As we can see, there are the three basic erosion nodes at the end of the pipeline, the Thermal, Precipitation and Hydro. As it automatically dives into a deeper node, we should step up one level after the dive command. We can dive into this node to understand how it works. The master node of the erosion effects is the HeightField Erode, which has been updated in version 17 with new features and optimisations. It's much easier and straightforward to understand the effects of these nodes than using arbitrary and complicated shapes. Now we can start to go through the different HeightField nodes and apply them to this simple scene. Put a few polygon primitives around, like in this image, and incorporate them into a heightfield system by firstly creating a HeightField node then using a HeightField Project node, which stamps the geometries into the heightfield. Even if you have used terrain tools before, it's worth setting up a sandbox scene with simple geometries and trying out the new tools and parameters in H17. Learning through play is always a good way to get familiar with a CG tool. Get to know H17's tools by having a good old play around in it The weathering effects of the atmosphere and water matures the terrain over time, resulting in different shapes and textures. These originally igneous rocks crack, fall apart, decompose and sometimes thousands of miles away settle down and stick together again, forming sedimentary rock. Some of them are crushed together by forces of tectonic movements. This solidified magma skin, the crust, is thinner below the oceans and forms the base layers of the landscapes and many geologic processes. Sometimes the skin of this 12,750 km wide droplet breaks into pieces, similarly to how the skin at the surface of hot milk or pudding tears apart as it gets hotter and starts to boil. At its most simplified, we can think about Earth as a big blob of fluid and relatively soft matter, a mere droplet from the universe's perspective, with solid skin, like a grape. Researching the science behind the Earth's geology is pivotal for accurately simulating real-world processes in a CG environment. The Earth is a bit like a grape that's actually a boiling pudding These nodes are designed for terrain generation workflows, so even if we use other tools for landscapes, this is the most convenient and most effective way in many cases. Similarly to how DEM files store the height data, every pixel stores a height value, and it pushes the particular surface site upwards with this amount, exactly how displacement textures work. They create a special kind of geometry: a 2D volume grid, which is more like a 2D image with pixels, but Houdini renders/displays it as a surface. I recommend this for those who are not familiar with the basics.īasically the Terrain module in Houdini consists of a bunch of SOP nodes, every one with HeightField in its name. When SideFX introduced this feature set in version 16, as usual they made a masterclass video (above). To effectively use Houdini's heightfield system, we should learn its basic principles first. Taking a scientific approach to our CG landscapes will always help us to achieve better results, so that's why we're not simply running through the new terrain features, but also taking a look at some basic scientific aspects and exploring some new methods, such as the Vellum toolset to simulate tectonic compression.ĭownload the resources for this tutorial.Īlso read: Our review of Houdini 17 Banshee. The main parameters of HeightField nodes can now be masked and there is an instant paint button that automatically sets up the appropriate node(s) for painting. For example, the enhanced Erode node simulates erosion in a more scientifically plausible way and has many more controls than before. In Houdini 17, SideFX introduced some new tools and enhanced others in order to widen the range of opportunities for artists creating fully procedural terrains or adding details to real-world based models.
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