Modeling Thickness & Hollow Interior using Procedural Workflow in Houdini

Download Houdini File: Procedural Modeling Hollowing Thickness.hiplc

This project is a continuation from the a previous project where I demonstrate how to model a simple bottle geometry using a procedural workflow.

This project finishes off from the previous project and explores modeling in Houdini by making the previously made bottle geometry more complete by hollowing out the interior of the bottle geometry and adding thickness to the edges. And also still using a procedural workflow.

Use Cases for Hollowing Out Interior of 3D Model

Glass Bottle Renders (middle object is the liquid mesh object inside)

Realistic feel for the model. This would sometimes be necessary if you’re making a game and need a more realistic container item for gameplay. Another use case is for 3D printing it, especially if you’re planning to 3D print it out using a resin printer. I go into why it’s important in the paragraphs down below.

It’s also good for renders. For example if you plan on doing a render with liquid inside the container, having a thickness for the edges of the container is important. Assuming the container will be rendered with a glass-like material then refractions will happen on the thickness of the edges, just like the depth of water. Or maybe you wish to have semi-glass and semi-diffuse material for the container and as the edges get thicker the material may diffuse more, resulting in a blurred out visual of its interior contents.

Glass Bottle Renders

This can be used to enhance the quality of the renders for your model depending on the look you are trying to achieve.

3D Printing with FDM Machines

There are mainly two main types of 3D printers out in the consumer market today (at the time of writing this), resin printers and FDM printers. FDM machines are the ones that have a high temperature nozzel that melts spaghetti like filament through a hole and onto a build platform that is also heated. And it does this layer by layer and hour later, you’ll have a 3D printed object.

3D Printing with Resin

If you ever 3D printed an object using a resin printer, you’ll appreciate the hollow interior and thickness of the 3D model. Resin is expensive! The difference of printing a completely solid object and a hollow one can be very cost efficient.

3D Printing Videos

If you never heard of 3D printers, I have a few videos that I posted a year ago when I was printing out a 3D model I designed in zbrush. These videos shows different timelines of the printing process. The most interesting ones are probably the middle process where the 3D model is starting to form shape, the last 2min of the 3D print where the 3D print is about to finish, and in another video when the 3D print is completely finished and I remove the supports.