Hi all. I had a couple of questions on how to transfer some Softimage modelling operations into Houdini.

1) Insert Edge Loop: ‘]’ key and middle click an edge in Softimage to add Edge Loop

2) Split Edge (with split control): Select an edge, right click, SplitEdge (with split control). Dial in the percentage to taste. Parallel Edge Loop (Checked)

3) Bridge Polygons: Select 2 polygons, right click, Bridge Polygons. (Deletes those polygons, and creates new ones ‘bridging’ them together. I saw that there was a tool on Orbolt that had more functionality than I need. Is there a way out of the box? Somehow with Blast & PolyKnit?

Thanks for the help,
-Dave

4) Create a half tube: Get/Prim/Cylinder, Extend (Angles) StartU 0, EndU 180 (instead of 360)

This might lead to some other questions I've got with Group SOP. Is there an easy way to select half of the polygons, like all polys -z? Can someone provide an example of an expression and a pattern that can be used with GroupSOP. I couldn't find examples of what's possible. I was able to type in hard numbers into the range, but I think there's probably a better way…

Thanks
-Dave

Hi,

1. In Houdini, it works differently. You can make an HDA that takes an edge and uses PolySplit underneath with the right options.

2. Similar to #1, you don't select an edge and split but it can be done. There is EdgeDivide but its Connect Points option doesn't work always.

You can try these tools and add them to your HDAs to have automatic edge loop/ring selection and perform some operations on them:

http://www.orbolt.com/asset/animatrix::selectEdgeLoop::1.00 [orbolt.com]
http://www.orbolt.com/asset/animatrix::selectEdgeRing::1.00 [orbolt.com]
http://www.orbolt.com/asset/animatrix::slideEdges::1.00 [orbolt.com]

3. There isn't an automatic Bridge Polygons built-in but you can make one. Something that works like modo's Bridge tool would be pretty useful but it's gonna take some work, but it can be done as an HDA.

4. You can use something like this for Z:

$TZ > 0.5

Hope it helps.

What pusat is trying to tell you, is that you're better off doing your modeling in Softimage for the time being.

I don't entirely agree with that statement McNistor. :twisted:
Modeling tools in Houdini 14 was a step in the right direction, and I'm sure SESI will improve them. I find that most of the tools works well, but workflow in some cases still needs some improvement.
I've learnt not to try and copy workflows from one application over to another.

1. There is an edge loop tool under the Polygon tab. It does individual loop cuts just like the ] key in Softimage. You can right click in the viewport and change the settings to ‘use constant bias’ (Change the Bias % in the parameter interface), or ‘ snap to mid point’ This is very handy.

2. Very much covered in nr. 1. I do miss the ‘Curvature Continuity’ setting here though. THat helps allot when modeling organic shapes.

3. It's called poly loft in Houdini, but this tool need some work. You need to set U wrap to On to get a proper bridge. It creates triangles, which I don't like, but it works.
This tool needs to be added to the Polygon tab by right clicking on the tab and choose ‘Edit Shelf tab’ Just scroll down to poly loft (and poly patch, if you like) to ad them. Mantragoria created a ‘create polygon’ tool and uploaded it to orbolt if you like. It works very well.

4. Create an open polygon circle and set it to 0 - 180, then use extrude to get half tube.

5. Use Group by expression with $TX>0 or $TX<0 to select half the polygons on the x axis. Just replace with z to get z axis.

Werner Ziemerink
I don't entirely agree with that statement McNistor. :twisted:
Modeling tools in Houdini 14 was a step in the right direction, and I'm sure SESI will improve them. I find that most of the tools works well, but workflow in some cases still needs some improvement.
I've learnt not to try and copy workflows from one application over to another.

1. There is an edge loop tool under the Polygon tab. It does individual loop cuts just like the ] key in Softimage. You can right click in the viewport and change the settings to ‘use constant bias’ (Change the Bias % in the parameter interface), or ‘ snap to mid point’ This is very handy.

2. Very much covered in nr. 1. I do miss the ‘Curvature Continuity’ setting here though. THat helps allot when modeling organic shapes.

3. It's called poly loft in Houdini, but this tool need some work. You need to set U wrap to On to get a proper bridge. It creates triangles, which I don't like, but it works.
This tool needs to be added to the Polygon tab by right clicking on the tab and choose ‘Edit Shelf tab’ Just scroll down to poly loft (and poly patch, if you like) to ad them. Mantragoria created a ‘create polygon’ tool and uploaded it to orbolt if you like. It works very well.

4. Create an open polygon circle and set it to 0 - 180, then use extrude to get half tube.

5. Use Group by expression with $TX>0 or $TX<0 to select half the polygons on the x axis. Just replace with z to get z axis.

This doesn't change the fact, that one is better off with SI for modelling for the time being. In fact it rather proves it

Twice I typed out long replies but they failed to send. Argh!

Anyways, thanks for the replies. I'll keep this one short to see if it actually goes through…

-Dave

PS. There's some things that I really like with modelling in Houdini. Go Procedural! Can't wait for Houdini Engine for UE4!

Btw I posted one of the HDAs I made to select elements using planes of the bounding box on Orbolt:

http://www.orbolt.com/asset/animatrix::selectByBbox::1.00 [orbolt.com]