Hello,

I'm wondering what's the best way to simulate the deformation when something is put on a soft body in Houdini, like a person sitting on a couch. would Finite Elements work for this? or is there a better tool?

Thanks!

If you do not need exact volume only some simple deformation…
maybe the ray sop can help.
Play the attached scene to see the effect.
Play with the “Cutoff frequency” of the smooth sop to have a wave around the contact.

matthias_k
If you do not need exact volume only some simple deformation…
maybe the ray sop can help.
Play the attached scene to see the effect.
Play with the “Cutoff frequency” of the smooth sop to have a wave around the contact.

Thank you for the replay! What if I want to have correct volume?

Then you should better use dynamics/finite element solver.

See the “VolumePreservingSolid” example in the help file.

But you said:

…like a person sitting on a couch…

a “normal” couch is not watertight, if I'm right.
It is losing “air”, if you sit down on it.
The more or less correct way is then maybe using cloth and springs…

Have a look at this example, too:
https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/34936/?page=1 [sidefx.com]

it shows how to create a tension map

Hi Matthias!

You're right, the first method is what I was looking for, I was just confused by the “exact volume” part.

Thank you for the help.

Then maybe give deltamush for smoothing a try.
It preserves the boundaries better…