Video courtesy of John Mariella.
  • New Franken Muscle workflows allows you to assign multiple muscle_id within a single muscle geometry.

  • Franken Muscle SOP assigns multiple muscle_id identities within a single muscle geometry.

    Video courtesy of John Mariella.
  • Franken Muscle Paint SOP allows you to interactively paint masks for Muscle IDs.

    Video courtesy of John Mariella.
  • Muscle Merge SOP merges muscle geometry from its inputs.

  • Convert Tets SOP adds an option to keep its input primitive which provides a simple way to attach skin to an existing tetrahedral mesh.

  • The Muscle Constraint Properties Vellum SOP supports Muscle to Muscle sliding with the Slide Rate and Relative Slide Rate parameters.

  • Improvements to the Muscle Constraint Properties Vellum SOP Visualizer button bar to sync with the parameters tab folders.

  • Muscle Constraint Properties Vellum SOP now has an option in the Muscles to Muscles candidates to restrict which muscles can connect to a list of specified muscles.

  • The Muscle Flex SOP allows the Activation Ratio values to be greater than 1.0. Previously, the ratio would only react to muscle tension lines getting shorter to trigger muscle firing. You can now specify a value such as 1.5, and the corresponding muscles will reach full muscle tension when the line stretches to 1.5 times its rest length.

  • The Muscle Paint SOP has new paintable attributes option for Muscle to Muscle Slide Rate constraint.

  • Improvements to the Tissue/Skin sliding MaxDistance Constraint which helps eliminate Tentpole artifacts.

  • The Vellum Solver now uses a coupled solve for Tetrahedral Stretch constraints with Volume Preservation enabled, in which both constraints are solved simultaneously, rather than sequentially as in previous versions. The resulting solve is faster, preserves volume better, and has fewer artifacts at extreme deformations. This improves the look of most muscle simulations.

What’s new in Houdini 20