Blog — Blue Bubble Bursting Pins

Outlining Geometry with Unshared Edges in Houdini

Outlining geometry with unshared edges. Explanation of how Houdini references edges using points.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsOctober 18, 2019houdini, sidefx, outline geometry, outlining geometry, unshared edge, shared edge, points outline geometryComment

RBD vs Bullet Solver in Houdini

Bullet Solver vs RBD Solver, comparison between the two and how to choose between the two. The Rigid Body solver has the option to choose between using the Bullet solver engine or RBD solver engine to calculate the dynamics of the simulation.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsOctober 18, 2019houdini, sidefx, rbd, rigid body dynamics, rbd sim, rbd simulation, bullet solver, rbd solver, rbd vs bullet, proxy volume, collision Comments

Coloring Points vs Primitives in Houdini

So what happens if a color is assigned to the points instead of the primitives? What is the difference between assigning color to points versus assigning color to primitives? Sometimes we experience color bleeding onto other primitives of the geometry, this article explains why.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsOctober 18, 2019houdini, sidefx, points, primitives, coloring points vs primitives, points vs primitives, primnum, point number, color pointsComment

Vellum Simulation (cloth sim) in Houdini

Demonstration of different types of Vellum sims, along with corresponding Houdini files.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsOctober 7, 2019Houdini, sidefx, vellum, vellum simulation, vellum sim, soft body, rigid body, blendshape, download Houdini project, download examples, cloth simulation, cloth sim, balloon sim, balloon simulationComment

Delay Sim on Frame with Houdini Expressions

In this post, I’ll demonstrate how to delay the effect for a simulation inside the SOP Solver. This technique can be used for any other simulation in Houdini and doesn’t have to be limited to the SOP Solver.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 29, 2019houdini, sidefx, Delay Simulation, delay sim, visual effect, delay visual effect, SOP Solver, if condition, if statement, switch node, houdini expressionComment

Houdini Expressions & Functions

Houdini expressions are functions available to help you calculate values in the parameters of the nodes. You may have seen $HIPNAME which returns the name of the current hip file. Or the centroid one that I use most often for procedural modeling, $CEX $CEY $CEZ, which returns the centroid vector component.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 27, 2019houdini, sidefx, math, fit range, ptnum, point number, remap values, random function, rand(), fit(), random seed, height data, height, terrain, texture map, height map, houdini expressionComment

Disintegration & Growth Effect in Houdini

Using a simple technique to produce Disintegration and Growth effects in Houdini. I then add a variation at the end of the effect to generate a variation of the disintegration effect.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 27, 2019houdini, sidefx, disintegration, volume, vdb, vdbadvect, growth effect, foreach loop, sop solver, vdbcombine, visual effect, disintegration effect, special effectsComment

Output Terrain Texture Maps (Houdini Height Fields)

How to generate texture maps for terrains generated from Height Fields in Houdini

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 25, 2019houdini, sidefx, terrain, texture map, height field, height field output Comment

SOP Solver in Houdini

If you want something to grow over time or maybe shrink over time, SOP Solvers make it easy. SOP Solvers are perfect for animations where you have an object evolving over time, from frame to frame.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 23, 2019houdini, sidefx, sop solver, foot print example, foreach loop, SOP Solver vs Foreach, loop, evolve Comments

SDF used to Deform Geometry

Building upon that collision detection, we can also use the SDF to deform the object upon the collision. Using the SDF value and some math, the grid can be deformed to create footprints stamped on by the Torus.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 22, 2019houdini, sidefx, SDF, SDF negative, signed distance field, distance, position, math, deform, deforming geometry, deform grid, displacement, displace P, animation, deformation, deforming grid, vector, vector math Comments

SDF (Signed Distance Field) used to Detect Overlapping Objects

SDF is short for signed distance field and describes the interior volume of an object. How thick an object is from the middle to the surface? How deep does the cylinder extend? From any point inside an object, using the SDF, it is possible to easily grab the distance to the surface of the object in order to know the depth.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 22, 2019houdini, sidefx, sdf, signed distance field, volume, distance, collision, collision detect, overlap, SDF Value Comments

Sine Wave Animated Motion

Step by step mathematical explanation of the Sine Wave function and how it’s used in defining motion. Increasing the frequency and increasing the amplitude and flipping the entire curve function.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 22, 2019houdini, sidefx, sine wave, math, sin(x), sine wave motion, sin motion, period, frequency, x axis, y axis, amplitude, animation, animated torus, animation motion, sine animated motion Comments

Loops in Houdini vs Coding

Javascript vs Houdini. Demo of Javascript code of a simple 2D Version of a Houdini Foreach Loop scene that eats away at a cube. This is a quick demonstration of how coding line by line is different from the nodes in Houdini, but similar because they are derived from the same concepts.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 18, 2019houdini, sidefx, loops, foreach, for loops, javascript, visual programming, nodes, nodes vs coding Comments

Modeling Thickness & Hollow Interior using Procedural Workflow in Houdini

I demonstrate how to use a procedural workflow to create a bottle geometry from scratch. This project finishes off from the previous project and makes it more complete by hollowing out the interior of the bottle geometry and adds thickness to the edges. And also still using a procedural workflow.

Computer Graphics, Houdini, 3D PrintingbubblepinsSeptember 10, 2019houdini, sidefx, procedural modeling, game asset, thickness, hollow interior, 3d printing, resin printer, bottle, game asset creation, render, houdini modelingComment

Procedural Modeling in Houdini

Procedural Modeling has infinite possible ways of doing things, and the way Houdini does its point number assignment makes it very convenient to write VEX code to automate things. Using VEX into your procedural modeling workflow is a huge advantage.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsSeptember 10, 2019houdini, sidefx, procedural modeling, 3D modeling, point number, ptnum, game asset, game asset creation, bottle, VEX, VEX code, houdini modeling, houdini VEX Comments

Export Height Fields to UE4

This post will go over some tips on how to export the Height Field terrain as an HDA (Houdini Digital Asset) and import it into Unreal Engine as a playable environment or game asset.

Tunnel Building for Height Field Terrains in Houdini

Houdini’s Height Fields provides a simple and fast way of building complex landscape geometry, but what if I wanted to hull out areas in the terrain to make a tunnel? Cave? Secret underground path for a game?

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsAugust 29, 2019houdini, sidefx, height fields, tunnel, boolean, vdb combine, cave, game asset, landscape, terrain generationComment

Manipulate Height Fields with Volume VOP's in Houdini

Volume VOP’s (visual operators) are extremely powerful! Volume VOP’s like any other VOP nodes in Houdini is multi-threaded and all operations are run in parallel utilizing all the cores in your computer. Fast and flexible, who could ask for more?

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsAugust 27, 2019houdini, sidefx, volume vop, height fields, point vop, terrain generation, destruction sim, simulation, seamless integration, workflowComment

PointVOP Basics in Houdini

Everything inside a VOP (visual operators) node is multi-threaded and makes use of the multiple cores in your computer. You are given a wide range of attributes that inherit the values from the connected parent node, which can then be used for further manipulation inside the Point VOP node.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsAugust 27, 2019houdini, sidefx, pointVOP, parallel, multithreading, volumeComment

Math behind the Mask by Feature Ramp Remapped Values

This is an explanation of the math behind how the Height Ramp in the Height Field Mask by Feature node in Houdini is calculated.

Computer Graphics, HoudinibubblepinsAugust 26, 2019houdini, sidefx, height fields, mask by feature ramp, remap values, height ramp, ramp, ranges, math, terrain generationComment

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