Houdini 21.0 Nodes Copernicus nodes

Heat Distort by Layer Copernicus node

Distorts the input layer using another layer to simulate heat around fire and other mirage effects.

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Since 21.0

This node distorts the incoming layer using a mono layer (noise input) and an optional direction map (dir input). The node calculates the distortion’s direction based on the noise input when you don’t wire in a dir input.

Use multiple of these nodes to build more complex heat haze effects, such as the Heat Distort COP.

Tip

The Heat Distort COP is a higher-level node that requires less setup as it has built-in noises you can control.

Parameters

Signature

The layer type that the source accepts.

See Signatures for more information.

Mask

The amount of the new value to mix in with the original value. Higher values mix in more of the new value. Lower values mix in less of the new value.

The default value is 1, which means this node uses only the new value. See Mask for more information.

Distortion

Scale

The overall strength of distortion.

Angle

The angle of distortion. A value of 0 corresponds to the positive X direction in image space.

Accurate Distortion

When off, a single step is taken for each pixel to figure out the source location. Although this is fast, it produces inaccurate results when the directions or scales vary. Turning on this parameter uses a more accurate algorithm to trace curved trajectories. The provided value controls the tracing quality. More pixels per step allows the node to take larger steps (this runs faster, but may miss intermediate variations in the distortion directions).

Streak Blur

Combines the pixel values along the direction of distortion by averaging the samples together. This smears the image along the distortion direction.

Scale by Timestep

Adjusts the distortion’s overall strength by the current timestep. The timestep is usually 1/$FPS, but in a sub-stepped simulation it represents the current step size.

Blur Source

Blur Source

Blurs the source input relative to the strength of distortion. This increases how realistic the heat haze effect is.

Blur Size

The size of the source blur effect’s radius in image space. You can turn on the Per-Component Controls button to adjust this further using the Scale parameter.

Scale

When the Per-Component Controls button is on, this is the per-axis scaling of the blur size.

Blur Noise

Blur Noise

Blurs the noise input before it’s used to generate the direction map when no dir input is wired in.

Blur Size

The size of the noise blur effect’s radius in image space. You can turn on the Per-Component Controls button to adjust this further using the Scale parameter.

Scale

When the Per-Component Controls button is on, this is the per-axis scaling of the blur size.

Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic Aberration

Distorts the RGB channels of the image separately with different amounts. This creates colorization along the distortion unique to the chromatic aberration effect.

Scale

The amount (in image space) to scale all three channels.

Red

The amount (in image space) to scale the red channel. Higher values increase the offset between the channels, making the red channel expand outwards and become more apparent.

Green

The amount (in image space) to scale the green channel. Higher values increase the offset between the channels, making the green channel expand outwards and become more apparent.

Blue

The amount (in image space) to scale the blue channel. Higher values increase the offset between the channels, making the blue channel expand outwards and become more apparent.

Inputs

source

The original layer to distort.

noise

The noise to control the distortion.

effect

An optional per-pixel scaling amount of the the distortion.

dir

An optional per-pixel direction along which to distort. When not wired in, the node calculates the direction from the noise input.

mask

An optional per-pixel mask amount that’s scaled by the Mask parameter.

Outputs

distort

The distorted layer.

See also

Copernicus nodes