Houdini 19.5 Updates

 
 

Sometimes SideFX makes a change to Houdini, and I always update the videos themselves ASAP! Still, sometimes these changes need a little more explanation, which I have compiled here. Check them out below, and never hesitate to email me at contact@appliedhoudini.com if you have further questions!

 

File Cache 2.0

The new File Cache 2.0 node performs essentially the same tasks as the original, but defaults to assuming the user wants to write out per-frame caches for animations/simulations. As such, people who just want to cache some complicated geometry that should be available on every frame will often accidentally only save a file on the first frame of a multi frame sequence, yielding empty geometry on subsequent frames. Find out how to correct that here:

 

Mountain “2.0”

The Mountain SOP has been removed, and selecting it from the tab menu will now place an Attribute Noise SOP instead with some default values to make it behave like Mountain. Check out this quick explainer on how to translate the old parameter names into the new node’s functionality:

 

HDA Versioning

Like the File Cache 2.0 above, the parameter layouts of other nodes like Pyro Post Process and RBD Material Fracture can be shuffled and tweaked from time to time, especially when they are higher level tools that contain many sub-functions. If you’re having trouble trying to use the new versions, you can always use the older versions:

Still, it’s usually worthwhile to try to figure out the newer node layout! Don’t forget you can always email me at contact@appliedhoudini.com if you need help.

 

Attribute Noise 2.0

Many lessons use the Attribute Noise SOP to modify or create new values for an attribute. For example, we often use it in the Volumes series when setting density values on points that are then converted into a volume to be used in a simulation. Now that Houdini 18.5 has introduced a newly reorganized version 2.0 of this node, you can get up to speed here on how to use the old node still if you wish, or how to adapt to using the new version:


Rigids Lessons

Voronoi Fracture SOP has been completely reorganized (and changed under the hood) but essentially works the same - the left input takes the geometry to fracture, and the right input takes the points to base the fracture on. In order to visualize your pieces, you can:

  • Click the little visualizer pin seen here:

visualizeVoronoi.jpg

  • Make a Color SOP instead, and set Class to Primitive, Color Type to Random from Attribute, and Attribute to name. This will create a color attribute. which will carry through the packing process.

The ability to easily create interior detail on the Voronoi Fracture SOP has also been removed, but we can still recreate it in the same exact way with an RBD Interior Detail SOP!

Check out both visualizing and adding interior detail here in this quick video: