meshing l-system

[norse]

I have been working with a l-system tree, the idea is to be able to generate an infinite variations of pine-trees with a single node. I have the l-system node working somewhat the problem arises when I'm supposed to mesh it. I want to be able to control the thickness along the curves when I mesh it. So far I only know how to mesh the tree, but actually controlling the thickness along the curves Im not really sure how to do.

Should I somehow incorporate the values into my rules so that the mesh know where it's supposed to be thick or thin?

Or is there some magic node I'm just not understanding or not using at all.

I'll add a quick example scene, set up with an easy l-system set up and meshing of the l-system the way I've basically done it in the original file.

cheers / Henrik

lsystemMeshTest.hip

[michael]

I haven't looked at your file but you might want to make different groups of your branches, then mesh them using the groups...that way you might gain more control - IIRC there are ways to create/add l-system elements to groups as its built...

HTH

[sam.h]

Just ticked 'point attributes' on the first tab of the lsystem and added the ! symbol to the rules to scale the thickness.

The polywire SOP uses the width attribute that it creates.

lsystemMeshTest2.hip

[norse]

Thank you very much both of you. I had considered using several different systems and then combining them into one before as well Ill give it a try =D

As for the "!" Ill give that a try as well, would it be possible to write a randomized sin curve to noise the thickness of the tree as well together with this rule, or will I have to specify it with the ordinary rules?? My guess is almost anything can be done since Houdini so far has been extremely customizable, love it! =D .. Ill be sure to try it at least. And I will probably be back with more questions regarding this once I get a chance to continue with the tool again. Does anyone happen to have some good links to available rules and maybe some examples/tutorials? I have seen the ones on cmiFX on l-systems, are there any more good tutorials or good articles out there??

cheers and thank you very much guys =D

[sam.h]

if you want to change the width you can just modify the width attribute before you use polywire, use the arc attribute or something with sin or noise ...

[norse]

Thx again for all the help I've come a long way now and the meshing and all that works. However now I have another problem, of course

I would like to name my variables(meaning not just as single letters). I want "length" to control to length of the tree for example, however l-systems reads that as only l. Is it possible to write strings and if it is what kind of sign(i.e " ' ` {) should I use? Couldn't find the info in the help anywhere, hope it's possible though.

cheers / Henrik

P.S actually I have another, probably really stupid, question. If I want to multiply a rule "S" with a variable "b" how should I write that, I just can't get it to work. And it's just a pain to have to write SSSSSSSS when I could just write S(b ), b=8 and change it very easily. It works fine on F but that's because it just works like that already. Is there a way to get this to work with my own rules as well?

Edited February 12, 2010 by norse