I'm trying to make an otl for a deformer that is aligned with the objects normal.

It will act similar to maya's softmod and have it's pivot follow a point of my choice.

How can I get the handle to align to the surface normal of the object I wish to deform?

My object will be animated on the sop level and I've tried various things that only seem to work with obj level transforms.

tried this method too:

point(“/obj/sphere_object/sphere1”,4,“P”,0) + vtorigin(“”, “/obj/sphere_object”)
point(“/obj/sphere_object/sphere1”,4,“P”,1) + vtorigin(“”, “/obj/sphere_object”)
point(“/obj/sphere_object/sphere1”,4,“P”,2) + vtorigin(“”, “/obj/sphere_object”)[2

I'm not sure I understand. In Houdini, there is a strict separation between the “object” (the scene transformation) nodes and the “SOP” (geometry) nodes. As such, it doesn't make a lot of sense to talk about the “normal” of an “object”.

To get a normal from your geometry, you need to get it from a geometry (SOP) node, or “/obj/sphere_object/sphere1” in your example. Normals are usually computed as the attribute named “N” (as opposed to “P” for position). Note also that normals are not computed by default. To do so, append a Facet SOP to your sphere node and enable “Post-Compute Normals”.

Finally, I'm not sure what maya's softmod tool does exactly, but have you tried the Soft Peak [sidefx.com], Soft Transform [sidefx.com], Bulge [sidefx.com], or Magnet [sidefx.com] tools? Note also that the Soft Transform functionality is also available in the default “Move” [sidefx.com] tools.

Sorry about my terminology when referring to the normals.

I'm familiar with the Soft Transform tool and it does what I like.

I want the Soft Transform node's pivot to follow the animation of a provided point. Almost akin to a pin constraint.

Then I want the Soft Transform's handles to be aligned with the geometry normals so that the z axis points in the geometry normal direction.

That way I have a tracking Soft Transform pivot that follows the geometry normal and properly rotates when there is a obj/sop transformation.

I've attached an example illustrating the problem.

Thanks Edward!

Offhand, I don't think you can with Soft Transform.

Can you recommend another way to approach this if I can't offset the handle?

Thanks!