Noobini

just fumbling around...don't take this as an expert solution.... popforces_talking_to_rbdpacked_vu.hipnc (if you don't want to bother with transferring group in the assemble, you can wipe that out, move the group SOP to below the assemble, change to Points...works the same)

not sure if I'm on the right track here...but here's an attempt. Try disabling prevy = curpos.y; and see if that's more like it...(I doubt it) vu_levelling.hipnc

all nice.... OK, here's mine, as usual...non-VEX approach vu_Volleyball.hipnc

So someone posted "I modelled a soccerball".......really ? It's virtually pre-made for you in Houdini already. Here's a tougher challenge, procedurally model a volleyball....not just the standard 3 stripes....how about ANY number of stripes ? Won't post file yet...so ppl can have a go themselves.

I just went into Bullet data tab, changed to Concave.....works....

here's my way...(left branch) delete_segment_02_vu.hipnc

just a warning....if you plan to emit particles from this, make sure you RESET pscale back to 1 after you copied out the successively larger rings...otherwise, if you have them colliding with a ground plane say...you'd get a weird conical shape cuz...the outside particles are 'larger'...instead of the default 1. hmm..well that's in theory....in practice...I had to reset it to 0 !.....doesn't make sense...here's that file, see if you can figure out why pscale should be reset to 0 instead of 1... (so I guess a particle is just a point...ie. radius/pscale = 0, my bad for thinking of default 1) vu_stackedCircles_particles.hipnc

earliest I can go back to is 16.0.736 ...works... Latest, 16.5.496....works too.

here's my take on it... vu_stackedCircles.hipnc

D to bring up Network View Display Options>Text Badges>Descriptive Parameter>Hide

well if the underlying surface is just a sphere...then that 'conform' step is actually the easiest step to do... Here....now the hard part is to workout the underlying template points pattern to get you the desired pattern. (note: if you observe the model in the link...it's not 'uniform' throughout.....rotate it in 3D and you'll see it's actually symmetrical, ie. 2 hemispheres) vu_RingOrb.hipnc

ver 3: added Container option...for wall collisions. vu_SimplePacking3.hipnc

ver 2: added Use Overlap option. Previously, the Repel represents how much to move away each iteration, in absolute terms. Now if Use Overlap is enabled, the Repel is a portion of the actual overlap amount. So if 2 spheres overlap by 3 units...and Repel is 0.5, then the 'move away' amount is 1.5 With Use Overlap enabled (and say Repel is 1), it gets to the desired positions much quicker...but not as 'nice' and relaxing as when Repel is lowish... vu_SimplePacking2.hipnc

slight tweak so sim doesn't start on frame 1...starts on frame 2 vu_SimplePacking.hipnc

it's got a certain hypnotic buzz to it...like how bees send their vibes thru the colony...