Is there a shell modifer in Houdini ? to give a box thickness

if you want a box per se to be thicker put 1 box inside another and perform a Boolean,

or if is the case that you have a plane, you can do a poly extrude and set the option to cover the back faces (the originals ones).

Try PolyExtrude with Keep Shared Points set to Average Positions.

Thanks i have been doing that, but it would make sense to make a modifer that can give any object a thickness. Like that in 3ds max SHELL MODIFER.

Also is there a way to collapse the nodes to make it one object ?

edward
Try PolyExtrude with Keep Shared Points set to Average Positions.

Tried this method but only expands the box in every direction… not creating thickness

pelos
if you want a box per se to be thicker put 1 box inside another and perform a Boolean,

or if is the case that you have a plane, you can do a poly extrude and set the option to cover the back faces (the originals ones).

I have created a box inside of a box using a merge node, along with using the boolean tool to create a whole but the opening has gaps between the two boxes….

Lyonz

edward
Try PolyExtrude with Keep Shared Points set to Average Positions.

Tried this method but only expands the box in every direction… not creating thickness

Make sure to go to the PolyExtrude options and enable ‘Output Back’.

Here's some screenshots

Thanks Edward, that works better than merging one box inside another. Didnt think to turn Output back on. Im finding Houdini akward to model in compared with 3ds max. But understand its more directed to SFX.

Lyonz
Thanks Edward, that works better than merging one box inside another. Didnt think to turn Output back on. Im finding Houdini akward to model in compared with 3ds max. But understand its more directed to SFX.

You just hit the nail on the head. The node interface is awkward to work with at first, however, (I moved here from 3ds Max) I find it to be very helpful and useful once you learn how to model and think in nodes, and now I love it and wouldn't go back.

heydabop

Lyonz
Thanks Edward, that works better than merging one box inside another. Didnt think to turn Output back on. Im finding Houdini akward to model in compared with 3ds max. But understand its more directed to SFX.

You just hit the nail on the head. The node interface is awkward to work with at first, however, (I moved here from 3ds Max) I find it to be very helpful and useful once you learn how to model and think in nodes, and now I love it and wouldn't go back.

Yea i find its great for SFX which is what im wanting to do, but finding it awkward to model. Is there any tutorials on modelling something complex ??

I think there are procedural modeling tutorials on 3dbuzz.com

this seems to come up a lot…
as far as I can tell the ‘shell’ modifier in max is just doing a poly extrude…just fancy and ‘hidden’…and easy…

all the tools exist in Houdini to model anything you want just as in max/maya/etc, what you may not find is the workflow you want for modeling…
you're not going to find any tutorials that change this fact.

the only thing to do is learn each of the tools and go from there…

Next Noob question how do you set up a grid as the collision object for Squishy objects ?

As this is under the particle shelf but doesn't use a particle source as i would normally make the grid a static object and use a POP object.

Shell, Solid, it comes by many names.

Here's my take on an asset wrapper I have been using for some time to add thickness.

Question:

How to instantly zoom into a small object ?

Hey everyone I am 13 and I'm not very good at Houdini yet.

How do I parent an object without the child object moving after it gets parented?

All I'm doing is making 2 cubes and when I try to parent one to the other the child changes position and sometimes gets stretched, and sometimes gets scaled.

Lyonz
Question:

How to instantly zoom into a small object ?

If you are at the Object level select your object of interest.
If you are at the Geometry SOP level and you want to zoom in on some part of your geometry select it or else frame all the geometry by selecting nothing.
then…
Hit spacebar-Shift-f to frame the selection
Hit spacebar-g to reorient to the construction plane and zoom in on the selection

Note: This will change the viewport pivot point to the centroid of the geometry you have zoomed in on.

To see all the options either:
hold down the spacebar in the viewport and then hold down the right mouse button to see the menu options.
or
hit esc with the cursor in the viewport to go to view mode (you see the cursor change to a hand in the viewport) and then hold down the right mouse button to see the menu options.


Setting viewport pivot (not in the RMB viewport options and I use it a lot so noted here)

One thing not listed is the z and Z options to change the tumble viewport pivot point to a ray intersect on the view port geometry. To change the tumble viewport pivot point, hold down either z or Z and click on the geometry.
z will center the viepwort to the new viewport pivot origin
Z will leave the viewport alone and change the pivot point

It's a matter of preference. I always switch the two hotkeys around as I loathe the fact that the viewport changes on me but consensus rules the day. The prompt at the lower left of the interface is enough for me btw.
See the hotkey manager in the main menu Edit > Hotkeys… if you wish.

W9JFO
Hey everyone I am 13 and I'm not very good at Houdini yet.

How do I parent an object without the child object moving after it gets parented?

All I'm doing is making 2 cubes and when I try to parent one to the other the child changes position and sometimes gets stretched, and sometimes gets scaled.

First the moving of child objects when parenting.
If you use the parent tool from the shelf or the viewport then you won't see the children move but they will still scale if the parent has scales.
If you want to wire them up by hand in the network, you will have to select the child objects and turn on the toggle option “Keep position when parenting”. Then you can connect away.



Now for the children scaling when parenting. What you are seeing is the child object inheriting any scales from the parent.

You will want to go to the modify shelf and do a Freeze Transforms on the parent object first and follow this with a Center Pivot. For me it's a click-click on the two tools in the above order.
This will clear out all the scales, translates and rotates on the parent and move them down in to the geometry. The Center Pivot will move the pivot point of the object back to the center so you can rotate it properly.

The two tools: Freeze Transforms and Center Pivot should be in the order of execution from left to right and they are reverse of this on the default Modify shelf. Freeze Transforms should be left of Center Pivot. I will submit a bug for this as I always grumble when I do this sequence many times while modeling.

Keep the questions coming.

Thanks Jeff that works a lot better now.