; Refresh updates it after edits. Leaves remain attached to branches.

Default: Nothing assigned

Generation

Count per Parent

Sets leaf count per eligible parent in Count mode. The volume limits where leaves can attach.

Available when Distribution is Count.

Default: 3

Distribution (1)

Distribution Range — Start %

Sets where placement begins on the parent. Zero is the base and one is the tip; the range slider displays percentages.

Default: 0.12

Distribution Range — End %

Sets where placement ends. Together with Start, this defines the Distribution Range.

Default: 1

Placement Pattern

Random places freely. Parallel makes opposing pairs at one point. Alternating moves along the branch and switches sides.

Options: Random · Parallel · Alternating

Default: Alternating

Pattern Space

Ground aligns the side-placement pattern to the horizontal world plane. Parent turns it with the branch. Up Alignment separately controls leaf orientation.

Options: Ground · Parent

Default: Ground

Pattern Rotation

Rotates the whole arrangement around the parent without choosing new random positions.

Default: 0

Rotate Pattern

Rotates successive leaf positions around the branch. Zero keeps a stable pair direction.

Default: 0

Position Jitter

Loosens spacing along the parent while keeping paired sites together.

Default: 0.18

Distribution (2)

Surface Offset

Moves pivots from the branch center toward its surface. Zero uses the centerline; one reaches the surface.

Default: 1

Orientation (1)

Angle

Sets leaf angle from the parent direction. Zero follows the branch; 90 degrees grows outward.

Default: 90

Angle Profile

Multiplies Angle by attachment position on the parent: left is base and right is tip. One keeps the angle, lower values close it and higher values open it.

Default: See curve in image

Angle Randomness

Varies the angle between branches or leaves. Zero keeps it consistent.

Default: 8

Up Alignment

Branch Up follows local branch up. World Up uses scene up. Free removes that alignment for a less constrained orientation.

Options: Branch Up · World Up · Free

Default: Branch Up

Up / Down

Tilts the leaf or asset up or down. Positive lifts the tip; negative lowers it.

Default: 0

Up / Down Randomness

Varies up/down tilt between placements.

Default: 0

Side

Turns the asset sideways in its local orientation.

Default: 0

Orientation (2)

Side Randomness

Varies sideways angle between placements.

Default: 0

Roll

Rolls the asset around its length direction.

Default: 0

Roll Randomness

Varies roll between placements.

Default: 0

Deformation

Leaf Droop

Bends subdivided leaf geometry downward in High-quality builds. Negative values bend upward. Leaves need enough subdivisions for a smooth bend.

Default: 0

Droop Max Bend

Limits leaf tip bend in degrees. Longer leaves reach the limit sooner.

Default: 120

Droop Start %

Keeps the leaf base rigid before droop starts. Zero lets it start at the base.

Default: 0

Scale

Scale

Scales the asset or generated child uniformly. One keeps its size; 0.5 halves it.

Default: 1

Scale Profile

Multiplies asset size across the distribution range. Left is Start and right is End. One keeps size; zero reduces it to nothing at that point.

Default: See curve in image

Scale Randomness

Varies size between placements. Zero keeps one scale multiplier.

Default: 0.2

Collision

Avoid Leaf Collision

Tries to turn overlapping leaves apart at Output or Game Output. Leaf attachment positions and sizes stay fixed. This works on static foliage; mute or disable Dynamics before enabling it. Off keeps the original placements.

Default: Off

Advanced

Seed Offset

Changes this node's random variation. Keep the seed and settings unchanged to reproduce the same result.

Default: 24

Generation

Shown example: Distribution = Density.

Density per Unit

Sets placements per unit of eligible branch length. Longer branches receive more.

Available when Distribution is Density.

Default: 4

Collision

Shown example: Avoid Leaf Collision = On.

Avoid Leaf Collision

Tries to turn overlapping leaves apart at Output or Game Output. Leaf attachment positions and sizes stay fixed. This works on static foliage; mute or disable Dynamics before enabling it. Off keeps the original placements.

Default: Off

Clearance

Adds breathing room between the simple boxes used to check leaf overlap, in Maya scene units. Larger values create more space and may leave fewer leaves when Unresolved Collisions is set to Skip.

Available when Avoid Leaf Collision is On.

Default: 0.01

Max Attempts

Sets how many extra rotations ZenGrove tries for each overlapping leaf, up to 32. More attempts can find a fit but take longer. Zero makes no rotation attempts; Skip or Keep then decides what happens to overlaps.

Available when Avoid Leaf Collision is On.

Default: 8

Max Rotation

Limits how far a leaf may turn around its existing attachment point, in degrees, from 0 to 90. Smaller values protect the original orientation; larger values give leaves more room to find a fit.

Available when Avoid Leaf Collision is On.

Default: 35

Unresolved Collisions

Skip omits leaves that still overlap after the attempts, so the result may be less dense. Keep retains them and reports the remaining overlaps in the build status.

Available when Avoid Leaf Collision is On.

Options: Skip · Keep

Default: Skip