I came across a request by Shimakaze on the V-Ray forums for a way to quickly connect many objects on the modifier level without completely instancing them. Given how long it would take to do this manually; either by wiring parameters, or copying controllers, another approach was required. This is precisely the kind of task that Mission Control aims to simplify.
Mission Control allows you to enter scripts directly in to any float value cell. You can use this to easily instance values between object, modifier, or material values; or you can enter complex scripts that will evaluate on every tick.
Here’s a short clip showing how easy it is to link the radius of a sphere to a slider manipulator.
- Select the source controller (in this case the slider value cell), and click “copy” in the context menu. This causes MC to hold a reference pointer to this cell.
- Navigate to the sphere’s class to list the spheres in the scene.
- In the radius cell of a sphere, click to start editing the value, and then enter the script “=target”. Starting an edit with a “=” symbol tells MC that an expression is being entered. The “target” token is used to grab the controller from the previously copied cell (slider.value.controller). This is then placed within a variable in a script_float controller called “target” and ensures the script remains functional if the object gets renamed.
- Once the expression has been added, you can edit it by double clicking on the cell which brings up the dialog for the controller.
