🪸CELL GROWTH
Differential (Cell-like) Growth Simulation Addon for Blender.
Usage
To use the CY-Tools CellGrowth addon, follow these steps:
Access the addon's panel:
Open a 3D Viewport in Blender.
In the 3D Viewport, locate the Tool Shelf on the right side.
Look for the "CY-Tools" tab and click it to reveal the addon panel.
Create vertex groups:
This addon works by iterating the on the vertex weights. Before you can start growth, you must select vertices and add them to a group. You can do this manually, or click the 'create random vertex group' at the top of the panel.
Configure Growth Settings:
Seed: Controls the random seed for noise generation. Default is 0.1.
Scale: Sets the growth scale in the X, Y, and Z directions. Default is (1.0, 1.0, 1.0).
Repulsion Radius: Radius within which vertices repel each other. Default is 1.0.
Noise Scale: Scale of the noise applied to vertices. Default is 0.5.
Attraction Factor: Factor for attraction force between vertices. Default is 0.5.
Repulsion Factor: Factor for repulsion force between vertices. Default is 0.5.
Noise Factor: Factor for noise applied to vertices. Default is 0.1.
Time Step: Time step for each growth iteration. Default is 0.1.
Inhibit Base: Base inhibition factor for non-boundary vertices. Default is 0.1.
Inhibit Shell: Inhibition factor based on vertex shell factor. Default is 0.1.
Split Radius: Radius at which edges are subdivided. Default is 0.1.
Execute Growth Step:
Click the "Execute Growth Step" button to simulate a growth step based on the configured settings.
Recommendations
I personally built this script to simulate organic growth patterns quickly and efficiently. It's a great way to create intricate and detailed mesh structures that mimic natural forms. The addon allows you to experiment with various growth settings to achieve diverse and visually appealing results. Bear in mind with every iteration you are dealing with more vertices, be careful of not going too quickly as it could cause blender to crash-to-desktop.
Development Considerations
This addon is still in development, and interactions may occasionally not work as expected. Follow this addon on Blender Market to stay updated on any new updates and improvements.
Author and License
Cy-Tools is a suite of Blender Addons created by @cyrusjameskhan and licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). See LICENSE for more information.
Inspiration
This addon was inspired by Boris Okunskiy's incredible work with the Differential Growth plugin. As it has not been updated for over two years, I decided to create a new version of it to continue exploring the fascinating possibilities of differential growth in Blender. You can read more about Boris Okunskiy's work on his blog.
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