[help]Aligning box along the normal of a curve with spacing

[CaptainAhoy]

Hello,

I am modeling a basic frame of a building and ran into a problem. I would really appreciate if I can get help in solving it.

EDIT : fixed the alignment to normals. But I haven't been able to figure out the positioning. (read below)

Also, right now, both the windows and the pillars are at the same spot as both the curves have the same resample value. Ideally the pillars should always appear in the middle of the two windows? How would I go about doing that?

I have attached reference images and my hipnc file in case you want to look at it.

 

VsfxP3_v7.hipnc

VsfxP3_v7.hipnc

Edited April 16, 2016 by CaptainAhoy

[3__]

quickest way would be to model each segment.

see attached.

 

proceduralbuilding.hipnc

[6ril]

Hey,

to align your boxes, in your polyframe2 -> uncheck normal name, and write N instead of tangentu.

delete nodes attribcreate1 and point5. And add a transform on the box2 side of the network (below edgecusp or whereever) if yyou need to rotate 90degrees on Y.

hope it helps... It's not a complete solution as you'd need to fix the 2 pillars(start and end of open circle), I guess..

 

 

[CaptainAhoy]

13 hours ago, cpb said:

quickest way would be to model each segment.

see attached.

 

proceduralbuilding.hipnc

Thats a very interesting approach. I would have loved to use this method but according to my current project requirements, the user should be able to change the depth and width of the building and the windows and pillars should change accordingly.

 

PS: thanks for the hipnc file. I shall study it thoroughly.

 

11 hours ago, 6ril said:

Hey,

to align your boxes, in your polyframe2 -> uncheck normal name, and write N instead of tangentu.

delete nodes attribcreate1 and point5. And add a transform on the box2 side of the network (below edgecusp or whereever) if yyou need to rotate 90degrees on Y.

hope it helps... It's not a complete solution as you'd need to fix the 2 pillars(start and end of open circle), I guess..

 

 

thanks for your suggestion! I was able to fix the alignment issue by correctly using the polyframe (i think so) but I have another issue now. Currently the building is circular and the windows and the pillars line up fine along the walls. But, when I try to squish the building to a more oval like structure, it all falls apart and the windows and pillars are no longer on the walls.

The idea is to have the windows and pillars be aligned to the walls no matter if the walls are oval or circular.

PLEASE PLEASE help me in solving this. It will be a huge help. I am stuck with no path forward

I have attached my .hipnc file in case anyone wants to take a look at it.

VsfxP3_v20_squish.hipnc

Edited April 17, 2016 by CaptainAhoy
Adding comment.

[6ril]

I had a quick look, at the pillars, and if you bypass the node "ends1" then they align properly.

the convert1 node is useless (converting  poly to poly) ( but maybe it's in case you feed in another type of curve...)

also, transform2 is just messing it up... why?? why rotate 20degree on Y ? of course the pillars won't be aligned if you rotate all the points !

still about the pillars, why modeling a box by stacking many boxes ? make it simple, and it will correct the Y alignment of the pillars.

[CaptainAhoy]

Quote

I had a quick look, at the pillars, and if you bypass the node "ends1" then they align properly.

the convert1 node is useless (converting  poly to poly) ( but maybe it's in case you feed in another type of curve...)

also, transform2 is just messing it up... why?? why rotate 20degree on Y ? of course the pillars won't be aligned if you rotate all the points !

still about the pillars, why modeling a box by stacking many boxes ? make it simple, and it will correct the Y alignment of the pillars.

 

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I'll take a look at them right now! I know my modelling is messy, hopefully with help I can learn to be better at it

EDIT: I disabled the transform2 node and they aligned onto the walls! yay! Also disabled the ends1 node and added a Fuse SOP instead..  With regards to the stacking the boxes, the idea was to make the building's height adjustable ..so I would have a control for the height and as the building became taller or shorter the pillars would get taller or shorter too.

Also, any ideas for the windows?

Edited April 18, 2016 by CaptainAhoy
Added further response

[6ril]

you can adjust the pillars height without stacking boxes, just connect the initial box height to the building height.

I've noticed that your initial curve isn't closed, hence the double pillars at start and end. I didn't bother solving that, as I don't know why you create the initial shape (ellipse or circle) with the line3+point3 method.

[6ril]

I should mention that I'm very green at Houdini, so be aware that I'm only trying to help (and learn). Maybe a more advanced user can give you a proper solution.

That being said, here is my solution:

I couldn't make it with the polyframe node to get the normals you need, as with an ellipse, the tangentu normals points toward the center and don't match the building walls.

So I used an "old" method -> sweep node to get some controllable normals

 

here is a hip file showing the method.

hope it helps!

 

pillars_align.hipnc

[CaptainAhoy]

6 hours ago, 6ril said:

I should mention that I'm very green at Houdini, so be aware that I'm only trying to help (and learn). Maybe a more advanced user can give you a proper solution.

That being said, here is my solution:

I couldn't make it with the polyframe node to get the normals you need, as with an ellipse, the tangentu normals points toward the center and don't match the building walls.

So I used an "old" method -> sweep node to get some controllable normals

 

here is a hip file showing the method.

hope it helps!

 

pillars_align.hipnc

This helps tremendously! I will apply the concept you have shown in your and see how it looks

Thankyou so much!!