I've been really getting into using Finite Elements recently, but wondered if there was a way to add the organic tissue to an object and make it static, while still being able to react to other objects.
(for example, I want to add FEM to a face and have a hand smush it around)

Is it doable in Houdini?

edit: worked it out already!

What do you mean by “static”? If it *reacts* to other objects, it's not static, by definition.

Marc

Perhaps they meant “plastic,” as in plastic deformation.

short answer… you could update the restP… more details here:
http://forums.odforce.net/topic/24208-h15-cloth-plastic-deformation/ [forums.odforce.net]

Now depending on you needs you may get away with just freezing a deformed geometry? (I'm thinking if you need just the shape to drive a car crash or something of the sort).

I'm assuming that you want to have the face stay in mostly in the same place where it starts, but that you still want the face to react to external collisions.

The easiest way to do this is to enable “Target Deformation” under the Deformation Tab of the Solid Object.
By default, this will create a soft constraint that keeps the face in its original position.
You will have to find the right value for Target Strength for this to happen.
The higher you pick this value, the more the face will stay where it was.

Another option is to use the “Constrain Points To Target” shelf tool to make sure that parts of the face stay in place, while other parts can freely simulate and response to external collisions.

michiel
I'm assuming that you want to have the face stay in mostly in the same place where it starts, but that you still want the face to react to external collisions.

The easiest way to do this is to enable “Target Deformation” under the Deformation Tab of the Solid Object.
By default, this will create a soft constraint that keeps the face in its original position.
You will have to find the right value for Target Strength for this to happen.
The higher you pick this value, the more the face will stay where it was.

Another option is to use the “Constrain Points To Target” shelf tool to make sure that parts of the face stay in place, while other parts can freely simulate and response to external collisions.

Thanks Michiel! It worked.

My next issue is how does one actually create a collider that is fully controllable? As in I can manually move it around. I ask because I can't get anything under the Solids tab to work how I want nor does static collider work for FEM.

TIA