The Cloner Group lets you create copies of the Geo form and manipulate them for different effects. Cloning forms can add fascinating, creative depth and volume to compositions.
To activate the Cloner group’s features, begin by checking the Enable Cloner checkbox.
Number of Materials establishes how many of the five possible materials apply to your cloned objects. The image below shows this control in action with three materials selected. See the Materials Group page for more info on options here.
The Cloner Objects subgroup lets you select four models in addition to the Base Geometry model. In the following image, you see how we selected four models to populate our 5x5x5 Shape. Fun yet practical fact: We went through several iterations of this image with different Seed values before arriving at the version shown here, because we wanted each of the four models clearly visible in that first column.
Within the Model 1/2/3/4 controls, use the Choose Model button to launch Geo's model browser, as shown below. Remember that you can use the square icon just above the words "Most Recent" to import external models into your Geo model collection. These appear in the Custom group at the bottom of the browser's contents.
The Shape control essentially asks a question: You’re about to create copies of your original form, so how do you want those copies arranged? The following images show a 15x15x15 array of the Sphere_Strips_Twisted model organized according to this control’s three options — Box, Sphere, and Cylinder — shown below from top to bottom, respectively.
And if that last image doesn't say "cylinder" to you, here's the same configuration when we increase Individual Size > Size Z (see below) and lower Uniform Size.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves, so let’s unpack the above images a bit.
In all three shape cases above, we’ve used the Count X/Y/Z controls to create 15 models along each axis. Look closely at the above image and you'll see 15 ball shapes comprising each "spoke" radiating from the cylinder's center. You'll also count 15 of those spokes and a depth of 15 "wheels" in the cylinder shape.
Uniform Size controls the dimensions of the entire cloned shape, not the individual model elements within that shape. When you increase Uniform Size, all three dimensions of the shape increase in tandem to preserve the relative sizing of those dimensions. In contrast, Individual Size > Size X/Y/Z adjusts each shape dimension independently. Again, as noted with our cylinder above, our shape is longer than it is taller or wider because we increased the Size Z value.
We recommend setting Individual Size values first to get your shape how you want it, then using the Uniform Size control to change the whole form’s size without altering its relative dimensions.
To drive these points home, below is a comparison of Uniform Size values at 50 (left) and 110 (right). Notice how the model size, angles, etc. remain consistent; only the distance between those models along all three axes changes.
And just to alleviate any potential confusion in terminology, the Geometry group's Uniform Scale and Size X/Y/Z (covered on the Geometry page) impact the individual model — each single swirly ball, given our example here — but the Cloner group's Uniform Size and Individual Size X/Y/Z impact the entire array/shape of cloned models.
Let's see this distinction in action. Here's that same 5x5 box with (Geometry group's) Uniform Scale: 100 and Uniform Size: 200 (left), then we increase Uniform Scale to 200 (right). The individual models change, not the size of the box.
If you did want to change the box size in a non-uniform way, you could do it with (Cloner group's) Individual Size controls, which change the size of gap between models along a given axis. Again, note the 5x5 box above. Here's what happens when we increase Individual Size > Size X from 250 to 600:
The square sheets, each comprised of a 5x5 model grid, remain unchanged, but the distance between those sheets has widened.
The following comparison shows how we increased the value of Individual Size > Size Z to extend the shape's depth. Increasing the Count Z from 5 to 10 doubles the number of square "sheets" but leaves the total box shape's dimensions unchanged.
Let's examine one more scenario. The image below shows a 2x2x2 formation of buckyballs in which (Geometry group's) Uniform Scale and (Cloner group's) Individual Sizeare both set to 100.
What if we want to separate our buckyballs? One approach could be to increase Cloner group's Uniform Size, perhaps to 500, like so:
Model size remains unchanged while the gap between models increases. Alternatively, you could lower Geometry group's Uniform Scale to 20 percent:
Lowering C Uniform Scale (in the Cloner > Clone Transform subgroup, see below) also shrinks the size of all models, but not by the same amount simultaneously. (We cover this in the next section with a larger, more illustrative array.) However, the center of each model remains fixed in 3D space, and this is one way to shrink models. You can see how the buckeyballs now appear small in our comp, which we could correct through repositioning the array, moving the camera, or other tactics.
Global Rotation and its C Global Rotation X/Y/Z (Geo often abbreviates "Cloner" as "C") controls are fairly self-explanatory. You have three independent controls for rotating your entire cloned form along the x, y, or z axes. In the following example, we show a box form with 0 degrees of rotation on each axis (left), then we changed C Global Rotation X to 20 degrees (right).
Unlike earlier Geometry and Cloner parameters, the Clone Transform subgroup controls how individual models behave within a cloned array. One way to say it is that you're introducing changes that propagate across the array.
Finally, the Cloner Randomizer subgroup makes changes to cloned meshes independently and randomly from one another.
