Brent LeBlanc Shows How to Create Leaves Using Vertex Color to Drive Automated Variation on a Live MASH Network.

Instanced elements in 3D is an excellent workflow for creating things like a pile of leaves or leaves in a tree. Maya’s motion graphics toolkit, MASH will let you propagate and even vary them using size, position and while also randomizing texture and color.

Texture/Shading Artist Brent LeBlanc shows a process for creating a bunch of leaves using a method that can automate the look of them by randomizing the materials. The system works by using Object ID’s to indicate which texture gets used.

How it Works

The method was detailed before by LeBlanc, where he showed how you could add texture variation to patined wooden planks that were driven by a switch node using Object ID as an identifier. In his latest tutorial that shows another practical use for that technique, LeBlanc also shows how to build the elements using an Atlas texture, used for creating foliage. “These concepts can be applied to anything you could imagine that you want to propagate and randomize in your scene,” LeBlanc mentions.