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Append to polygon in Houdini


Nerox

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I'm a former Maya guy and I'm digging my way true Houdini's polygon modeling workflow. But I got stuck, I'm looking for a 'Append to polygon' or similair tool. The Maya to Houdini page on the Wiki say's the curveSop should do somthing similair but I really can't get the clew.

Any suggestions?

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I guess what they mean is you can use the curve sop to build a new polygon from scratch. You can then add it to your existing model using a merge sop.

Also look at polyknit sop

And for a more procedural way look at the add sop, if you use add or polyknit sops then no need for a merge

Also worth noting that if you use the curve sop and turn on snaping and in the snap options turn on "snap consolidate" then the curve sop will get setup with a reference to any points you snap to. This means if the original changes shape the snap will auto update itself.

Edited by sibarrick
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I guess what they mean is you can use the curve sop to build a new polygon from scratch. You can then add it to your existing model using a merge sop.

Also look at polyknit sop

And for a more procedural way look at the add sop, if you use add or polyknit sops then no need for a merge

Also worth noting that if you use the curve sop and turn on snaping and in the snap options turn on "snap consolidate" then the curve sop will get setup with a reference to any points you snap to. This means if the original changes shape the snap will auto update itself.

Although it took me a little wile to get the clew and the snapping to work, but it does work great.

Finding my way around in Houdini takes a lot of energie, now and then. Due to the totally different approch and the, for a former Maya guy, node names that doesn't make any sense (at first sight). But like someone mentioned earlyer in a modeling threat: It al makes sense after a explanation or 2 :P.

I would like to: Create a polygon

so you start looking for: a create polygon tool

you end up with: add Sop or Curve Sop

Yea right ;) , (of cource, surved with a nice sarcastic flavour)

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Although it took me a little wile to get the clew and the snapping to work, but it does work great.

Finding my way around in Houdini takes a lot of energie, now and then. Due to the totally different approch and the, for a former Maya guy, node names that doesn't make any sense (at first sight). But like someone mentioned earlyer in a modeling threat: It al makes sense after a explanation or 2 :P.

I would like to: Create a polygon

so you start looking for: a create polygon tool

you end up with: add Sop or Curve Sop

Yea right ;) , (of cource, surved with a nice sarcastic flavour)

There is no easy tool to just append polygons by, say, selecting an edge and creating a new point (and face). The closest tool is probably to select an edge and PolyExtrude the edge, I think. Not ideal, but may work for your purposes.

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There is no easy tool to just append polygons by, say, selecting an edge and creating a new point (and face). The closest tool is probably to select an edge and PolyExtrude the edge, I think. Not ideal, but may work for your purposes.

Why isn't already it create by someone? I can't imagine I'm the first person in the planet wondering why the is no 'append to polygon tool' or something similar available in Houdini.

It can't be to hard, can it. I mean, 'using my farmers instinct' (a dutch saying) I would say using the extrude tool, little bit of vex and there you go. (Sound very easy but it probably isn't. else I would do it right away ;-) )

Theoretically you need to select an source edge, an target edge, extrude the one to the other, merge it and you're done. Of cource one would like to follow an path based on a curve that goes straight or interpolated, using multiple segments. (Starts to look like a bridge option;-) ).

Any way like Sibarrick mentioned, the curve Sop, add Sop or the polyKnit Sop does the job but it's more like a solution/work around than a tool.

Edited by Nerox
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There is no easy tool to just append polygons by, say, selecting an edge and creating a new point (and face). The closest tool is probably to select an edge and PolyExtrude the edge, I think. Not ideal, but may work for your purposes.

why isn't already it create by someone? I can't imagine I'm the first person in the planet wondering why the is no 'append to polygon tool' or something similar available in Houdini.

It can't be to hard, can it. I mean, 'using my farmers instinct' (a dutch saying) I would say using the extrude tool, little bit of vex and there you go. (Sound very easy but it probably isn't. else I would do it right away ;-) )

Theoretically you need to select an source edge, an target edge, extrude the one to the other, merge it and you're done. Of cource one would like to follow an path based on a curve that goes straight or interpolated, using multiple segments. (Starts to look like a bridge option;-) ).

Any way like Sibarrick mentioned, the curve Sop, add Sop or the polyKnit Sop does the job but it's more like a solution than a tool.

Oke, for what ever reason I posset it twice. :S

Edited by Nerox
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What I'd like to see is something like the polyknit tool that works without the need for existing points.

The idea being yoy can join onto existing geometry or build new stuff, but more importantly you can build more than one polygon at a time which is the biggest draw back of the curve sop method at the moment.

I've rfe'd it a long time ago, I need to check if it still exists as a request.....

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Indeed, I would say rerequest it ;). Keep spamming them :P.

Of cource you're probably right, but apart from that wouldn't it be nice to have some power tools for really fast modeling within Houdini?

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I'm a former 'Maya guy' and new to Houdini, and I'm very enthusiastic about it. I truly love 3Dbuzz his approach of teaching and I'm working my way true the software.

Well it's based on the opinion that Houdini should be used for visual effects shot only. Which I'm not willing to believe, in my opinion Houdini could and SHOULD be used for everything that comes to 3D ;-).

I'm just figuring out what the posibilities are and if it fits my needs, in this case according to modeling. For instance can I do some serious box modeling without being slowed down due to its procedural approach.

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why isn't already it create by someone? I can't imagine I'm the first person in the planet wondering why the is no 'append to polygon tool' or something similar available in Houdini.

Yes; I think that it would need to created by SESI due to the quite specific level of viewport interaction that you'd desire for such a tool. Naturally an aspiring HDK or VEX or HDA setup could possibly provide a solution but I doubt it'd be at the interactive level that such an operation really demands.

Simon Barrick has created many an awesome modeling tool to supplement the Houdini toolset, but unfortunately there are parts of the API hidden to us that'd allow him to make a truly interactive tool. We're talking about a fundamental base tool that shouldn't be a 3rd party solution, IMHO.

However -don't let that stop you from making your own tools! :)

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Yes; I think that it would need to created by SESI due to the quite specific level of viewport interaction that you'd desire for such a tool. Naturally an aspiring HDK or VEX or HDA setup could possibly provide a solution but I doubt it'd be at the interactive level that such an operation really demands.

Simon Barrick has created many an awesome modeling tool to supplement the Houdini toolset, but unfortunately there are parts of the API hidden to us that'd allow him to make a truly interactive tool. We're talking about a fundamental base tool that shouldn't be a 3rd party solution, IMHO.

However -don't let that stop you from making your own tools! :)

What is Sesi? I've Googled on it, but could find a proper explanation.

I guess it's something about an coding language but it could also be some sort of development group or anything in between.

Any way, I'll be out till Sunday for a little vacation in Groningen (most northern part of the Netherlands) due to a motorcross boot camp. If I'll get back 'a life' probably every single muscle in my body will hurt ;-). (Due to training, hopefully there won't be any crashes involved).

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hmm, does that signal market weakness for ~$100 modeling tools?

I guess Silo appears to be cheap but they could of have taken a higher price to begin with because it is a damn fine modeling app. Now they have raised it a little bit and they deserve it. I have a Silo license but I never use it because at work I have the Nex http://draster.com/ plugin to Maya which fulfill my daily modeling needs.

It would be great to have a plug-in or something that extended the modeling tools in Houdini though.

What

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