Evolution of DGMF in the model clouds as a function of time. Solid lines give DGMFs measured from 3D volume density cubes, while dashed lines are from 2D column density maps. Red lines correspond to dense gas above number and column density thresholds of 1000 cm⁻³ and 2 × 10²¹ cm⁻², and blue lines correspond to dense gas above 5000 cm⁻³ and 8 × 10²¹ cm⁻² respectively. We see that after self-gravity is activated the gas condenses rapidly, before the growth rate almost stagnates after 2 Myr which corresponds to the clouds’ global free-fall times. The grey dashed lines mark the times when the first fragments in each simulation form.