Overview of the CrowdFX Workflow

The following workflow shows a typical example of a basic crowd effect using goals and walls.

Each of the numbers in this image corresponds to the steps following it:

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1	Set up one or more models that meet the CrowdFX requirements as described in Preparing a Model for CrowdFX.
2	Get each model into CrowdFX using any of the CrowdFX Actors Get Actor commands from the ICE toolbar - see Loading Actors for the Crowd Simulation. You can also load a default character for testing purposes.
3	Select and load the action sources that each actor will use in the crowd simulation - see Loading Action Sources.
4	Draw or select one or more emitters using the CrowdFX Crowd Draw Directional Emitter or Add Emitter(s) from Selection commands - see Crowd Particle Emitters. If you don't select any emitters, a default is created when you create the simulation (see next step). You can also add more emitters later.
5	You can then use the Action Sources imported in step 3, in the crowd system, by defining Animation States in the Animation_Blending tree and by using them in the Behavior tree. See How Action Sources Are Used in the Crowd Simulation. An easy way to create a standard pedestrian crowd without doing the previous manual steps (1 to 4) is to use instead the CrowdFX Simulation Create New Pedestrian Crowd command.
6	Set up how the crowd particles are emitted - see Setting Up the Crowd Particle Emission.
7	Pick an object as the terrain with the CrowdFX Crowd Add Terrain command - see Terrains for Crowds. This step is optional, but you may find it useful for certain types of terrains.
8	Draw one or more walls as obstacle objects with the CrowdFX Crowd Draw Wall command - see Avoiding Collisions with Obstacles (Walls). This step is optional.
9	Create one or more goal objects with the CrowdFX Crowd Add Goal command - see Moving Toward Goals. This step is optional.
10	Play the simulation!

Once you have the CrowdFX simulation set up, you can do any of the following tasks (and more) to make it your own:

• Set the actors' target speed and modify how the transitions are done between each action - see Controlling the Actor's Animation.

• Change how the actors behave to avoid collision with each other and with walls - see Collision Avoidance Behavior for Actors.

• Add variation to the actor's envelope with shape keys you have set on the source model - see Modifying the Actor's Envelope with Shape Keys.

• Add variation to the actor's materials and/or textures - see Modifying the Actor's Materials and Textures.

• Constrain certain deformers in the actor's rig - see CrowdFX Constraints.

• Build on the CrowdFX ICE trees with more Crowd nodes and compounds, or use other ICE nodes and compounds as you would normally. See Task Tab - Crowds for a description of each CrowdFX compound.

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