animating hi-res geo with point movement from a simple grid

[kev2]

I have a simple 2 x 2 grid with 4 points. I've animated the points in x,y using chops with corner pin data from Nuke. This gives me a grid with 4 translating points, one at each corner. So far so good. Now I want to bring in a geo (20,000+ poly) object file and attach it to the grid so that it moves with the grid (or replace the grid and just keep the movement). The problem is that I haven't been able to find a good way to get the grid's point-based movement onto the geo. I don't do a lot of modeling or animating geo so I'm wondering if I'm missing the right approach. It seems like it should be simple enough to transfer the movement of the first grid (being driven by corner points) to another gird that the incoming geo is attached to but I haven't succeeded in finding the right set-up to do it (other than just keyframing it).

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks, Kevin

[ryew]

Have you had a look at the lattice SOP? See attached

latticeDeformingGrid.hip

Edited September 30, 2012 by ryew

[kev2]

Thanks Ryew. I'll give it a try. I didn't want to deform the incoming geometry, just move it, though. Kevin

[cubiccube]

You can use a point() expression inside a transofrm SOP to grab the position of a specific point. ressions/point'>http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini12.0/expressions/point

Edited September 30, 2012 by cubiccube

[edward]

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini12.1/nodes/obj/extractgeo

[kev2]

Thanks guys, for the help. The extract transform did the trick though I happily spent time finding new uses for the lattice SOP.Best, Kevin