Houdini 20.0 Shelf tools

Source from Points shelf tool

Continuously generates smoke or fire from the points of an object.

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Overview

This tool continuously generates fluid from the points of an object and is similar to Source from Surface and Source from Volumes. When sourcing into a pyro or smoke simulation, a Pyro Source SOP is created to add the necessary point attributes to the input geometry, which are then converted into VDB’s by a Volume Rasterize Attributes node. Note that a volumetric object is required for sourcing a liquid simulation; as such, this shelf tool will behave the same way as Source from Surface when applied to a FLIP simulation.

The tool will create a setup tailored towards the simulation it is applied to. In case of a smoke simulation, it will import density and temperature, causing smoke to rise from the selected object. If applied to a pyro simulation, the shelf tool will inject fuel and temperature, turning the surface into a flame source. Finally, the tool will add the necessary nodes to continuously emit liquid into a FLIP simulation, similar to Emit Particle Fluid.

Tip

If you want the sourced smoke to inherit the object’s motion, you can use the Point Velocity SOP to calculate its velocity. The velocity attribute will then be transferred to the scattered points by the Pyro Source node and converted into a VDB by the Volume Rasterize Attributes SOP.

Using Source from Points

  1. Create an open geometry object within a container.

    For more information on containers see: Smoke Container or Pyro Container.

  2. Select the geometry object to generate the source.

  3. Click the Source from Points tool on the Populate Containers tab.

  4. Select the container to put the source into and press Enter to confirm your selection.

Note

To turn off the continuous flow of fluid, set the Activation to 0 on the Volume Source node in your DOP network. You can keyframe this parameter to control when the fluid is emitted.

Note

If the object is only partially in the container, only the portion of the object that is within the container’s boundaries will be simulated.

See also

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