Introduction

RandoMixer is a powerful 3dsMax plugin to generate multiple variants, combinations and interactions between the objects in your scene and manage them within a collection of states.

It lets you easily manipulate your objects in a variety of ways:
Mix, reorder, rearrange, apply random transforms, switch places, control density of objects, scatter, auto-switch lights on/off, randomly switch the active camera, randomize materials, create all kind of combinations between different sets of elements, and a lot more!

Due to its versatility, RandoMixer can be used for many different purposes in diverse fields. Here are some of its applications:

• Brainstorming – mix, transform, rearrange, randomize…
• Produce Scene States / Explore possible variants
• Layout/Arrange a model or scene
• Try Different Light/Camera Setups
• Create an NFT Collection of randomly-generated characters
• Present different assembles of a model or product
• Animate a sequence of object/scene states
• Render multiple variants in a single step

Type of variations / Saved properties in a state

The goal of RandoMixer is to automatically generate variants of a scene, model, or character and save them to a collection of states that you can easily explore and manage.

What kind of variations can RandoMixer generate?

• Object Transforms (position/rotation/scale)
  Example: switch places, scatter objects, apply random transformations.
• Lights/Cameras
  Switch between different sets of lights or cameras, change their parameters randomly.
• Materials
  Assign a palette of alternative materials for each set or element. Swap materials between objects randomly.
• Visibility State (hidden/visible)
  Alternately show or hide different sets of elements or single objects according to certain rules or parameters.
  The plugin provides 2 different methods for this purpose:
  1) Establish a minimum and maximum number of elements to show randomly for each state
  2) Define a rule (e.g., alternately display every element in a set, one at a time)

It is important to note that the plugin only operates on 3dsMax objects, not on general scene parameters.
It specifically supports: geometry, shapes, lights, cameras, helpers, bones and groups/hierarchies.

Which object properties or parameters does it store in each state?

• visible/hidden
• basic parameters
• modifiers with their parameters
• full object material (without depending parameters)
• transformations

RandoMixer can automatically generate variations in object transforms and visibility. It does not make changes on base parameters (except for lights and cameras) or modifiers.
However, once the collection is created, you can perform and save custom changes in object parameters/modifiers for any state in the collection.

Working with sets of elements

RandoMixer lets you work either with one set of objects or with multiple sets, to produce different variants of your scene by rearranging, transforming and combining the elements of a set or producing combinations between diverse sets.

This possibility of combining sets of different objects can be used in many creative ways. For example, imagine you have an architectural interior scene and you are placing the furniture. You want to try with 3 different models of tables, 2 possible models of sofas and diverse light appliances. This plugin can create all possible combinations between them. You just need to put the objects in place and then load one Set for every category of object (tables, sofas, light appliances) and the plugin will produce all the variants for you.

The same way, you can build multiple character variations by using interchangeable body parts, such as head, trunk, legs, arms, etc. Or simply changing different clothes or accessories to your character with this tool. If you know about NFT’s, this plugin is perfect to build a huge collection of randomly-generated NFT characters.

In the Sets/Elements rollout you load, define and manage Sets (a series of objects with a common purpose or belonging to the same category) and Elements (each of the objects in a Set).

RandoMixer provides 2 options of interface for you to manage your objects: Single Set and Multiple Sets. The first one is the simplest and is suitable to work with only one set of objects. The second one lets you manage many sets of elements in order to produce combinations between them. Depending on what you want to achieve, you may pick one or the other. You can switch between them at any time without losing the data already loaded.

The Single Set interface is just a simplified version of the Multiple Sets option where you work only on the Elements section, because there’s only one set to manage.

Different kind of object states

RandoMixer saves 3 different types of state for each loaded element.

• Default state: the original state of the object when it was loaded into the plugin.
  When deleting a collection, the plugin returns the objects to this state. It can be updated at any time by pressing ‘update default state’ in the ‘Sets/Elements’ rollout.
• Initial state in the collection: the transformations that the element initially acquires when a new collection is created.
  You can define an initial state for an element to use exclusively for the collection. It can be changed at any time by pressing ‘update initial state’ in the ‘Create/Manage Collection’ rollout.
  This is not mandatory. If not set, the element will use the default state.
• State in each frame of the collection. Each frame of the collection saves a state for the element in question, which can be edited at any time.

Combining Sets and Elements (predefined rules)

The plugin provides 5 different methods or rules for creating combinations between Sets and Elements to produce the different variants/states when creating a collection.

• Multiple elements per set
  This is the simplest method if you just want to work with 1 set of elements because, if you leave the default settings, there will be no combination of elements. Only the other operations (Switch Places, Scatter Objects, Random Transforms) will be applied.
  At the same time, it can be the most powerful and complete option, if you work with many sets and you start adjusting the minimum/maximum ‘active objects per frame‘ parameters for each Set.
  That way you have a precise control over the amount of elements shown in each state.
• One element at a time
  This method will show every element in every set alternately, one by one. It’s a way to switch between different objects in your scene with a single click.
• One set at a time
  This method will alternate between sets of elements, showing one set for every frame of the collection. This way, you can visualize how different sets of objects fit in your scene or render multiple alternatives.
  An interesting use of this method is to try different light setups on a scene, using different groups of lights. RandoMixer has the option to automatically switch on/off lights when loaded as elements.
• One element per set
  Display one element of each Set for every frame of the collection. This is a great way to combine different possible models for a specific object type or category and create original outputs.
  It’s the ideal way to combine different sets of furniture models. Also the option to create a collection of randomly-generated characters.
• Do not combine
  Use this option to tell the script not to combine sets/elements automatically. This way you can create a collection of custom states or combinations by manually adding frames to the initial state and modifying them.

RandoMixer Workflow

These are the typical steps to work with RandoMixer:

1. Create the master icon (a helper that saves all the information from the plugin)
2. Load one or more sets of objects from your scene into the plugin.
3. Choose the operations you want to perform on them and adjust their parameters. (e.g.: switch places, apply random transforms, scatter, etc.)
4. Set the type of combination rule to use, or leave the default ‘multiple elements per set’.
5. Define the maximum number of variants to produce.
6. Press ‘Create Collection’. The plugin will generate the required amount of variants and save them in a collection of states.
7. Navigate the collection back and forth with 2 simple arrow keys and make the necessary changes.
8. Optionally, you can render the collection as a sequence of images (built-in function) or export it to 3dsMax timeline as an animation!