Clip surface node

Removes or groups geometry on one side of a plane, or creases geometry along a plane.

All Parameters Example files

See also: Cookie, Poly Split, Edge Divide, Surfsect 2 more , Break, Shatter

When Keep is not “All primitives”, this operator attempts to clip all input primitives above or below the plane. If clipping would destroy the primitive’s structure (polygons, particle systems), the primitive is simply deleted.

You can use this operator as a modeling tool, or to manually clip polygons outside the field of view to reduce scene complexity.

Note

The sense of the Distance parameter changed in Houdini 5. You may need to negate the value in older hip files.

Using Clip

  1. Select the object you want to to clip.

  2. Click the Clip tool on the Polygon tab.

  3. Specify the plane in which you would like the object to be clipped by moving the clip handle or clicking on the handle and choosing an axis in the align handle menu.

    This tool automatically clips half of the object. Moving the clip handle allows you to change how much of the object gets clipped.

Parameters

Group

Subset of the input geometry to clip.

Keep

Primitives above the plane

Keep the geometry on the positive side of the plane, delete geometry on the other side.

Primitives below the plane

Keep the geometry on the negative side of the plane, delete geometry on the other side.

Primitives above the plane

Cut new edges into the input geometry along the plane, but do not delete geometry.

Origin

Origin of the clipping plane.

Distance

Distance to translate the clipping plane along its normal.

Direction

Normal vector of the clipping plane.

Create Groups

Generates groups for clipped geometry.

Above Plane

Name of group above the clipping plane.

Below Plane

Name of group below the clipping plane.

Example files

ClipParticle

$HFS/houdini/help/examples/nodes/sop/clip/ClipParticle.cmd

Load | Launch

This is a very basic example of how the Clip SOP can be used to control particle flow by cutting it with an infinite plane.

Play animation to see the effects.

ClipVariations

$HFS/houdini/help/examples/nodes/sop/clip/ClipVariations.cmd

Load | Launch

This network compares the various ways in which the Clip SOP can be used with geometry. Depending on what parts of the clipped geometry we want to keep, different effects are achievable.

The Clip SOP can also be used as a grouping tool by specify group boundaries with clip planes.

Clip planes can be animated. Play the animation to view the results.

Usages in other examples

Example name Example for
ParticleExamples

Particle surface node

Load | Launch

Hills

Smooth surface node

Load | Launch