Houdini 20.0 Nodes Geometry nodes

Subdivide geometry node

Subdivides polygons into smoother, higher-resolution polygons.

On this page

This node takes an input polygon surface (which can be piped into one or both inputs), and divides each face to create a smoothed polygon surface using a Catmull-Clark subdivision algorithm. It is similar to the Paste op in that it divides up all or part of a surface allowing you to increase areas of local detail (especially useful for avoiding the angular appearance often associated with polygonal models) without adding lots of extra geometry to the entire object. While the topology of the input mesh can be arbitrary, for best results all polygons should be convex and relatively uniform in distribution.

All polygons in the left input which are specified by the “Group” field are used to determine the polygon mesh to subdivide. For polygon edges to be classified as the same edge, they must share the same points. Merely being physically close is not sufficient.

The elements of the right input specified by the “Creases” field are used as creases. Each edge in a crease polygon corresponds to the edge in the polygon mesh which has the same point numbers. Again, point position is irrelevant.

Vertex attributes are supported and preserved, however, instead of being properly subdivided they are merely linearly interpolated.

Using Subdivide

To...Do this

Subdivide a polygonal surface

  1. Select the faces or edges you want to subdivide.

  2. Click the Subdivide tool on the Polygon tab.

  3. In the parameter editor, use the Depth parameter to control the level of smoothness.

    Each level recursively subdivides the original control polygons, so you should avoid high levels (above 3) or you will get extremely complex geometry. Add detail where it is needed (see below) rather than increasing the detail of the entire surface.

Add local detail

  1. Select the faces of the subdivision surface you want to further subdivide.

  2. Click the Subdivide tool on the Polygon tab.

    You can use this technique to add extra levels of detail to various areas and to various depths.

How to

To...Do this

Add local detail

  1. After you create the initial subdivided surface, use the tab menu to select the Subdivide operator again.

  2. Select the faces of the subdivision surface you want to further subdivide, then press Enter to finish the selection.

  3. You can use this technique to add extra levels of detail to various areas and to various depths.

Crease edges interactively

  1. Make sure the polygonal control cage is visible.

  2. In the viewer, use the tab menu to select the Crease operator.

  3. Press 3 for edge selection mode.

  4. Select the edges you want to crease, then press Enter to finish the selection.

  5. In the parameter editor, set the Operation and Crease parameters.

    This adds the crease attribute to the selected edges. The Subdivision node picks up the attribute and uses it to crease the surface.

Crease edges by number

  • Specify faces in the Subdivision node’s Creases parameter and then set the Crease Weight parameter.

Warning

The RenderMan renderer will directly use the Crease attribute applied by the Crease Operation, but it will not be used by the Mantra renderer due to patent issues.

Creases

Creases control the strength of pull of the polygon faces on the subdivision surfaces, much like a magnet drawing the surface towards the reference polygon. They can be applied selectively using the Creases field to specify an input group to use.

Creases work by controlling the strength of the pull of the polygon faces on the subdivision surfaces, like a magnet drawing the surface towards the reference polygon. The figure below shows the result of setting the Crease Weight to 0, 1, 2 reading from left to right. As the weight increases so the pull effect strengthens and the shape approaches the reference polygon.

Crease Weights and Renderman

Crease weight attributes which are added, but not yet Subdivided are preserved when a rib file is generated. They are then used internally by RenderMan to implement subdivision surfaces during the rendering process.

Note

In order to output the crease weights in the rib file, your geo object must have the Render page > Geometry > Polygons as Subdivision Surfaces parameter set.

The Crease Algorithm

If there is a second input:

  • If the Override button is enabled, each edge defined in the second input will have its edge crease weight set to the value of the override.

  • If the vertex attribute creaseweight exists on the second input, each matching edge in the input will have its crease weight set to the maximum of the vertex attributes for any shared edges.

  • If the primitive attribute creaseweight exists on the second input, each polygon in the second input will set matching edges to the appropriate weights.

If there is no second input:

  • If an override is specified, the value of the override is used for all edges in the sub-divided surface.

  • If the vertex attribute creaseweight exists, this attribute will be used to define the crease weights on the edges of the surface.

  • If the primitive attribute creaseweight exists, this attribute will be used to define the crease weights for the subdivision surface.

When defining crease weights on shared edges, the maximum of the weights of the shared edges is used. For example, if two polygons share an edge and the primitive attribute is used, the maximum of the crease weight will be used for the shared edge.

When OpenSubdivision is used for refinement, the following are also considered:

  • If the point attribute cornerweight exists, this attribute will be used to define corner weights on vertices of the surface.

  • If the group subdivision_hole exists, any polygons in that group will be considered holes in the subdivision process. The polygons will contribute to the subdivision, but will not appear in the final surface.

  • If a detail attribute osd_scheme exists, it will override the subdivision algorithm specified on the SOP. When this attribute specifies Loop subdivision, the incoming geometry must be triangulated.

  • If a detail attribute osd_vtxboundaryinterpolation exists, it will override the value of the Point Attributes parameter.

  • If a detail attribute osd_fvarlinearinterpolation exists, it will override the value of the Vertex Attributes parameter.

  • If a detail attribute osd_creasingmethod exists, it will override the value of the Crease Method parameter.

  • If a detail attribute osd_trianglesubdiv exists, it will override the value of the Triangle Subdivision parameter.

Please see the OpenSubdiv documentation for further details.

Closing Cracks

Cracks can be closed by either Pulling or Stitching, so only one of these two options can be chosen at a time from the Surrounding Faces parameter. Bias applies only to Pulling, and is disabled when Stitching is chosen.

A crack is formed by a single edge on the non-subdivided area and multiple edges on the subdivided area. The 'Surrounding Faces' menu determines what will will happen to the single edge on the non-subdivided area, and in more generally, to the polygon containing this edge.

If No Edge Division is chosen and cracks are pulled closed, all the points on the subdivided edges are pulled (i.e. moved) to the closest points on the non-subdivided edges. Bias is disabled, when No Edge Division is specified.

If cracks are pulled with the Divide Edges option, the non-subdivided edge is split into many sections, so that each each point on the non-subdivided edge now corresponds to a new point on the subdivided edge. Then, points on the newly divided edge are joined with the points on the subdivided boundary. A Bias of 1 will place these joined points along the subdivided boundary. A bias of 0 will place them along the non- subdivided boundary (and values between 0 and 1 will place them somewhere in between).

Pulling cracks with the Triangulate option will do exactly the same thing as Divide Edges, except it will also triangulate the non-subdivided polygon. This is desirable because pulling the non-subdivided boundary towards the curved subdivided boundary will likely generate a non-planar polygon, so Triangulate will divide this polygon into smaller (planar) ones. Pulling cracks with a Bias of 1 and triangulating usually produces the nicest results.

The Triangulate option is necessary because the Divide op is not designed to handle (very) non-planar polygons.

The Stitch Cracks Together option, on the other hand, inserts new polygons (triangles) to close up the cracks. When No Edge Division is chosen, Many triangles are created, each having one vertex on one point of the non-subdivided edge.

When Divide Boundary Edges is chosen, the non-subdivided edge is divided, so there are more points available to be used for triangles. The resulting triangles are more regularly shaped (not as long and skinny). The triangulate option will again triangulate the non-subdivided polygon, although this option is less likely to be used because this polygon should remain planar during stitching.

Parameters

Group

Subset to use as a polygonal mesh and subdivide

Creases

Subset (of right input) to use as creases

Algorithm

Choose the algorithm used to perform subdivision.

Houdini Catmull-Clark

Uses Houdini’s native subdivision algorithm.

Mantra Compatible Catmull-Clark

Uses mantra-style subdivision.

OpenSubdiv Catmull-Clark

Uses the Open Subdiv library to perform subdivision.

OpenSubdiv Loop

Uses the Open Subdiv library to perform Loop subdivision (more suitable for models made of triangles).

OpenSubdiv Bilinear

Uses the Open Subdiv library to perform bilinear refinement (with no blending of vertices).

Depth

How many iterations to subdivide, higher numbers give a smoother surface.

Override Crease Weight Attribute

Determine if the crease sharpness should be determined by the primitive or vertex creaseweight attribute or by overridden by this operation.

Crease Weight

If the crease weight is overridden, this is the weight used.

Generate Resulting Creases

If the creases are sharper than the depth, some will still be present in the final geometry. This option determines if they will be present in the resulting geometry.

New Group

Name of the group to place all generated creases into.

Close Cracks

Do Not Close

Don’t close cracks.

Pull Cracks Closed

Move points on boundary of subdivided area in order to close cracks formed during the subdivision.

Stitch Cracks Together

Add polygons to close the cracks caused by subdividing.

Boundary

No Edge Division

Do not divide edges.

Divide Edges

Whether or not to divide edges surrounding subdivided area when pulling or stitching cracks.

Triangulate

Whether or not to triangulate the polygons on the boundary of the cracks.

Bias

Determines which points are moved when pulling cracks closed.

0

Means move points on subdivided area to meet boundary.

1

Means move points on boundary to meet subdivided area.

Recompute Point Normals

Re-evaluates point normals if they exist. If this is not set, the point normals will be interpolated in the same manner as the points.

Smooth Vertex Attributes

If on, vertex attributes will be smoothed in the same manner as the point attributes. However, vertex attributes at seams (places where points meet but the vertex attributes differ) will still be linearly interpolated. If off, the vertex attributes will be linearly interpolated. To match the Mantra subdivision rendering, this should be set to off.

Enforce Consistent Topology

If Pull Cracks Closed or Stitch Cracks Together is enabled, different topology might be generated depending on boundary edges between the subdivided primitives and their non-subdivided neighbors. Turning on this option will ensure that this behavior will always produce consistent topology by disregarding collinear edges.

Linear Creases

If this option is turned on will switch from the standard (RenderMan) style creases to Mantra’s linear creases.

Build Polygon Soups

Creates polygon soup primitives instead of separate polygon primitives.

Treat All Curves as Independent

If you are subdividing polygon curves and this option is enabled, the possibility of sharing points between curves will be ignored. Each polygon will be subdivided as if each vertex has its own point. This is slightly faster, and since the viewport and Mantra make this assumption when rendering polygon curves as subdivision curves, the results will be consistent.

Remove Holes

Remove faces identified as holes by OpenSubdiv. This includes any faces identified in the subdivision_hole group on the input.

Point Attributes

When using OpenSubdiv for refinement, this controls how point attributes (including P) will be interpolated on patch boundaries.

Vertex Attributes

When using OpenSubdiv for refinement, this determines how vertex attributes (Face-Varying) will be interpolated over patches.

Crease Rule

This determines how OpenSubdiv will perform the creasing operations when subdividing.

Triangle Subdivision

When OpenSubdiv does Catmull-Clark refinement, this controls the subdivision rules when there are triangles in the cage.

Examples

SubdivideCrease Example for Subdivide geometry node

This example shows a couple ways that you can keep the creases on the top of a box while subdividing the bottom.

See also

Geometry nodes