Hi everyone,

I'm new to Houdini, but I'm already completely hooked on it. For a while now, I've been focused on trying to rearrange a scattered set of points into a neat grid layout. I've experimented with all the approaches my current beginner knowledge allows, but I've hit a wall and I'm close to throwing in the towel.

I've attempted using for-loops and wrangle nodes, but no matter what I do, the points always end up arranged diagonally. To give you an idea, the code below works fine when creating new points, but if I try to apply the same logic to move my existing points using @P += set(n, i, 0), it just gives me that same diagonal result instead of a proper grid.

I'm sure there must be a smarter way to handle this. I also gave the Copy node a shot, but I couldn't get it to place a single individual element onto each point—instead, it kept copying the entire collection onto every grid point. I've been speed-learning Houdini intensively for just two weeks, so I'm a bit embarrassed to ask for help on something that might turn out to be super obvious.

I'd be grateful for any tips or solutions. Thanks a lot!

Hi,

If you have multiple pieces to copy selectively, you can use variants:

Vivacious
I've been speed-learning Houdini intensively for just two weeks, so I'm a bit embarrassed to ask for help on something that might turn out to be super obvious.

There is almost nothing in Houdini that is super obvious : ) Do what you're doing: read / watch - learn. then try and work things out - but don't be embarrassed to ask for help.

Top tip:
Upload a sample hip file with your post. There are a lot of variations on 'rearranging a scattered set of points into a neat grid layout' - so if we can clearly understand exactly what you're aiming for it's much easier to help.


Attached is a very simple example using the blendshapes SOP.