Box
surface node
Creates a cube or six-sided rectangular box.
See also: Bound, Lattice, Spring
If you connect geometry to the Box SOP’s input, it will create a bounding box around the input geometry (this duplicates the functionality of the Bound node). You can also use this feature to create a cage for use with the Lattice node.
Placing a Box in the viewer
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Place the box anywhere in the scene |
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Place the box at the origin |
The box can be moved once it is placed by either dragging it in the scene view or changing the values in the parameter editor.
Box Handles
There are special handles available at the geometry level for the box object that allow you to stretch and squash it.
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Move to the geometry level by double clicking
the box node in the network editor or by clicking the Jump to Operator button on the operation controls toolbar. -
Drag the handles to squash or stretch the box.
Parameters
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Primitive Type |
Type of geometry to create.
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Connectivity |
Available when Primitive type is not “Polygon”. Controls how to construct the box. The “triangles” and “quads” options are ignored when Primitive type is NURBS or Bezier. The “row” and “column” options create lines (polylines or straight curves, depending on the Primitive type) instead of surfaces.
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Size |
Size of the box along xyz axes. |
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Center |
Position of center of box. |
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Axis Divisions |
Number of divisions along each axis. |
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Axis Orders |
The order of the surface on each axis. |
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Divisions |
Available when Primitive type is “Polygon”. Creates a lattice for use with the Lattice deformer SOP or Spring SOP. Turn on the checkbox to create a lattice, and use the fields to control the number of points in each axis. |
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Enforcement Bars |
Available when Primitive type is “Polygon” and Divisions is on. Places diagonal lines between points in the lattice. This may be useful when you are using the lattice with the Spring SOP. |
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Consolidate Corner Points |
Welds the corner points of the faces of the box. |
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Oriented Bounding Box |
Available when you connect geometry to the node’s input. Orients the bounding box to the axes of the input geometry instead of the world axes. This algorithm is based on points. It will not work with, for example, a primitive sphere. To get the bounding box of a primitive sphere, first convert it to polygons. |
Inputs
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Bounding source |
If you connect geometry to this input, Box will create a bounding box for the input geometry. (Otherwise, it uses the parameters to control the size and position of the box.) Use the Oriented bounding box parameter to orient the bounding box to the input geometry instead of the world axes. |
Example files
Box
$HFS/houdini/help/examples/nodes/sop/box/Box.cmd
The Box SOP is used for more than just creating boxes. It can also envelop existing geometry for specific purposes.
The Box SOP can either create a simple six-sided polygon box, calculate the bounding box size for geometry, or be used in conjunction with the Lattice SOP.
There are two objects within the box.hip file that are examples of this:
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animated_bounding_box
The animated_bounding_box object shows how you can envelope an object and surround it with a simple box, even if it is animated. This can be useful when displaying complicated geometry, in which case you would put the display flag on the box object and the render flag on the complicated geometry.
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box_spring_lattice
This is an example, a Lattice SOP used in conjunction with the Box SOP. The Box SOP is used to envelope some geometry, in this case a sphere. Divisions is checked to create the proper geometry by referencing the number of divisions in the Lattice SOP.
The top points of the box are grouped by a Group POP. The Spring POP uses these points as the Fixed Points from which to create the deformation.
Using the Box SOP in this way allows you to change the incoming geometry (the basic_sphere in this case) and have the box and lattice automatically re-size for you.