Point orientation for a volume filled deforming moving object

[Guna]

Hi all,

I am trying to create a school of fish that has to be in a definite shape. So i created an object and filled with points. The points don't change as the object move. The object also deforms. Now, I am stuck while setting up the orientation for the points as the object turns and bends. Don't know how to set it right. Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance!Please find the attached hip file.

Fish-Swarm-v01.hip

Initial-volume.abc

[StepbyStepVFX]

Have you tried the "Trail SOP", setup on calculate velocity ? If the ID of your points don't change over time, that will give you speed, that you can normalize if needed and use to orien tyour points and instance your objects (up vector won't change I guess).

To be sure your points will keep the same ID over time if your object deform, maybe try the "pointdeform SOP" : you create a first frame with your points scattered from your object, and then use your object as a lattice reference together with its deforming version to drive all your scattered points, and then you can use the trail sop...

Hope that helps

[Guna]

Thanks for the reply.i haven't tried trail sop yet.your idea sounds good. will give it a try. Thank you

[vicvvsh]

Maybe something like that?

Fish-Swarm-v01_fix_normals.hipnc

[Guna]

Thank you Victor. It worked!