Software
Discombobulator Mini-Tutorial
Home | Back to Discombobulator | Back to Software
Discombobulator Mini-Tutorial

    This mini-tutorial or manual is meant as an intro to get you started with Discombobulator. It is a fairly simple plugin so you shouldn't have much trouble using it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Discombobulator only works on meshes and, at that, only on quadrilateral faces. Triangles will simply be left alone so you can discombobulate a mesh that has triangles, but only the Quadrilateral faces will be discombobulated. At this point, materials aren't supported so a discombobulated mesh will not retain materials. So make sure to add materials last. In addition, a discombobulated mesh will always be moved to or created in layer 1. I know these limitations can get annoying, but bear with it until I find some time to fix it.

    First, let's start with a screenshot of what the GUI will look like when you run the plugin from Scripts>Mesh>Discombobulator in the Scripts menu in Blender's Scripts window. Any button or option descriptions on this page will refer to this image.
    

Protrusions
    First of all, the above image is what you should see when you run Discombobulator. First, I will define the Protrusion settings. Any references in this section to the buttons shown in the above image will refer to those in the "Protrusion" box (slightly-lighter-than-the-background area).
    A Protrusion is a simple four sided extrusion from a four sided shape. They are enabled through the "Make Protrusions" button. You can choose to have between 1-4 protrusions per face. Selecting multiple numbers of protrusions in the "Number of Protrusions" area will cause Discombobulator to choose the amount of protrusions on each face by random.
1 Protrusion 2 Protrusions 3 Protrusions 4 Protrusions

    You may choose to have Discombobulator select the top faces of each protrusion by selecting the options in the "Select tops of" area. By toggling a or multiple numbers, you can choose to select only protrusions made with that number per face. For example, if you want to create protrusions of random amounts per face between 1 and 4, but only want to select the tops of the larger protrusions (the ones created by 1 or 2 to a face), you would toggle all the "Number of protrusions" option on and only toggle on 1 and 2 under "Select tops of". The "Deselect Selected" option will deselect any vertices that are selected before discombobulation. This is especially useful if you only want to discombobulate certain selected faces, but want to select their tops to discombobulate further. If you select the "Only selected faces" option, Discombobulator will only create protrusions on the selected faces. Remember, the selected faces are determined by what is selected in Editmode.
Select Tops Face Selection Vert Selection Result with protrusions

    Discombobulator has the option of tapering protrusions so that they will get a certain amount smaller at the top than at the base. The taper settings are in percentages, so 0% means that the protrusion will not taper at all and 100% will create a square pyramid. Again, the amount for each protrusion varies randomly within the range that is given.
0% Taper 50% Taper 100% Taper

    The minimum and maximum height options are simply the range of random tallness for each protrusion. If you make the heights negative, the protrusions will protrude inward. It is important to recalculate the normals to point all the same direction (select all and Ctrl+N in editmode) on the base mesh or protrusions will end up pointing in different directions, out and in. The "Face %" option determines what percentage of the total faces to be discombobulated will have protrusions.

Doodads
    Now, Doodads are addition objects that are added on either the top face of a protrusion or a base face when there isn't a protrusion there. The settings for the Doodads are very similar to those of the Protrusions. This time, the options are in the "Doodads" section. Doodads are enabled with the "Make Doodads" toggle. There are currently 6 different types of doodads. They are shown below (The L, T, and S shapes are also randomly mirrored so S can appear as a z, etc.):
1 Box 2 Box 3 Box
"L" "T" "S"

    Also like the protrusions, the "Only selected faces" and "Only Select Tops" options behave the same: just for Doodads. "Select Doodads" behaves the same as "Only Select Tops" but will select the whole doodad rather than just the top of it. "Only on Protrusions" will only put doodads on protrusions.
Doodads only on selected faces. Doodads only on protrusions.

    The Minimum and Maximum amount settings determine a range to randomly select how many doodads will go on each discombobulated face. The Minimum and Maximum height affect how tall each doodad is made. Minimum and Maximum size % sliders affect the size range of each Doodad. These are in percentages so a 0% Doodad will take up none of the face where a 100% Doodad will take up the entire face that it is placed on. The sizes are randomly selected independently for each dimension x and y for each Doodad. The "Face %" setting behaves like the one for Protrusions. It determines the approximate percentage of the faces to be modified will actually develop Doodads.

Misc
    There are only a few other things that need to be described. The "Copy Before Modifying" button in the lower right will create a new object then discombobulate it if toggled on. If this is left off, the original mesh will be replaced by the discombobulated mesh. The important button "Discombobulate" will discombobulate the selected mesh according to the selected options and settings. The "Exit" button will simply quit the Discombobulator GUI. Also, right above the "Discombobulate" "Exit" and "Copy Before Modifying" buttons is a small error message area. If something is wrong when you click "Discombobulate", the reason will be displayed in that area. So, if you try to discombobulate something, but nothing happens, check the error area.

If you still have any questions or problems, you may, preferably, post at the Discombobulator thread at elYsiun or, if you must, you may E-mail me.

That is pretty much all the knowledge that is needed to use Discombobulator. Now go and discombobulate something.