Ali Torabi

See Para 3d in Action!
Again randomizing surface division and use of mix controller to implement two magnets.
this time with para 3d V 3.0

Learn how to use Sub object controller in surface controller in order to create custom patterns.

In this video you learn how to use random controller within surface controller to change the thickness of panels. Also you learn how to control the random values while using random controller on multiple properties/controllers.
For more information on random controller see also : Random pattern and noise effect in animation

In this video you learn how to use the Material modifier to control the material of the objects inside the array.

Here is a short video explaining what type of objects you can use in surface controller.

we can summaries all as following:

1. NURBS objects with at least one surface inside. If surface is trimmed the based surface (surface before trimming) will be considered as target surface. if more than one surface exist in the object you can choose the surface from the drop down menu.
2. UVW mapping of any kind of object can also be the source of data in surface controller. for this the target object must have at least one UVW map channel. This option is not preferred  option but can be used for NURBS surfaces to obtain uniform divisions on the surface.
3. Objects with edit poly modifier on top. This type of surfaces must have quad polygons. If the surface contains singularity point(s) (A point which more than four polygons intersect) then UV directions cannot be computed along the surface. In this case you can use the surface controller in 1D mode and the array counts must be set to one dimensional array.

Also as a general rule, surface controller in 2d Arrays cannot be used on objects which have more than one smooth manifold (surface), for example a cylinder with top and bottom caps does not represent one surface while a cylinder (tube) without caps can be described as one single manifold.

In PARA 2.6 you can replace the items of the array with a new object with same modifier stack.
This video shows the procedure.

This video is first tutorial in preparing materials for fabrication of simple surface using triangle panels. first you learn how to use PARA to panelize a surface with a triangle panel and then you will find out how to transfer each individual panel from the current location to ground plane and sort them in order to create planar faces. the result can be exported to CAD software to use for laser cutting for example.