Houdini 21.0 Shelf tools

Spreading Fire shelf tool

Creates a fire simulation spreading across the surface of the selected object.

On this page

Overview

This tool sets up a spreading fire simulation from the selection. Rather than building a DOP network, it uses the SOP-level tools to build a simple network to work with sparse pyro.

There are two stages to this simulation. First, the spreading behavior across the selected surface is captured with the help of the Pyro Source Spread SOP. The Pyro Solver SOP then accepts this base spreading as a source and creates the motion and look of spreading fire.

Using Spreading Fire

  1. Click the Spreading Fire tool on the SOP Pyro FX tab. This will place down the network of nodes for the example.

  2. Connect a source object node into source1 node.

  3. Connect a bound object node into hot_region1 node.

Understanding Spreading Fire

  • If you have a Houdini FX License, you can dive inside the solver and edit the subnet with custom DOP forces. Otherwise, you can stay at the SOP level and use the exposed parameters on the node.

  • The hot_region node specifies the starting point of the fire spread, and can be moved to the desired location of the initial spark.

  • The simulate_spread1 node captures the outward growth of the burning regions from this starting point.

    Tip

    You should start by finalizing the spreading animation in this network before moving on to the pyro simulation.

  • The parameters on the Pyro Solver SOP have the greatest influence on the motion and emergent shape of the fire.

Learning from this example

To...Do this

Control the speed of spreading

The simulate_spread1 node is used to control the speed of the spreading. While there are many ways the speed can be effected, the most straightforward ways is to increase the Rate parameter on the Temperature Change/Diffusion tab.

Shelf tools

Using the shelf

  • Customize the shelf

    How to change the look of the shelf, change and rearrange its contents, and create your own shelf tools.

Technical