Transformations

Transformations apply individual changes to each scattered instance, so that compositions look more realistic, as nothing is perfectly aligned in nature.

Random scale

Random scale randomly scales items in the specified range from Min to Max. Values are percentages.

By default, the aspect Ratio is locked so that items are scaled uniformly on the three axes. But you can click the icon to unlock the ratio to get different scaling on each axis.

Random translation

Random translation translates scattered items away from their original insertion points. The distance is randomly defined within the specified range, from Min to Max.

Random rotation

Random rotation lets you randomly rotate scattered items in the specified range from Min to Max along each axis. The rotation is counter-clockwise and the values are in degrees.

90/180/270° rotation

90/180/270° Rotation randomly rotates items either 0°, 90°, 180° or 270°. This is very useful for randomizing tiles.

Horizontal and vertical mirroring

Horizontal Mirroring will randomly flip items along the X or Y axes, or both.

Vertical Mirroring will randomly flip items along the Z axis.

Look at

Make all your instances point to a target position. It's also possible to aim at the sun's position as defined by SketchUp, which can come in very handy for plants.

In this crowd, each character is an instance. They are configured to look towards the speaker on the stage.

Enable Look-at, then click on the Pick Point button and click on a position in the SketchUp viewport.

Parameter	Description
Target	Target that all the instances will be directed towards. In Point mode, instances looks at a user-defined point. In Sun mode, instances looks in the direction of SketchUp's sun (useful for flower fields).
Look axis	Local axis of the scattered instances that points to the target
Keep horizontal	Instances will only rotate laterally, not up and down.

Pointing

The Pointing slider defines in which direction the Z axis of the scattered item is pointing. You can set the slider anywhere you want between pointing Up (actually, the projection axis) and pointing along the Normal.