Really cool to know , thanks for the useful info and code

vux
Create shelf tool with script:

from time import gmtime, strftime

# GET VIEWPORT CAMERA PATH
cur_desktop = hou.ui.curDesktop()
desktop = cur_desktop.name()
panetab = cur_desktop.paneTabOfType(hou.paneTabType.SceneViewer).name()
persp = cur_desktop.paneTabOfType(hou.paneTabType.SceneViewer).curViewport().name()
camera_path = desktop + “.” + panetab + “.” + “world” “.” + persp

# BUILD DEFAULT FILE NAME FROM CURRENT TIME
default_filename = strftime(“screenshot_%d_%b_%Y_%H_%M_%S.jpg”, gmtime())

# SELECT FILE
filename = hou.ui.selectFile( title='Select Screenshot File', default_value=default_filename, file_type=hou.fileType.Image )

# WRITE TO FILE
if filename is not None:
frame = hou.frame()
hou.hscript( “viewwrite -f %d %d %s ‘%s’” % (frame, frame, camera_path, filename) )

For all of you who try to use VUX's script.

I copy pasted this script and it doesnt work at first.
Because there is something wrong with the double quotes,
I just deleted the quotes and retyped them that works perfectly

Thanks a lot to VUX for this script its really useful for me

you could scatter points separately on the geo using color and scatter points using volume separately then merge both using merge sop then feed it into the voronoi fracture node so that your painted density will remain same in the surface. for scattering inside the volume you could add noise to the volume using volume vop and then use scatter for noisy scattering.

put a pointwrangle node above your foreach loop and
type this to get what you want


copy to points will rotate the copied geos based on certain attributes present in the template points such as N v and orient. I would suggest the best to use is orient, But N is simple it will align the z axis of your source geo to the normal of the template points

Read the below page to know how houdini aligns the instanced objects
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini16.0/copy/instanceattrs [sidefx.com]


you can add attribute randomize to the template points before copy sop like werner says and you should change the dimension to 4 in the attribute randomize sop as orient is a 4float attribute.

if you are transferring back the attributes to the original mesh using an attribute transfer sop then the attribute will spread on your blasted points as well, so is that what you need ?
you could post a hip file which will be helpful to understand what you are trying to do and why.

i cant understand what you are trying to do. but if you want to delete points with mask 0 , you can connect a blast node and type @mask=0 without spaces in the group knob. or you can do this and lot more in attribute wrangle
if (@mask==0){
removepoints(0,@ptnum)
}

or if you wanna groups based your attribute take a look at partion sop

Thanks for replies. I figured out a way to transfer back the intrinsic transform values.
I freezed the animated packed geo and used a point deform to put back the animation. its very simple and effective. even after packing Im getting the animation values.. which works cool with constraints. ..
I attached a sample check that if needed.
Thanks Jon for you explanation! It helped me to understand the deformation of packed prims

Hi Jonathan , Thanks for your reply that helped me a lot! . .
So lets say I have animated alembic mesh which im unpacking and then fracturing it and transferring back the same animation to the fracture pieces and pack them again using assemble sop. So how could I get the transform values for the packed pieces??.. I need these values because I need these pieces to take into dops as animated static object not as deformed static object. so that my constraints will work properly . . Im not sure if im explaining my situation properly , please help me.

Attached a sample file which compares packing before and after animation and result when constraining

ofcourse the position is stored in P even there is no values in packfulltransform, but I dont know where does the rotation goes after I packed it.

Hi all
Im having a big confusion about packed primitive. Lets say I have an animated and packed sphere. when I check in primitive intrinsic It is having the packfulltransform info, But if I convert it to polygons and pack it again then the packfulltransform info gets ident matrix and no animating values but still the mesh is animating. My question is where does houdini stores the transform info after the animated mesh is packed.
I hope it is some what clear.
I have attached a sample file. Please someone help me to understand this.

Thanks in advance!

I cant access Odforce today .. Is odforce down now??

That is cool trick to know.. thanks for sharing Vux!

Thank you so much for your effort.. Your set-up is as simple as possible and working so cool!!.. I never thought of using cloth stitch constraint.Thanks for sharing your idea..This is more than enough for what I need …
But I would also like to learn using the constraint networks as it that method has more control over the sim like breaking the constraints dynamically and all.. and the main thing I want to learn is to built constraint set-up between RBD<>WIRE<>SBD<>staticObject …
Once again thanks for your help and such an effort to build a scene for me..

I am trying to create a simple scene where balloons are tied together to an object using wires.(like in the movie “UP”)..

Im having balloons as packed RBD object and the parent point(where balloons are tied) as a separate rbd object.
and having wires also into the DOPnetwork as wire object..

Initially I dint simulate the wires but used the wire lines as a constriant network from SOP and made a spring constraint between balloons and parent using the wires as a constraint net, And It worked Perfectly.

Now I am turning the wires into wire object and trying to constraint the top of the wire to the balloons and bottom to the parent object, I am having matching @anchor_ids on wires and balloons.. But It doesnt work properly. If someone can explain how to constraint wires with rbd , It will be very helpfull for me.. And if someone already have a scene file for related to this please share it , Thanks a lot in advance..

Thats exactly what I was searching for.. Thank you so much. ☺

Hello all,

I am creating a digital asset , and want to set default values for the parameters I can set default values manually for each of the parameters but it will be very useful if there is any way to query the current values of the parameters and set that as default value,hope someone will help me..

Thanks..