I was checking out the new Tangentfield node and thought I'd try something simple and use the tangentfield to copy and align some geometry over a surface.

Pretty basic one would suspect, but how does this node actually work ??

As usual all I can find is theoretical explanations about what it does, but how does one actually use it to align copied geometry along a surface ??

When I scatter some points over a surface, and plug it in a "scatteralign" node, one would expect it to control the alignment somehow, but nothing happens no matter what I try.

Anyone ??

Thanks.

just rename field0 attribute (or any of them) to: up
add N
then scatter some points and copy

Hey thanks.

I must be the dumbest H user out here, but where and what ??

I have some remeshed geo, I add a tangentfield. When I then try to rename the "field" attribute (coming from the tangentfield I suppose) with the "attribute rename" all I get is a "field not found" error.

With "add N" I suppose you mean add a "Normal" attribute after the rename and plug that into a "scatteralign"?

Sorry, this must be childs play for you H wizzards, but for mere mortal nubes like me it's far from logical or intuitive :-/

yep, a normal sop on points and one of the fields to v@up so in a wrangle or rename. All this attrib needs to be on points then you can use ctp as Tomas mentioned. post a hip if something isn't working. Also remember that the scatter align output attributes, f@pscale, and p@orient.

toonafish
When I then try to rename the "field" attribute (coming from the tangentfield I suppose) with the "attribute rename" all I get is a "field not found" error.

as mentioned it's called field0 not just field
you can also use field1, field2, field3, those are directions that tangentfield produces by default, MMB on the Tangent Field node to see the names

Ok, I give up for now. All that resulted in was a crash to the desktop.

Whoever said "Houdini is not scary" was lying, H is not for mere mortals. And the complete lack of documentation doesn't help. I started using it a few years ago, and I'm still constantly running into stuff like this.

But I wonder, how do you guys figure this stuff, is there some secret society the rest of us have no access to ? Or is it somehow so obvious you see right away how it works ?

simple example, feel free to use field1 instead of field0 to get flow in perpendicular direction

Great ! Muchas gracias Tomas.

That clears things up. I feel like I'm part of the secret H society now :-)

Cheers.