Introduction  General Tab  Alignment Tab  Distribution Tab  Effects Tab  SplineSPREAD Shader  Documentation & Conclusion

XPresso Node

There is a SplineSPREAD XPresso Data Node. This data node can be used to provide information about the SplineSPREAD object linked to it (via the object ports). Useful information like number of objects or clones, position returned as a vector of a specific object or clone, the position along a spline the object or clone is plus a few other useful things. Practical examples of where this Data node would be used would be where you want to attach particle emitters to the clones and the clones are moving.

Documentation

As mentioned earlier SplineSPREAD comes with a pdf manual. This is 40 pages long and explains all options pretty well. Although the SplineSPREAD plugin is easy to use I found I picked things up much quicker by working my way through the manual and trying all settings out. The example scenes are handy for you to dissect to see how the particular effect is created. In the manual is a tutorial on using the SplineSPREAD shader to create an animated LED scale. I think what would be really handy would be for the plugin developer to have a few video tutorials at his site. Not only would this help people getting started with the plugin it would likely help sales along by showing people how easy it is to create cool animations.

Conclusion

I really like this plugin. Initially after installing it and just doing a couple of things I wasn't that inspired. This is a plugin that takes a bit of working with to appreciate just how powerful it is. The more I used it whilst working on the review the more I came to like it. What sold it for me was the scattering and animation offset like what I did with the bats flying short animation. That I found was very useful and very powerful.

SplineSPREAD is not a MoGraph clone as it doesn't do many of the things that MoGraph can do. However when it comes to splines, in almost every situation I can think of SplineSPREAD is significantly better than trying to do it with MoGraph. One thing that is better dealt with in MoGraph is there is no need for rail splines to stop objects or clones flipping. Something for a future version maybe?

The plugin costs 79.90 EUR which is about $103 US at the time of writing this review. Perhaps a little steep if you're paying in US dollars or any currency that doesn't buy many Euro's. For anyone into Motion Graphics I think getting yourself SplineSPREAD would be a superb addition to your toolset. Even if you're not I'm sure you will find a use. I know I will. So final conclusion, I can thoroughly recommend this plugin.

Introduction  General Tab  Alignment Tab  Distribution Tab  Effects Tab  SplineSPREAD Shader  Documentation & Conclusion