Moria's chamber

[thinkinmonkey]

Hi all,

my purpose is to recreate the chamber described in the Lord of the Rings: I've chosen this scene because it seems to me simple, I mean excluding orcs, characters and Balrog... for now!

About pillars I'm proceding in this way: the base pillar will be modeled then imported and parametrized in Houdini.

Then all the pillars will be placed with a COPY SOP on a regular grid.

So I've started the "pillar creator": given a polygonal object in input, it have to slice it and move a bit all the pieces in casual order.

I've done the slicing part with a FOREACH/KNIFE, that takes also in consideration a random number to set the height of slice a bit off, so you can imagine every pillar will be constructed with pieces of stone with different heights.

Now I'm trying to find a solution to detach all the sliced parts in order to cap them, beveling and so on.

I have problem to separate every stripe of polygons: I've used groups, break and other nodes, but with no success.

The column in the scene file is just for purpose testing.

Every little help on direction to take will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

column_odforce.zip

[thinkinmonkey]

I'm sorry, I forgot to add the column's bgeo (made with the help of SideFX tutorial and it won't be the final design of course) and I take the chance to be clear about previous post: I have used a lot of OPs with no success doesn't mean I'm looking for an alternative solution!

It means I'm not able to use them properly, so I hope someone will be so kind to explain how to do that.

Thanks again.

fusto_col.zip

[Emanuele Berti]

Hi,

I just added to your first post's file a little recursive trick...

Hope that solves your issue.

Cheers,

Emanuele

column_odforce_fix.hipnc

[thinkinmonkey]

Hi Emanuele,

thanks a lot for your solution.

Correct if I'm wrong: you cut only the top part of the column then create the next "above" group that will be cut into next cycle, right?

What I cannot understand is why do you delete the actual above_plane group with the "group_deleteToCleanUpGroupList" node?

Anyway, thanks again.

A little update will come soon...

[Emanuele Berti]

Hi Michele,

glad you found useful my solution.

the deleteToCleanUpGroupList node, is just... to clean up the foreach output from useless groups.

If you need them you can keep them without any problem.

Cheers,

Emanuele

[thinkinmonkey]

Phew, I've been busy, now an update:

With a group paint (image on left) I can tell which part of column to be displaced on XZ plane, not all those pieces will be displaced, I'm working on a random choice between them and yes, you see too high displace: it's just to observe if things work!

Finished the "displaced" part, I'll work on "not displaced" part. As you can see in the right picture, all pieces have a random color chosen in a ramp: in the base there are four blocks, but I have to put them more in evidence with a little touch of edge beveling just to give the idea they are separated.

The column is in its rough design.

[pclaes]

Finished the "displaced" part, I'll work on "not displaced" part. As you can see in the right picture, all pieces have a random color chosen in a ramp: in the base there are four blocks, but I have to put them more in evidence with a little touch of edge beveling just to give the idea they are separated.

If you ever plan on destroying the column it might not be a bad idea to make the base as separate pieces just like the top part. Good stuuf! keep at it!

[thinkinmonkey]

Here we go with an HUUUUUUGE update!

As images show, all pillars are unique, in fact they can change for:

Numbers of sections

Height of sections

Translation of upper sections

Colors (of course!)

And the UI:

Next days it will be time for modeling/sculpting the final pillar design and all things I need to complete the scene (floor, walls, mithril...).

pclaes: Thanks. I'm planning to destroy the pillars in a very light way just to show up the passage of time and negligence, actually I have to discover how (by modeling or by shading), anyway I'd prefer to have a polished version of the entire scene and decide if working on it or starting a new project for my Houdini portfolio.

[thinkinmonkey]

Designing the upper part of the columns to have the idea of trees and mithril (the white spots) like stars, in order to give the idea of Moria like a forest in the night.

The lights and material are just for testing purpose.

P.S. Just for curiosity: how to avoid the flickering AO effect? Thanks.