Points can be formed into vectors. By knowing one point position and the origin position, using two points, a vector can be formed. This comes super handy in Houdini once we realize this. Vector manipulation can be used to influence simulations.

Controlling destruction blast with additional geometry as a driver. Coding the force of the blast and augmenting the RBD (Rigid Body Dynamics) solver with custom made forces.

Demonstrates how to setup a simple basic RBD (rigid body dynamic) dopnet simulation scene in Houdini with glue constraints. The glue strength is adjusted to a level that withstands the gravity. This is a perfect starting point or template that can be used as a starting point before adding more complex forces.

Brief explanation on how the New if block nodes work in Houdini versus the Old if block nodes.

In this article, I explain how to filter geometry using attribute values. Houdini Expressions can be used to help debug and verify certain geometries. They help out with small tasks and can turn normal static functionality more dynamic and flexible with the use of logic.

Constraints in Houdini define how a piece of geometry behave and how they move in the simulation when external forces are exerted upon them. Glue & Spring Constraints both behave differently in the simulation.

Destruction Simulations are controlled by the way you fracture the geometry being destroyed and how the glue constraints are to be broken on impact. Check out this video, where I covered the basics of setting up a destruction simulation using glue constraints provided by the voronoi fracture and I covered some basic concepts for glue constraints, to understand some fundamentals.

AMD announced on November 7, 2019 the upcoming release of Threadripper 3970x and 3960x. Both products are scheduled for sale on November 25, 2019.

FLIP Simulation for Flowing Rivers Houdini Project File example provided with a Python Script to Auto Cook & Save File Caches

Having Vellum simulations work with other types of simulations can require some creativity. The multisolver didn’t work with the Vellum solver. I started tinkering with different ways to mix the Vellum solver with a simple RBD simulation setup and came up with a multiple phase workflow to create a more realistic Vellum cloth dynamics with the RBD simulation.

Normals are vectors in computer graphics that define the exterior surface of a geometry and the direction the surface is facing. Normals may also be called “Surface Normals”, but usually are referred as “normals”, are used in 3D applications to help render the polygon on the screen by distinguishing the front and back side of each primitive.

Destruction simulation Houdini Project example files available for download

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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