Displace OTL for Houdini

[enzym]

Hi all,

I am wondering if there any Houdini OTL that does realtime displacement (on viewport) based on texture, similar to:

1. Blender Displace Modifier

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.5/Manual/Modifiers/Mesh/Displace

2. Maya DisplaceD by Hajime Nakamura

http://www.hajimenakamura.com/hajime/cg/mll/displaceD/displaceD.shtml

Blender one is nice and simple, Hajime's one is awesome and Houdini need it!

This is definitely something that Houdini actually capable of and it could also be more robust. I am still figuring out the best approach for this. I am a beginner Houdini.

Basically the setup for this tool should allow points to be displaced along normal based on a texture (UV needed) or could also be built-in noise function or fractal, etc. I reckon vop pop can do this somewhat.

Any idea or direction? I won't be surprised if this tool is already available.

Thank you beforehand.

[Benyee]

Hi all,

I am wondering if there any Houdini OTL that does realtime displacement (on viewport) based on texture, similar to:

1. Blender Displace Modifier

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.5/Manual/Modifiers/Mesh/Displace

2. Maya DisplaceD by Hajime Nakamura

http://www.hajimenakamura.com/hajime/cg/mll/displaceD/displaceD.shtml

Blender one is nice and simple, Hajime's one is awesome and Houdini need it!

This is definitely something that Houdini actually capable of and it could also be more robust. I am still figuring out the best approach for this. I am a beginner Houdini.

Basically the setup for this tool should allow points to be displaced along normal based on a texture (UV needed) or could also be built-in noise function or fractal, etc. I reckon vop pop can do this somewhat.

Any idea or direction? I won't be surprised if this tool is already available.

Thank you beforehand.

Just basic concept with VOPsops.disp_basic.hip

[enzym]

Just basic concept with VOPsops.disp_basic.hip

That's brilliant VOPSOP solution and fast! Impressive, I will study this first.

A quick hack I could think of is in in line of using Particle or POP Net:

1. Get texture info / paint weight into points

2. Transfer that info to particle/points

3. Let particle do the job to move point of surface along normal either in 1 or -1 direction.

But that's probably silly way to do it.

I'll study your hip Benyee. Thank you.

[altbighead]

A quick hack I could think of is in in line of using Particle or POP Net:

1. Get texture info / paint weight into points

2. Transfer that info to particle/points

3. Let particle do the job to move point of surface along normal either in 1 or -1 direction.

But that's probably silly way to do it.

why would you want to do that way? displace along normal in vopsop does exactly what you are after?

simple and efficient way is the best way.

[michael]

I'm not sure what the point of this is...

what is the goal of having displacements in the viewport?

what really in needed in a way to see the limit surface of a subD mesh in the viewport.

[enzym]

Hi Michael,

There are actually plenty of practical usages of having "displacement showing on the viewport", not directly related to displacement in final render, but as the basis for many other effects.

1. To easily display the rough look of a displacement map.

2. Visualizing animation of sequence of displacement maps.

I'll throw in some examples.

[enzym]

Attached file is an example application: a real time push pin effect.

So it's not necessarily for visualizing displacement in the viewport (that probably can be achieved with Open GL on Houdini 12?). It's a really basic but "must have" feature in Houdini.

Benyee has done a great job, it's a really efficient usage of VOPSOP to achieve this displacement. I haven't worked much with UV or VOPSOP myself, but looking into it now.

disp_basic_pinboard_v003.hip