Workflow

Crowd Levels are a concept that allows to make an infinite number of iterations with simualtions and caches/layout.

The principle is that a cache and its layout can be re-imported into a new simulation, where it will be replayed on each entity as if it was a simple animation, trough a Motion behavior.

Once the cache is replayed in the simulation, it is possible to add new behaviors in parallel, create new entity types, or anything that is usually done in simulation.

• It is possible to go back in each level, change the simulation/the layout, and refresh everything up to the top level
• There is no limit in the number of levels that can be added on top of each other

Levels are handled by the Crowd Levels Manager: it allows to navigate trough levels, and to add new ones.

When creating new golaem nodes at any level, they will automatically be grouped under a glmCrowdLevel_n Maya node, and inactive levels will be greyed out in the outliner:

Limitations

There are a few limitations when importing a simulation cache within a new level simulation.

• Emit / Kill behaviors are not supported
• Poptools with emitters are not supported
• Kill / Unkill / Set Mesh Assets / Set Shader Attribute / Mirror Geometry layout nodes are not supported untill the final level
• Cloth simulation is not supported, it will be dismissed when reimporting the cache in the next level
• Ground adaptation may be innacurate, it's sometime better to disable it on imported entity types
• Skeleton overrides are not kept from one level to the next one but recomputed as dictated by the configuration rules