Houdini 22.0 Nodes Geometry nodes

Tissue Solidify Otis geometry node

Solidifies an input surface or shell into a volumetric tissue structure composed of tetrahedra, ready for simulation with Otis Solver SOP.

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Since 21.0

This node prepares anatomical geometry for soft tissue simulation by generating a tetrahedralized volume from an exterior surface mesh, optionally using interior muscle and bone geometry for structural context. The result is a layered soft-tissue representation made of two tetrahedral components: the Shell (fat layer) and the Core (deeper soft-tissue or fascia). These are suitable for direct use in simulation pipelines driven by Otis Solver SOP.

Depending on the selected Method the node can create geometry suitable for combined muscle and tissue simulation or focus solely on the fascia suitable for holding muscles together. The solidification process follows a structured multi-stage pipeline:

See Undersatnding how simulating geometry works for more information.

Muscle and tissue layers when simulating geometry
Muscle and tissue layers shown in viewport

Exterior Remesh

The outer surface is optionally remeshed for improved triangle quality, resolution, and gradation. This stage uses the controls under the Exterior Remesh folder to determine triangle sizes and smoothing behavior.

Inner Surface

An interior surface is generated by shrink-wrapping the exterior around nearby interior structures such as bones and muscles. This forms the boundary for the Core region and provides the surface triangles used for colliding against interior structures.

Thick Shell Surface

A closed triangulated mesh is constructed between the exterior and the shrinkwrapped inner surface. This mesh defines the tissue “shell” or fat layer. If the Shell thickness is less than the Minimum Thickness in any region, then the exterior surface is pushed out to compensate, hence the term “Thick”.

Note

In Fascia mode, this stage is skipped because only the inner region is needed.

Tetrahedralization

The relevant meshes are converted into tetrahedral volumes. The specifics depend on the selected Method.

Differences between Fascia and Tissue layers setup

Fascia Mode

Only the shrinkwrapped Inner Surface is tetrahedralized.

  • In Fascia mode, this results in a single solid core. The core’s surface triangles are reversed (resulting in inward-facing normals) to support proper collisions against internal structures like muscle and bone.

Fused Shell and Core / Separated Shell and Core Modes

Both the Inner Surface and the space between inner and outer surfaces (the Thick Shell Surface) are tetrahedralized.

  • The volume inside the Inner Surface becomes the Tissue Core Layer, representing deep connective tissue.

  • The volume inside the Thick Shell Surface becomes the Tissue Shell Layer, representing fat and skin.

Additionally, the triangulated surface of the Thick Shell Surface is retained in the output geometry. This layer is essential for detecting and resolving collisions in simulations handled by Otis Solver SOP.

Tip

Use the Visualization parameter to preview key stages of the solidification pipeline, including remeshing, shrinkwrapping, and tetrahedral layout.

Parameters

Group

Specifies the subset of the input geometry to solidify.

Group Type

Specifies the type of elements to include from the group.

Guess from Group

Automatically infers the group type.

Breakpoints

Treats group as breakpoints.

Edges

Uses edge groups.

Points

Uses point groups.

Primitives

Uses primitive groups.

Keep Single Biggest Piece

When on, keeps only the largest connected component of the input geometry. Useful for cleaning up unwanted floating geometry.

Visualization

Choose which stage of the solidification process to visualize in the viewport.

Exterior Remesh

Displays the remeshed outer surface.

Inner Surface

Displays the wrapped inner core surface.

Thick Shell Surface

Displays the generated triangles for the shell layer before tetrahedralization.

Core Tetrahedra

Displays the core’s tetrahedra only.

Shell Tetrahedra

Displays outer shell layer’s tetrahedra only.

Tiny Tetrahedra

Displays any tetrahedra that have a very small volume, which the solver could struggle with. Because they are so small, you might want to turn on point display in your viewport to make them easier to spot. If you don’t have a warning about Tiny Tets then there will be nothing to see.

Show Blurring on Exterior Remesh

Displays the Blur applied to the Exterior Remesh surface, before it is shrink wrapped to the muscles and bones to form the Inner Surface.

Method

Selects the construction approach for the tissue geometry.

Fused Shell and Core

Creates a continuous tetrahedral structure containing both outer shell and inner core layers fused together, namely, points at the boundary between the two layers are shared.

Separated Shell and Core (Sliding)

Generates separate tetrahedral meshes for shell and core. This is only required if you want your Shell to slide over your Core.

Fascia

Only generates the tetrahedral core. No outer shell tissue layer is created. Surface triangles are reversed with normals pointing inward.

Tip

Use this to hold muscles together and close to bone geometry when you don’t want to run a full tissue sim using Fused Shell and Core or Separated Shell and Core.

Note

In H21 there was a fourth menu option called Core Only. This was never part of a supported Otis workflow, so has been removed since H22 to reduce confusion. In the unlikely event that you have a file with a custom setup that made use of this option, opening that file in a newer Houdini version will result in a Load Warning with the text Parameter value coreonly in method is invalid. Defaulting to 0. If you want to restore Core Only functionality, set the method to Fascia and then place a Reverse SOP after your Tissue Solidify Otis SOP, with the Source Group set to tissue_core_surface.

Exterior Remesh

Smooth Group Boundary

Smooths the boundaries of the Group to allow for less jagged boundary edges on the exterior surface. This can help with creating a more stable mesh for the solver by ensuring tetrahedra don’t get too small.

Smoothing Iterations

The number of times to run the Smooth Group Boundary. The higher resolution the input skin, the higher the value might need to be before each boundary of the group converges on an edge loop. Once this happens, increasing the value further will have no additional effect.

Remesh Exterior Surface

Allows remeshing of the outer surface prior to tetrahedralization. Note that in the Shell and Core modes, triangle size is also affected by the parameters in the Shell Volume folder, particularly those related to outer layer thickness. Remeshing is strongly recommended in those modes to ensure best tetrahedralization quality.

Iterations

Number of remeshing passes. More iterations smooth and distribute edge lengths more consistently.

Min Size

Minimum target triangle size in the remeshed output.

Max Size

Maximum target triangle size in the remeshed output.

Relative Density

Multiplier for triangle size relative to the original mesh resolution. Controls global remeshing density.

Gradation

Controls how gradually triangle sizes are allowed to vary. Lower values produce more uniform remeshing.

Visualize Exterior Remesh

Shows the remeshed surface directly in the viewport.

Inner Surface

Blur

Applies blurring to selected regions of the exterior surface before computing the shrink-wrapped inner surface. This is useful for removing narrow or delicate features like ears or small tentacles that don’t have corresponding interior geometry.

Note

A blur mask attribute is required. Blurring the entire skin mesh is not recommended, as it may cause intersections with interior muscles or bones, leading to issues during shrink wrapping.

Blur Mask

Specifies the name of the mask attribute that defines which regions of the mesh should be blurred. Areas with non-zero mask values will be affected.

Blur Iterations

Sets the number of iterations used for the blur operation. Higher values result in stronger smoothing.

Tip

To fully eliminate appendages like ears, a large number of iterations (hundreds or even thousands) may be required.

Shrink Wrap Iterations

Number of iterations to shrink the exterior surface onto the muscles and bones to form the inner/core surface. Higher values may be needed when fitting a character that has areas of thick fat.

Slope Angle Limit

Prevents the shrink-wrap surface from creeping into gaps between muscles and bones. Lower values produce more of a tight shrinkwrap over these gaps. Fitting too closely to gaps can produce some undesirable effects when tissue slides over muscles & bones.

Smoothing

Applies smoothing to the inner surface after each shrink-wrap iteration.

Final Detangle

When on, performs a final detangling pass on the shrink-wrapped core surface to prevent self-intersections or overlaps.

Visualize Inner Surface

Displays the wrapped inner core surface in the viewport.

Shell Volume

Minimum Thickness

Specifies the minimum allowed thickness for the shell volume between outer and inner surfaces. Prevents overly thin or collapsed tetrahedra.

Shell Tet Squash Ratio

Controls the aspect ratio tolerance for tetrahedra in the shell layer. Values closer to 1 produce more uniform tetrahedra; lower values allow for flatter elements.

Visualize Thick Shell Surface

Displays the generated triangles for the shell layer before tetrahedralization. Any offsets to ensure Minimum Thickness are applied.

See also

Geometry nodes