Houdini 20.0 Nodes Dynamics nodes

Apply Relationship dynamics node

Creates relationships between simulation objects.

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The Apply Relationship DOP creates one or more relationships between a group of objects. Relationships control the way that objects interact with each other, as well as controlling the order in which objects are solved in the simulation. Some examples of relationships are constraints, collisions, smoke sources, and simple groups.

In a relationship, there are two sets of objects - the affector objects and the affected objects. The same object or objects can be in both groups, in which case there are mutually affecting objects in the relationship. When solving objects, any object that is an affector of another object will be solved before the affected object. The exception to this is mutually affecting objects, which must be solved at the same time.

It it also possible to set up mutually affecting relationships indirectly by creating circular relationships between groups of objects. You can inspect the entire set of affector relationships in a simulation by looking at the Affector Matrix in the Geometry Spreadsheet for the simulation.

Each relationship type node (Constraint and Collision Relationship, for example) is capable of creating a single relationship between two groups of objects. The Apply Relationship node augments these capabilities by allowing a large number of relationships to be created using a small number of nodes and stamping.

This node’s parameters are divided into two parts. The first part describes the number of relationships that will be created, and the sets of objects that will be the affector and affected objects. The second part defines the stamp variables that can be used by the attached relationship nodes to customize each relationship.

Relationships must each be given a unique name which identifies them. This name can be used to access relationship information using all the same methods that are used to access data on simulation objects.

Tip

Create Relationships should be set to Number of Relationships Per Object Pair when building mutual constraints between two DOPs. This is necessary for the constraint to find the goal objects. You should also enable Make All Objects Mutual Affectors to avoid the one-way affector relationships.

Parameters

Create Relationships

Controls the primary mode of operation for creating relationships.

Number of Relationships

Specifies an exact number of relationships which will be created. The Affector Objects and Affected Objects fields are evaluated once per relationship.

Number of Relationships Per Affected Object

Specifies that a number of relationships will be created for each individual object listed in the Affected Object parameter. The Affector Objects parameter will be re-evaluated for each Affected object.

Number of Relationships Per Affector Object

Specifies that a number of relationships will be created for each individual object listed in the Affector Object parameter. The Affected Objects parameter will be re-evaluated for each Affector object.

Number of Relationships Per Object Pair

Specifies that a number of relationships will be created for each pair of affector and affected objects. The Affector Objects and Affected Objects parameters will be evaluated once to obtain the list of objects that will be paired up

Affected Objects

These objects are the affected objects in the created relationships. This parameter will be re-evaluated for each relationship if the Create Relationships parameter is set to Number of Relationships Per Affector Object, or Number of Relationships. Otherwise it is evaluated once.

Affector Objects

These objects are the affector objects in the created relationships. This parameter will be re-evaluated for each relationship if the Create Relationships parameter is set to Number of Relationships Per Affected Object, or Number of Relationships. Otherwise it is evaluated once.

Number of Relationships

The number of relationships created per affector object, per affected object, per object pair, or an absolute number of relationships, depending on the Create Relationships parameter value. In all but the Number of Relationships setting, this parameter is re-evaluated for each affector, affected, or pair of objects.

Relationship Name

A unique name that will identify the relationship. This parameter is re-evaluated for every relationship created by this node. If this parameter evaluates to the name of a relationship that already exists (whether or not the relationship was created by this node) it will replace that existing relationship.

Unique Relationship Name

Turning this parameter on ensures that the name generated by the Relationship Name parameter is unique, thus avoiding any chance of overwriting existing relationships. It can result in longer, harder to use relationship names.

Make All Objects Mutual Affectors

Turning on this parameter causes each relationship created by this node to put all affected and affector objects into both the affector and affected object list of the relationship. This parameter does not affect the number of relationships created by this node.

Activation

If this parameter is zero, no relationships are created between the input objects.

This parameter is evaluated before creating each relationship, and so can be used to turn off certain relationships.

Number of Variables

Sets the number of global parameters that will be set for each relationship that is created.

These global parameters are accessible from the input relationship nodes using the stamp expression function.

Variable # Name

The name for this variable. This is the value that must be passed as the second argument to the stamp expression function to access this variable.

Variable Evaluation

Controls the way in which this variable is evaluated.

Evaluate For Each Copy

The value for this variable is calculated for each relationship. This option provides the most flexibility in terms of generating the global parameter values, but is the most time consuming if large numbers of copies are involved.

Evaluate Once

The value for this variable is calculated each time the REL local variable is set to zero. This depends on the Create Relationship parameter. This approach will not result in each relationship being customized, but provides an easy way to pass information from this node up to the input data nodes.

Evaluate Once, One Token Per Copy

The parameter describing this variable is evaluated each time the REL variable is set to zero, which depends on the Create Relationship parameter.

In this mode, the String Value is evaluated regardless of the Variable Type parameter. Then for each relationship, the corresponding token within the evaluated string is used to set the global parameter value. The token is treated as a float or string value, depending on the Variable Type parameter. So for example, suppose the Variable Type is Float, the String Value is “0 1 2 3”, and the Number of Relationships is 6. The global parameter value set for the 6 relationships would be 0, 1, 2, 3, 0, and 1.

Variable Type

Specifies whether the global parameter is a floating point number or a string value.

Float

The global parameter is a floating point number. The value of this global parameter will be accessed using the stamp expression function in the input data node.

String

The global parameter is a string. The value of this global parameter will be accessed using the stamps expression function in the input data node.

Float Value

For a Float Variable Type, when the Variable Evaluation is not Evaluate Once, One Token Per Copy, this parameter controls the value that will be assigned to this global parameter.

String Value

For a String Variable Type, or when the Variable Evaluation is Evaluate Once, One Token Per Copy, this parameter contains the string value or series of numeric or string tokens that will be used to set the value of this global parameter.

Inputs

First

The first input to this node supplies the objects that can be used when defining the relationships.

Subsequent

The remaining inputs to this node define the nature of the relationships that will be created.

Outputs

First

The objects or data input to this node are sent through the single output.

Locals

REL

The current relationship number. This value will range from zero to (NREL-1). It can be used to set stamping variables, or otherwise customize the relationships. This index does not take into account multiple relationship inputs. For that, the INPUT variable can be used.

NREL

The total number of relationships that this node will try to create. This value is equal to the Number of Relationships parameter value. It is re-evaluated for each cycle of relationships, as defined by the Create Relationships parameter.

INPUT

The index of the relationship input being processed.

RELID

This is a simple counter for the number of relationships actually created by this node so far this timestep. Because of changing Activation parameter values and the various Create Relationships methods, this is not something that can be calculated from the other local variable values.

AFFECTEDID

If the Create Relationships style is Per Affected Object or Per Object Pair, this variable will contain the object id of the single affected object for this relationship. Otherwise this value will be -1.

AFFECTORID

If the Create Relationships style is Per Affector Object or Per Object Pair, this variable will contain the object id of the single affector object for this relationship. Otherwise this value will be -1.

ST

The simulation time for which the node is being evaluated.

Depending on the settings of the DOP Network Offset Time and Scale Time parameters, this value may not be equal to the current Houdini time represented by the variable T.

ST is guaranteed to have a value of zero at the start of a simulation, so when testing for the first timestep of a simulation, it is best to use a test like $ST == 0, rather than $T == 0 or $FF == 1.

SF

The simulation frame (or more accurately, the simulation time step number) for which the node is being evaluated.

Depending on the settings of the DOP Network parameters, this value may not be equal to the current Houdini frame number represented by the variable F. Instead, it is equal to the simulation time (ST) divided by the simulation timestep size (TIMESTEP).

TIMESTEP

The size of a simulation timestep. This value is useful for scaling values that are expressed in units per second, but are applied on each timestep.

SFPS

The inverse of the TIMESTEP value. It is the number of timesteps per second of simulation time.

SNOBJ

The number of objects in the simulation. For nodes that create objects such as the Empty Object DOP, SNOBJ increases for each object that is evaluated.

A good way to guarantee unique object names is to use an expression like object_$SNOBJ.

NOBJ

The number of objects that are evaluated by the current node during this timestep. This value is often different from SNOBJ, as many nodes do not process all the objects in a simulation.

NOBJ may return 0 if the node does not process each object sequentially (such as the Group DOP).

OBJ

The index of the specific object being processed by the node. This value always runs from zero to NOBJ-1 in a given timestep. It does not identify the current object within the simulation like OBJID or OBJNAME; it only identifies the object’s position in the current order of processing.

This value is useful for generating a random number for each object, or simply splitting the objects into two or more groups to be processed in different ways. This value is -1 if the node does not process objects sequentially (such as the Group DOP).

OBJID

The unique identifier for the object being processed. Every object is assigned an integer value that is unique among all objects in the simulation for all time. Even if an object is deleted, its identifier is never reused. This is very useful in situations where each object needs to be treated differently, for example, to produce a unique random number for each object.

This value is also the best way to look up information on an object using the dopfield expression function.

OBJID is -1 if the node does not process objects sequentially (such as the Group DOP).

ALLOBJIDS

This string contains a space-separated list of the unique object identifiers for every object being processed by the current node.

ALLOBJNAMES

This string contains a space-separated list of the names of every object being processed by the current node.

OBJCT

The simulation time (see variable ST) at which the current object was created.

To check if an object was created on the current timestep, the expression $ST == $OBJCT should always be used.

This value is zero if the node does not process objects sequentially (such as the Group DOP).

OBJCF

The simulation frame (see variable SF) at which the current object was created. It is equivalent to using the dopsttoframe expression on the OBJCT variable.

This value is zero if the node does not process objects sequentially (such as the Group DOP).

OBJNAME

A string value containing the name of the object being processed.

Object names are not guaranteed to be unique within a simulation. However, if you name your objects carefully so that they are unique, the object name can be a much easier way to identify an object than the unique object identifier, OBJID.

The object name can also be used to treat a number of similar objects (with the same name) as a virtual group. If there are 20 objects named “myobject”, specifying strcmp($OBJNAME, "myobject") == 0 in the activation field of a DOP will cause that DOP to operate on only those 20 objects.

This value is the empty string if the node does not process objects sequentially (such as the Group DOP).

DOPNET

A string value containing the full path of the current DOP network. This value is most useful in DOP subnet digital assets where you want to know the path to the DOP network that contains the node.

Note

Most dynamics nodes have local variables with the same names as the node’s parameters. For example, in a Position DOP, you could write the expression:

$tx + 0.1

…to make the object move 0.1 units along the X axis at each timestep.

Examples

ApplyRelationship Example for Apply Relationship dynamics node

This example shows how you can use the Apply Relationship DOP to add pin constraints to wire objects.

BridgeCollapse Example for Apply Relationship dynamics node

This example shows how to use the Apply Relationship DOP to propagate constraints automatically and create an RBD simulation of a collapsing bridge.

ConstrainedTeapots Example for Apply Relationship dynamics node

This example demonstrates how the Apply Relationship DOP can be used to create multiple constraints with the RBD Pin Constraint node.

MutualConstraints Example for Apply Relationship dynamics node

This example demonstrates how to build mutual constraints between two DOP objects using the Apply Relationship node.

Dynamics nodes