I've been playing with V5I for a few days now and have been trying different things with the ecosystem. Today I thought, can I make any other materials behave like an ecosystem. So I started to make a scene and put one tree in it. I then edited the tree trunk mat and made it an ecosystem material and chose a little bird as an object. In an instant I had a tree full of birds!!!! I was so excited I had to post it.

Jim

That's very cool. Amazing what the eco system will do...

Very cool idea.

That is a great idea & works like a charm. Thanks for sharing.

Excellent idea:)

ooooooo, I have to try that. Sharen

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA :D Amazing, I never would have thought of that.

Excellent idea!

Excellent thinking. Thanks for sharing.

Great :D Now if there was a way to populate downwards you could also add fruit to the trees :)

Actually there is. In the material editor there is a function called "Offset from surface". By sliding this tab you can change the hight of the object vs the surface of your material. Jim

Hi Jim, does that work? Cool!! I was thinking that it wouldn't based on the discussions using an eco system to populate a sphere all the way round.

If you look at the converging ducks image in my gallery, this ecosystem used a small negative offset to get the ducks to swim in the water rather than walk on it!

Okay I tried the bird thing and it only gave me one bird...what am I doing wrong. Sharen

Sharen, Try decreasing the scaling to make the birds smaller or increasing the overall density to make them squeeze closer together. Just fiddle with the sliders and keep hitting populate until you get a number you're satisfied with. Mark

Works with just about any object too. I just tried it using the fir tree and different color spheres. Viola, instant Christmas tree!!!!

Okay, I will try that. Thanks, Sharen

Just got it...thank you....these penquins could be in trouble. Thanks for all your help. Sharen