Working With Maya’s New World Node Cluster Modes

Autodesk has released Maya 2017 Update 3, and with it came some new stuff for Maya’s motion graphics tools, MASH. The World Node lets you arrange objects in a much more natural looking way, using natural clusters. This really comes in handy when adding trees, vegetation, debris, or rocks around a environment or terrain.

The World Node works off of cluster modes and has a few. You can set the way each new point is arranged by designating initial sphere, disc, circle, fibonacci, map based, or terrestrial ecosystem settings.

How does that all work? Have a look at Ian Waters demonstration, as he walks through the World Node’s Cluster Mode. Ian shows how you can create non-overlapping distributions of objects around other objects. It’s a great way to easily art direct complex and natural looking groups of objects. In Ian’s case, trees, grass and mushrooms.