Solving Plants in Houdini

Creating convincing, beautiful 3D plants requires both artistic skill and processes that mimic natural patterns. Traditional parametric tools offer modular controls but lack organic simulation, while generative systems can be difficult to direct. Our Houdini-based framework bridges this gap by combining intuitive, artist-friendly controls with botanical simulation capabilities. Artists can define complex simulations using rule-based logic, gradients, fields, and scripts, while manually shaping and pruning vegetation. Built on Houdini’s APEX architecture and OpenCL accelerated, our system integrates ray marching, VDBs, and PBD and more, to simulate biomechanics, thigmomorphogenesis, and other mechanics of plant growth, offering users unprecedented control, speed, and flexibility in creating naturalistic vegetation.