Fenolis

Swapping nested multiparms is definitely a recursive process, one that is on the verge of blowing my mind trying to think of how the nested parameter names are formatted. I've updated the snippet above to add the following features: - Can swap multiple (not nested multiparm) parameters at once - Can swap vectors, even ones with different naming schemes (XYZW, RGBA, UVW) - this means you can swap Color parameters - Can swap parameters within nested folders (still not nested multiparm) - Can swap keyframes, channel references, and expressions You may notice I have some unused code - was trying to figure out nested multiparms but I'm not quite there yet.

This is the part where I paraphrase@Noobini: "Share your file so we can figure out how you set it up and diagnose your issue" since it works for me.

Point Jitter SOP - axis scale z: 0 OR Attribute Wrangle (Run Over Points): Remember to click the little icon to create the parameter. vector noise = noise(chv("offset")+@ptnum); noise.z = 0; @P += noise; As with most things in Houdini, there are infinite ways to achieve a given effect.

Elegance.

@konstantin magnus When you are calling the function on the button, use -1 or 1 to swap up/down (technically you can swap with a value that's at any offset but for practical reasons...) #SwapValues(kwargs, hou.ParmTemplate.name a, hou.ParmTemplate.name b) def SwapValues(kwargs, a, b): #a, b are parameter names (not labels) node = kwargs["node"] pA = node.parm(a) pB = node.parm(b) if len(pA.keyframes()) == 0: #if both params have no keyframes if len(pB.keyframes()) == 0: valueSelf = pA.rawValue() valueOther = pB.rawValue() pA.set(valueOther) pB.set(valueSelf) #if A has no keyframes but B does else: valueSelf = pA.rawValue() valueOther = pB.keyframes() pA.setKeyframes(valueOther) pB.deleteAllKeyframes() pB.set(valueSelf) else: #if A has keyframes but B doesn't if len(pB.keyframes()) == 0: valueSelf = pA.keyframes() valueOther = pB.rawValue() pA.deleteAllKeyframes() pA.set(valueOther) pB.setKeyframes(valueSelf) #if both params have keyframes else: valueSelf = pA.keyframes() valueOther = pB.keyframes() pA.deleteAllKeyframes() pB.deleteAllKeyframes() pA.setKeyframes(valueOther) pB.setKeyframes(valueSelf) #GetParamNames(kwargs, hou.parmTemplate mpBlock, int index, int swapIndex, int nestingDepth) def GetParamNames(kwargs, mpBlock, index, swapIndex, nestingDepth): node = kwargs["node"] for i in range(len(mpBlock)): #If the current parameter is of a valid type, check if it has channels if mpBlock[i].type() == hou.parmTemplateType.Int or mpBlock[i].type() == hou.parmTemplateType.Float or mpBlock[i].type() == hou.parmTemplateType.String or mpBlock[i].type() == hou.parmTemplateType.Toggle: #note that vector channels are suffixed after multiparm index - "vector_#x" instead of "vector_x#" if mpBlock[i].numComponents() > 1: for c in range(mpBlock[i].numComponents()): if mpBlock[i].namingScheme() == hou.parmNamingScheme.XYZW: if c == 0: vComponent = "x" elif c == 1: vComponent = "y" elif c == 2: vComponent = "z" elif c == 3: vComponent = "w" elif mpBlock[i].namingScheme() == hou.parmNamingScheme.RGBA: if c == 0: vComponent = "r" elif c == 1: vComponent = "g" elif c == 2: vComponent = "b" elif c == 3: vComponent = "a" elif mpBlock[i].namingScheme() == hou.parmNamingScheme.UVW: if c == 0: vComponent = "u" elif c == 1: vComponent = "v" elif c == 2: vComponent = "w" pName = mpBlock[i].name().replace("#","%s") % index + vComponent pOthrName = mpBlock[i].name().replace("#","%s") % (index+swapIndex) + vComponent SwapValues(kwargs, pName, pOthrName) else: pName = mpBlock[i].name().replace("#","%s") % index pOthrName = mpBlock[i].name().replace("#","%s") % (index+swapIndex) SwapValues(kwargs, pName, pOthrName) #if a folder is found, determine if it's a nested multiparm elif mpBlock[i].type() == hou.parmTemplateType.Folder: #if it is, compare the number of instances in each multiparm if mpBlock[i].folderType() == hou.folderType.MultiparmBlock: getNMP = mpBlock[i].name().replace("#","%s") % index getOthrNMP = mpBlock[i].name().replace("#","%s") % (index+swapIndex) nmpInstances = node.parm(getNMP).evalAsInt() nmpOthrInstances = node.parm(getOthrNMP).evalAsInt() #If both multiparms have the same number of instances, swap nested parameter values if nmpInstances == nmpOthrInstances: for j in range(nmpInstances): pA = node.parm(getNMP).parmTemplate().parmTemplates()[j-1].name().replace("#","%s") % (index, j+1) pB = node.parm(getOthrNMP).parmTemplate().parmTemplates()[j-1].name().replace("#","%s") % (index+swapIndex, j+1) SwapValues(kwargs, pA, pB) #Otherwise, save values to a temporary holder else: tempA = list() tempB = list() for j in range(nmpInstances): nestedParm = node.parm(getNMP).parmTemplate().parmTemplates()[j-1].name().replace("#","%s") % (index, j+1) if len(node.parm(nestedParm).keyframes()) > 0: tempA.append(node.parm(nestedParm).keyframes()) else: tempA.append(node.parm(nestedParm).rawValue()) for j in range(nmpOthrInstances): nestedParm = node.parm(getOthrNMP).parmTemplate().parmTemplates()[j-1].name().replace("#","%s") % (index+swapIndex, j+1) if len(node.parm(nestedParm).keyframes()) > 0: tempB.append(node.parm(nestedParm).keyframes()) else: tempB.append(node.parm(nestedParm).rawValue()) #initialize number of multiparm blocks SwapValues(kwargs, getNMP, getOthrNMP) #and update each block from the temporary holders for k in range(nmpOthrInstances): pA = node.parm(getNMP).parmTemplate().parmTemplates()[k-1].name().replace("#","%s") % (index, k+1) node.parm(pA).deleteAllKeyframes() try: node.parm(pA).set(tempB[k]) except: node.parm(pA).setKeyframes(tempB[k]) for k in range(nmpInstances): pB = node.parm(getOthrNMP).parmTemplate().parmTemplates()[k-1].name().replace("#","%s") % (index+swapIndex, k+1) node.parm(pB).deleteAllKeyframes() try: node.parm(pB).set(tempA[k]) except: node.parm(pB).setKeyframes(tempA[k]) #if it's not a multiparm, dive inside and swap each nested parameter else: GetParamNames(kwargs, mpBlock[i].parmTemplates(), index, swapIndex, 0) #Swap(kwargs, int targetSwapIndex) def Swap(kwargs,targetSwapIndex): node = kwargs["node"] button = kwargs["parm"] #Shorthand to access the index of a multiparm index = int(kwargs["script_multiparm_index"]) #Raise error if parameter hierarchy is configured incorrectly if not button.tuple().isMultiParmInstance(): raise hou.NodeWarning("Button is not inside a multiparm block.") #Get the parent multiparm folder mpFolder = button.tuple().parentMultiParm() #Count the number of multiparm instances -> raise errors if swapping is not allowed mpInstances = node.parm(mpFolder.name()).evalAsInt() #Raise errors if trying to swap up on first block, or swap down on last block if targetSwapIndex > 0: if index == mpInstances: raise hou.NodeWarning("No value below to swap with.") elif targetSwapIndex < 0: if index == 1: raise hou.NodeWarning("No value above to swap with.") #Get the other parameters inside this multiparm block so we can start swapping. mpBlock = node.parm(mpFolder.name()).parmTemplate().parmTemplates() GetParamNames(kwargs, mpBlock, index, targetSwapIndex, 0)

There is a Switch-If upstream that tries to initialize the __piecename attribute on points - you may have to initialize this properly using a Connectivity SOP/Attribute Wrangle to see how it flows. s@__piecename is shorthand - what it's doing is looking for a string @ttribute on the incoming points called __piecename, to be compared with other_piecename. If such an attribute is not found, it returns a result of 0.

Hello there! If you are planning to work in NURBS, you may want to consider setting your primitives to be of type NURBS and use Surfsect instead of polygon Boolean.

Connect Adjacent Pieces SOP might be useful to you here, you can dive into it as well (Right Click > Allow Editing of Contents) and see if there's anything you could reverse engineer to suit your needs.

Also, this method only swaps single values. Expressions/channel references are not handled. I imagine it would be possible to store an array of values to switch with, but it could get complicated if you wish to switch nested multiparms, for instance. You would have to make sure the order in which values were swapped were correct - make sure multiparms have the right number of blocks before updating the values in each block. Perhaps some kind of check could be performed on the swappable parameter to determine its type and have the switching initialized based on that.

@konstantin magnus my Parameters (multiparm) folder is named "parms", which is what I'm using to check that there are at least 2 multiparm blocks in order for the buttons to have any use. I omitted the else portions of the if statements since I was trying to work out if it would be possible to use the Disable When field for better UX. I discovered that I could use a function like { isparm(shiftup_1) == 1 } to disable a parameter if it is in the first multiparm block, but couldn't find an equivalent solution for the last block. The workaround I came up with makes a slight modification to throw a suitable error: def SwapWithBelowValue(kwargs): node = kwargs['node'] params = node.parm("parms").evalAsInt() self = kwargs["parm_name"] index = int(re.findall(r'\d+', self)[0]) if params > 1: if index == params: raise hou.NodeWarning("No value below to swap with.") else: valueSelf = node.parm("val_%s" % int(index)).evalAsFloat() valueBelow = node.parm("val_%s" % int(index+1)).evalAsFloat() node.parm("val_%s" % int(index+1)).set(valueSelf) node.parm("val_%s" % int(index)).set(valueBelow) You can also modify the first function similarly for consistency, perhaps someone will figure out a more elegant solution that I missed.

You could probably use Labs CSV/XYZ Pointcloud Exporter in the out context then convert from CSV to XML.

@konstantin magnus As per your suggestion, I wrote a simple python script that swaps a multi-parameter's value with one before/after it. import re def SwapWithAboveValue(kwargs): node = kwargs['node'] params = node.parm("parms").evalAsInt() self = kwargs["parm_name"] index = int(re.findall(r'\d+', self)[0]) if params > 1: valueSelf = node.parm("val_%s" % int(index)).evalAsFloat() valueAbove = node.parm("val_%s" % int(index-1)).evalAsFloat() node.parm("val_%s" % int(index-1)).set(valueSelf) node.parm("val_%s" % int(index)).set(valueAbove) def SwapWithBelowValue(kwargs): node = kwargs['node'] params = node.parm("parms").evalAsInt() self = kwargs["parm_name"] index = int(re.findall(r'\d+', self)[0]) if params > 1: valueSelf = node.parm("val_%s" % int(index)).evalAsFloat() valueBelow = node.parm("val_%s" % int(index+1)).evalAsFloat() node.parm("val_%s" % int(index+1)).set(valueSelf) node.parm("val_%s" % int(index)).set(valueBelow)

Here is another place you can find common attributes: https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/vex/snippets.html

Out of curiosity, is there a specific reason to implement an advanced algorithm when you can use the Sweep SOP instead?

In the second image, what you have are placeholder/original textures to be used on the model if you are composing the shot at a distance. The first image is slightly confusing, I'm not too sure why there are 6 colour variants of what appears to be the Albedo/Diffuse texture. However, the intention of splitting textures by channels like Albedo/Diffuse, Roughness, Specular/Metallic, Normal etc. is to allow you further control over how the textures are rendered. For example, if you were to only apply an image texture, then you would not be able to control the roughness of your model (all faces of your geometry would be equally reflective, which might not be the case IRL). Having a separate texture map for the Roughness channel (usually in black & white) allows you to control the scale of the roughness based on the UV map. The same goes for the other maps that are usually provided with downloaded models. Edit: To use the channel textures, you can toggle "Use Texture" on the Quick Material SOP and set the file path for each channel.