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Bending with foreach sop - outwards


frankengen

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Hi,

I'm trying to bed outwards, basically like this 

I saw this effect and though I wanted to recreated it, cause it looked like a fun challenge.

I think I'm very close but not quite getting there. I was wondering if anyone have a clue what I'm doing wrong.

They are kind bending outwards but not all of them are.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Many thank.
Frank Engen

7Bend_01.hipnc

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Hi, I took a look at your file and made my own version. Bending geometry often gives weird results which is why I prefer to use curves as in between step.

In my setup the curves/wires are bent and then a wire deformer is used to deform the geometry. This gives a bit more control.

 

I also included a guide curve which the geometry bends away from. This should makes it more directable and less abstract.

On the foreach node there is a strengthMult parm which controls the amount of bending.

 

I think my setup is far from efficient but at least it gives some control. 

7Bend_01_RobertEdit.hipnc

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That is a nice example file Robert. I have discovered some of the control parameters but effector location still eludes me... Which parameter would I animate to move the effect through the geometry, as shown in the video in post #1?

post-12295-0-32269100-1433601767_thumb.j

post-12295-0-60335500-1433602623_thumb.j

post-12295-0-53131100-1433603365_thumb.j

post-12295-0-53190000-1433604283_thumb.j

post-12295-0-16188800-1433604792_thumb.j

post-12295-0-73039500-1433606259_thumb.j

Edited by Atom
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After playing with Robert's example file most of the day I have added two materials. This is accomplished by activating Create Output Groups under the Groups tab of the Polyextrude node. I then add a material node near the end and use the font_sides and font_cap groups to apply a different material.

post-12295-0-11533000-1433633524_thumb.j

post-12295-0-17704200-1433634603_thumb.j

post-12295-0-01426100-1433639064_thumb.j

post-12295-0-31797100-1433643414_thumb.j

 

What would be nice, however, is to take it one step further and detect which faces are on the inside. If I could get those into a group I could apply a third material.

 

I can guess at the node setup but I'm not sure how to proceed? I imagine the logic is to get the center of the bounding box for the primitive and then check every face in the font_sides group to see if it is facing the center. If so, it gets added to a new group, font_inside.

 

I just don't know how to node that kind of logic up. Should I start with code or can it be done with existing nodes?

 

I am attaching my revised scene if anyone wants to play around with it.

 

The nodes highlighted in purple contain parameters that are fun to play with.

post-12295-0-98962400-1433633530_thumb.j

ap_font_flay_pill_Bend_01_RobertEdit_1c.hipnc

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I am still trying to figure out how to paint the inside faces a different color from the outside faces. I found a SurfaceVOP example, here on the forum, that lets me project a pattern on the sides. But it's projection seems to be based on Camera angle of incidence not actual geometry orientation.

 

post-12295-0-33820100-1433696672_thumb.j

post-12295-0-52753100-1433696678_thumb.j

 

It would still be nice to somehow come up with a set of nodes that could detect inside and outside faces and put them in groups...

ap_font_flay_pill_Bend_01_RobertEdit_1e.hipnc

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Thank you Tomas, that is what I was looking for as far as materials are concerned.

post-12295-0-76458700-1433702575_thumb.j

post-12295-0-79822700-1433704017_thumb.j

 

 

The next step is to somehow link the effect influence to the bounding box of an external piece of geometry. This way I can move the external geometry, say a box, over the font and the effect will ripple through the font as the box moves by. Just like in the example video in post #1. (i.e. C4D Effector)

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@Tom: Thanks for the tip on how to proceed. I am still learning Houdini so your instructions are a little over my head at this time. I do understand the volume concept. I could route the original extruded font into some kind of volume convert SOP then connect that to one of the remaining inputs on the FOREACH? Inside the FOREACH is where the strength is calculated (I think). What node would I use for sampling the volume inside the FOREACH? And how do I multiply, do I need to create an attributeVOP and perform the multiply inside that or is there another way?

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That is a nice example file Robert. I have discovered some of the control parameters but effector location still eludes me... Which parameter would I animate to move the effect through the geometry, as shown in the video in post #1?

 

Well there isn't a parameter to animate the effect, until now!

In the attached example I added an attribute to the guide curve (second input of the FOREACH) that is animated and acts as a multiplier to the bend strength. I also added a falloff option for some smooth blending.

7Bend_01_RobertEdit2.hipnc

Edited by Robert
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@Matt: That is a nice variation on the effect. You may want to throw in a Normal after the Attribute VOP to restore the seamless nature of the font for unaffected areas. 

post-12295-0-13665900-1433952828_thumb.j

 

I also promoted the Scale parameter in the Displace Along Normals node which reside within the Attribute VOP. I renamed it from Scale to Radius Of Influence, that seems to be it's major effect. It gets kind of flaky as the value increases, however, there may be a better way to implement a radius control?

post-12295-0-51557800-1433954511_thumb.j

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And now come up with a method that prevents the intersection with neighbors when bending ;)

In the original video they solved this quite nicely just by animating it in such a way that it always bends outwards.

Maybe in this case you could make the tips of the strips compress so they fit without intersecting when they bend inwards? Would be cool!

Edited by Robert
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