Animating the plants

The vegetation can be animated following the wind defined in the wind panel (see The wind tool).

Note:

The plants don't need any particular setup to be animated. A default animation behavior is available for every kind of source mesh.

The plant animation tab

The animation tab of the plant view displays several parameters controlling the plants reaction to the wind.

These three properties define three levels of animation: trunk, branches and leaves:

Stiffness: this parameter controls the main bending of the plant in the direction of the wind. It goes from 0 (grass) to 1 (bushes and trees) and 2 (stones).
Radial Animation: this secondary animation is well suited for trees and bushes and adds a radial animation on the external branches of the tree.
Radial Noise Scale: this parameter defines the size in meter of the 3D noise unit modulating the radial animation.
Leaves Shaking: this last level of animation is dedicated to shake the leaves of the trees. It is only applied to the transparent materials of the plant (which are usually set on the leaves whereas the trunk has opaque materials).