Organic Modeling

[Rival Consoles]

Hello masters and apprentices,

 

I've been wondering if there is a way to create some complex organic modeling in Houdini. Something similar to the images below. Any idea on how to start this but not on a sphere or cube?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[jonmoore]

Head on over to Entagma. They've got a bunch of tutorials that should provide inspiration for further explorations into organic form finding. I've deep linked to a section of their tutorial selection that best match what you're looking for.

Entagma Tutorials

[Rival Consoles]

Hi Jon,

 

Thanks for sharing the info. I've checked the entagma content for quite a while, they have great tuts over there but i was wondering if there are more approaches out there to this type of modeling. 

[f1480187]

1. Make noisy Iso Surface (like, noise($X * 5, $Y * 5, $Z * 5)). Deform with Soft Radius of Edit node or by low-frequency noise. Clip and mirror.
2, 4. Find any reaction diffusion implementation, apply it to a sphere. Rise points by resulting value.
3. Duplicate grids, apply noise, clip and extrude.

[Rival Consoles]

That is very interesting! Thanks for the start, will try it and see how it goes.

[jonmoore]

In truth there are many ways of approaching generative design challenges but Houdini has two fundamental toolsets that are peerless in the realm of DCC's and algorithmic design options such as Rhino's Grasshopper:

- The multi-threaded nature of VEX in combination with the Solver SOP.

- Houdini's VDB toolset.

Put these two together and Houdini is a generative design powerhouse. The excellent approach laid out by @f1480187 is a variation on the kinds of approaches shared by the Entagma boys/girls. If you've been following them for quite a while you need to start looking at the tutorials as departure points for your own explorations. They've shared many of the core generative design techniques you can use in Houdini over the last 12 months or so; the trick for you as an artist is to decide how you're going to combine and build on those techniques. They're not sharing magic formulas as such but more a way of approaching your design goals. Two videos they didn't share on Entagma that are worth watching, go through the way they break down algorithms from academic papers into a structure (using both VEX and nodes) that can achieve their goals in Houdini (the were shared by SideFX on Vimeo and YouTube, so you might have already seen them, even so they're worth watching again).

Algorithmic Design in Houdini

Houdini Day at FMX 2017 - Generative Art

I believe the core of what Entagma are sharing is an attitude and approach that artists can take to solving their own design challenges. For me, that's the true value of Entagma. 

[Rival Consoles]

I absolutely agree with you and that is where i am at. The multi-thread nature + VEX + VDB approach on its own is already a ridiculously powerful way to create generative designs and the guys at Entagma are definitely expanding the way Houdini can be utilized. I watched those videos that you mentioned many times and both are really good materials. Manuel and Moritz are doing a much better job than a lot of those paid tutorial archive websites out there.

For someone with extense 3D background, Houdini can still present a steep learning curve but it definitely worth it and i'm enjoying every second of it while learning. I'll keep cracking my head on the beautiful solution presented by f1480187 and perhaps post something in here.

 

[caskal]

On 22/8/2017 at 8:38 PM, f1480187 said:

1. Make noisy Iso Surface (like, noise($X * 5, $Y * 5, $Z * 5)). Deform with Soft Radius of Edit node or by low-frequency noise. Clip and mirror.
2, 4. Find any reaction diffusion implementation, apply it to a sphere. Rise points by resulting value.
3. Duplicate grids, apply noise, clip and extrude.

Always nice to read you sensei.

[Rival Consoles]

On 8/22/2017 at 4:38 PM, f1480187 said:

1. Make noisy Iso Surface (like, noise($X * 5, $Y * 5, $Z * 5)). Deform with Soft Radius of Edit node or by low-frequency noise. Clip and mirror.
2, 4. Find any reaction diffusion implementation, apply it to a sphere. Rise points by resulting value.
3. Duplicate grids, apply noise, clip and extrude.

This seems to be the path to get it right f1480187. Thank you! However, not there yet....the soft radius of the edit node makes the surface intersect a lot but the iso surface node is very interesting. I could find a diffusion reaction implementation but when attached to the clipped sphere, the surface gets micro-chopped and looses all the resolution.

Also, what do you mean when you say "rise points by resulting value"? Another thing, duplicate grids, clip and extrude?

So many questions....i've been trying to dissect your instructions but so far could not go too far.  f1480187 would you know where i can find more info about iso surface? i tried the help docs but there is not much except the explanation that this node uses implicit functions and can help visualize grade 12 mathwork.

[f1480187]

Take a look.

organic_stuff.hipnc

[Rival Consoles]

f1480187

this is brilliant!! thank you for the guidance and for sharing, definitely a sharp solution for the question.

I heard that the OpenCL implementation makes things really interesting in Houdini. The coding part in the hip file looks daunting but i will dive in it, have to get it!

Cheers!

[f1480187]

I picked it from some old scene created before OpenCL SOP was introduced in H16. It may be unnecessary complicated for learning and you may try to subnet the whole thing or use different implementation. It makes RD faster by an order of magnitude. It is slow to play in SOPs due to DOP importing step, therefore diving into DopNet or skipping to the end of some frame range will cook geometry faster. There is also VEX origin (from "VEX in Houdini" course) available inside DopNet, you may compare speeds.

You may find it more useful to understand wrangles placed after RD.

Also, I didn't use Iso Surface with a 3D-noise function, and isosurfaced (converted to geometry, in Houdini terms) a volume instead. It is almost the same thing. You can use VOPs and try different noises and other operations over density.

Edited September 2, 2017 by f1480187

[Rival Consoles]

Yes, agree. It is kinda complicated at first...with my little knowledge in python i can understand some parts of the coding but far from comprehend the whole combined script. However, as you mentioned, wiring the whole thing up can be much easier to understand what is happening. I will follow your advice.

Regarding the Houdini terms, noted. The letter "d" in the end makes a big difference (isosurface vs isosurfaced)

Again, thank you so much for all the info and willingness to share your knowledge. It is been pure joy exploring 3D in Houdini, amazing piece of software.