Hello dear Houdini Users,

I am starting to use learn Houdini, mainly for simple Simulations and simple modeling tasks.
Today I tried to figure out how to create a structure laid out in this sketch. I played around with copy to points and the chain node. But I could not figure out a way to fit pieces together on a curve with a random scale in one axis. I tried to randomize the points of the input curve for the chain node, but I couldn't find a solution. Also tried copy to points node but there I didn't manage to fit pieces together so they touch and dont have a gap in between. I tried to find some similiar tutorial or forum post but somehow I could not extrapolate from those solutions I found there...
I think I am missing a concept of how to go about this. Maybe someone can point out where I can start to find a solution.
Attached is a sketch of what I want to achieve ultimately.


Any help is greatly appreciated!

Look into the chain sop.

Hey sepu!

Thanks for the reply! I already checked with the Chain SOP but I havent figured out how to do this. Is there an option for what I am looking for?

Here is a quick setup using chain sop

Aizatulin
Here is a quick setup using chain sop

Thaaaanks! Really nice set up, now I have to spend some time to figure out how exactly it works! Exciting!

Sure
as additional information:

The left input of the chain node are the objects which are placed along the curve and they are treated independently. The copy node is just an example to duplicate objects and scale them after that. You can also just use merge to create different objects. The chain node has the option "find pieces" by connectivity or piece attribute, so if you have connected objects like boxes, use for "find pieces" the option "by connectivity". If you already have a piece attribute (a primitive attribute like copynum in my example), you can set the option to "by piece attribute" with the right name in the edit field (copynum in my case). This can be important for the right order of each object on the path.

In my example I use VEX for scaling the z-axis of each box by a random value based on copynum (i.e. the number of the copy given by the copy node).