hey folks, this is my first post, i'm new to houdini and hoping to switch from maya to houdini.
just wanted to say hello.

small question i have 2 boxes in one geo object and one box has no divisions and the other box has 5.

i input both the boxes into a cookie to basicly greate more smaller cubes.
(its just a small test)

now i run dynamics (active rigid body) on the geo object (node?) but when i play the animation the cubes still act as one big cube ?

how do i (split?) those cubes to they each have dynamics on them ?.

you wanna create a box made with smaller boxes to destroy it in DOPs?
Cookie is not the best option for this. In general every object you want to play in DOPs separately should belong to different SOP or different primitive group in one SOP. Then you can send them to DOPs.

Go and see Tutorials (check Learning Menu above). Also H9 blog under the same menu. There are some videos and pdfs about DOPs. Good to start with !

here you have an example. I hope this is what you meant.

cheers,
sy.

as for which method is better… sometimes a cookie is what's needed… but, it sounds like your problem isn't that you're using a cookie, it's that you are not sending it through the simulation correctly.

First, you need to make sure that after your cookies, you've grouped your two different boxes. Let's say box 1 will be put into a group called 1, and box 2 will be a group called 2.

If you use a merge to connect your cookies, your final geometry should look like the two boxes, and when you mmb the merge sop, you'll see that there are 2 groups, 1 and 2.

Now, it depends on what exactly you're doing with your simulation. I'm going to guess that you intend to do a shattering type of effect. If this is the case, don't bring your object into dops as an RBD object, but as an RBD Glue Object. Depending on what you're doing, you may want an RBD Fractured object instead. A RBD object, will not recognize the different groups, which is why you need either a glue or fracture object.

Hey guys, thanks for the suport but i'm afraid that all this sop sap chop chap stuff is still kinda confusing to me so let me try to explain again.

lets say i have a geomatry operator (SOP) and in that operator i have 2 box'es.

i also just made a ground plane collition thingy.

now i want the 2 cubes to solve independantly from eachother rather then being simulated as one object.


if been going thrue the example files but no luck so far, i feel that i'm not seing something as i'm not yet acumelated to houdini's type of workflow but strangely do like it at the same time.

i attatched my atempt to follow your example.

To put both tubes into the simulation as separate objects you have to put them into two primitive groups, by hand or procedurally (see Group SOP). You can see what group you have by MMB on any SOP. In DOPS you use RBD Glue Object with Internal Glue strength set to zero, and you have your two objects separated.

I strongly recommend you to start with tutorials. Houdini is easy after you open you mind for its basic workflow.

You can always use shelf tools to create your DOPS simulation.

1) Create two tubes by shelf button (Create Shelf) and place them in viewport (use ALT to place them in Y axis)
2) Select one of them and use Shelf tool “RBD Object” (Rigid Bodies).
3) Do the same with second tube (actually you can select both at once)
4) Add Ground Plane (from the same Shelf)
5. Play!

Done.

I counted: six (6!) clicks and twice ALT key. Can't be easier.


hope this help!
sy.

EDIT:

I edit you scene. All I did:
I added group SOPs to place boxes in separate groups
I changed RBD Object for RBD Glue Object which uses primitive groups to define object's parts (so setting internal glue at 0 effectively creates many objects).

All the rest is fine

THANK YOU SYmek !!!
its working and all is fine now .
onto my next challenge using RDBFracture and primatives ! :p