Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Enroll now on our full architectural visualization course built around D5 Render: learnupstairs.com/courses/d5-render-visualizing-architecture
~
The Scatter tool is the most powerful thing inside D5 Render (at least in my opinion), and most people use it way too simply. It's not necessarily wrong, but with this one specific trick, it completely changes how far you can push it.
In this advanced tutorial I show you how I build realistic grass, lawns, meadows and vegetation masses in general in D5 using a STACKING method. Multiple scatters layered on top of each other, each one doing a different job. It is a very different approach from trying to solve the whole ground with a single scatter, which is where most patchy, repetitive looking grass comes from.
Along the way we get into: density, and how far you can actually push it; cluster size, cluster noise and cluster blur, and how the three work together; scaling each grass asset individually so nothing looks oversized; image divide, sub areas and black and white masks; edge divide, for the stuff that is not vegetation
It does not matter if you are coming from SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, Archicad or Blender. Once you are inside D5, the Scatter works the same way.
And I think that is the part worth saying out loud is that D5 managed to build ascatter that gets you genuinely complex results without becoming complex to use, nothing like node based scattering in Blender. But it is also not too simple and limiting, which is where most other real time engines for the AEC industry sit. There is a lot of value in knowing how to properly use this tool.
Timestamps
00:00 The Scatter tool changed D5 for me
00:55 Preparing your model before D5 (SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, Archicad)
01:58 Creating your first scatter with Select Material
03:03 Presets vs building it manually
03:41 Choosing grass assets, and why you want three
05:27 Density, cluster size, cluster noise and cluster blur
07:23 Scaling each asset and fixing the ground material
09:14 Scatter number two: Image Divide and sub areas
11:41 Masks: controlling where assets show up
13:56 A third layer of tall grass
15:46 Extending one scatter to other surfaces
16:26 Edge Divide: leaves along the curb
18:05 What I did not cover
~
TOOLS AND ASSETS IN THIS VIDEO
D5 Render (Scatter, Image Divide, Edge Divide, masks, Live Sync)
SketchUp for the base model
D5 asset library: grass clusters, Astrantia Major, falling leaves
~
A platform to learn Architecture Representation and Visualization:
learnupstairs.com
You can also follow us here:
Instagram: instagram.com/learnupstairs
Pinterest: pinterest.com/learnupstairs
Let's talk:
hello@learnupstairs.com
Enroll now on our full architectural visualization course built around D5 Render: learnupstairs.com/courses/d5-render-visualizing-architecture
~
The Scatter tool is the most powerful thing inside D5 Render (at least in my opinion), and most people use it way too simply. It's not necessarily wrong, but with this one specific trick, it completely changes how far you can push it.
In this advanced tutorial I show you how I build realistic grass, lawns, meadows and vegetation masses in general in D5 using a STACKING method. Multiple scatters layered on top of each other, each one doing a different job. It is a very different approach from trying to solve the whole ground with a single scatter, which is where most patchy, repetitive looking grass comes from.
Along the way we get into: density, and how far you can actually push it; cluster size, cluster noise and cluster blur, and how the three work together; scaling each grass asset individually so nothing looks oversized; image divide, sub areas and black and white masks; edge divide, for the stuff that is not vegetation
It does not matter if you are coming from SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, Archicad or Blender. Once you are inside D5, the Scatter works the same way.
And I think that is the part worth saying out loud is that D5 managed to build ascatter that gets you genuinely complex results without becoming complex to use, nothing like node based scattering in Blender. But it is also not too simple and limiting, which is where most other real time engines for the AEC industry sit. There is a lot of value in knowing how to properly use this tool.
Timestamps
00:00 The Scatter tool changed D5 for me
00:55 Preparing your model before D5 (SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, Archicad)
01:58 Creating your first scatter with Select Material
03:03 Presets vs building it manually
03:41 Choosing grass assets, and why you want three
05:27 Density, cluster size, cluster noise and cluster blur
07:23 Scaling each asset and fixing the ground material
09:14 Scatter number two: Image Divide and sub areas
11:41 Masks: controlling where assets show up
13:56 A third layer of tall grass
15:46 Extending one scatter to other surfaces
16:26 Edge Divide: leaves along the curb
18:05 What I did not cover
~
TOOLS AND ASSETS IN THIS VIDEO
D5 Render (Scatter, Image Divide, Edge Divide, masks, Live Sync)
SketchUp for the base model
D5 asset library: grass clusters, Astrantia Major, falling leaves
~
A platform to learn Architecture Representation and Visualization:
learnupstairs.com
You can also follow us here:
Instagram: instagram.com/learnupstairs
Pinterest: pinterest.com/learnupstairs
Let's talk:
hello@learnupstairs.com
