Hi there,

I’m trying to find a way to drive a hi-res mesh to reflect some deformations (skinning, blend shapes, etc.) that have been applied to a lo-res version of the same mesh topology. The hi-res mesh is an exact 4x subdivision of a base character mesh, but with a detailed skin / wrinkle texture blend shape applied to the subdivided surface to provide additional detail.

I tried subdividing the lo-res mesh with a subdivision SOP, and applying the hi-res skin blend shape to the subdivided output, but that puts the subdivision node (and hi-res blend shape node) downstream of my pose / bone deform / base morphing nodes from the lo-res mesh. This means that any upstream changes to the skeleton pose trigger a new subdivision cook, which I’m hoping to avoid.

Is there a more performant technique for driving a hi-res output mesh in this way?

– Dave

Use a point deform SOP, it's the houdini equiv of a Maya skin wrap deformer.

Thank you! That sounds like what I was looking for – I will give it a try.

In addition to the Point Deform SOP [www.sidefx.com], I'm also intrigued by the Cloth Capture SOP [www.sidefx.com] and Cloth Deform SOP [www.sidefx.com]. It sounds like those could give me a way to specify the mapping from lo-res to hi-res in one location, while actually performing the deformation in another.

– Dave

You may want to take a look at the vex functions xyzdist and primuv. In general i have found that they give better results than the pointdeform. Cloth capture and cloth deform are antiquated,use with caution

Here's a good explanation of xyzdist and primuv https://www.tokeru.com/cgwiki/index.php?title=JoyOfVex19 [www.tokeru.com]

For lazy people that don't mind to spend 5 bucks I can recommend the wrap deformed by Momme Carl:


Cheers
CYTE