How to add a crust of crystals to this object? I have a heart object:



I want to add crystals growing out of it (see image below for example of what I want)



So far, I've been manually adding crystal objects one by one, but I want to also be able to create a "skin" of crystal crust on certain faces, so that I can easily cover swathes of the heart in a fine scattering of crystals.

Should I use a particle system? Is there some way I can "spraypaint" crystal dust (not just texture, but actual crystal geometry) onto the model?

The heart will be animated, if it matters.
You can use a Particle system.


Model the crystals, i would recomend 5-6 different variations
Make them a group/collection(2.8)
Create a particle system.
Change the Render from eg. Halo to "Collection"
select your collection with the models
add a VertexWeigth in the Vertex settings as ammount
go to weigth paint and paint on where you need them to be.


You can also create a weigth paint for size to controll it