I'm currently making a building generator for my project. At some point of it I needed to copy objects on a plane, considering its size, orientation and spacing. I spent good 2 days coding a wrangle for it (I kept going back to it because something wasn't working). I had no clue there is a chain node! I am literally so angry right now. Every time I watch you working I learn so much little nodes and tricks I can use. Please don't stop sharing
Happy to see the video helped you! There are many different ways of placing models but the chain node has great uses here and is fast to setup. I can however be limited based on what specifics you have on a project.
You are always a great inspiration Simon, thanks for this tutorial ! I've been working on procedural buildings generation for a while now, and thanks to your teachings I can test new stuff now, grazie :)
I would buy a 2ºpart if u upload it to gumroad for the uving and texturing part which is always the most obscure part of this process and the one which is never covered for whatever reason.
Absolutely brilliant tutorial. And I have also looked at a number of your other ones. They are incredible. What I am struggling with is how to get the final procedural house to replace the standin buildings that you get with OSM data. What I would like to do is use the height, width and detpth of the buildings that come with the osm data, to control the number of floors and the width and depth of the placement of the buildings. Using mapbox throws an additional spanner in the works as it has a terrain placement which is the correct elevation above sea level and I thing that kills the building generator nodes ability to create the base height, when I try build an environment the other way. Any help or if you could point me to some resources on how to replicate the generated buildings would be great.
The building tool right here would need a lot of tweaking to work nicely with OSM. It will also be super slow as we would loop per building and make one. A long time ago I did a video on OSM. www.sidefx.com/tutorials/city-building-with-osm-data/ Before you make the buildings you probably wanna project the OSM 2D shapes on the terrain to set those correct. Then you can go into shaping the buildings. Hope this helped you
Hey Simon! Thank you very much for this one! I took some knowledge from this and tried to incorporate it into my own HDA. Instead of Box i used Add sop to create points. Do you by any chance know how i could add gizmos/handles to show for every point i add in Unreal? I tried referencing them using Indie-Pixel bridge tutorial but it ain't working . I assume having fixed amount of points is something totally different than dynamic one.
At the last part of the video I show the add node to place the elements but to get that in unreal is more tricky. You can try using a curve/spline in Unreal and only get those points to spawn the props
Hey simon, how should the assets we use be aligned? If they are not centered to origin when I copy the assets back on the points they get offset. For example, I may want to move my door down by 0.1 units. If I add the transform right after the asset import, when I copy the asset back onto the point it is of course now moved by 0.2 units because now I am copying the asset with a transform of 0.1 onto the point which already had the transform of 0.1. What seems to work is to just make sure assets are aligned to center and do additional transformations inside the scatter asset before the chain sop. The other way is to have two versions of the assets. One version that transforms the assets to the right spot, then the assets that are centered so when they are copied back the transform is not doubled as mentioned before. any thoughts?
Great lesson Simon ! But :( I have a problem with the vexpression (I'm using Houdini 20.5) that don't work for me (vexpression for a box : ch ( strcat(../x_", detail(-1,"iteration",0)+1)) Thanks in advance for answer.
Another fun trick during the Preparing Assets section: before copying the attribute create node you can type opdigits(".") into the value field and it will automatically increment the value based on the corresponding node name. This works because there can't be two identically named nodes within the same network, so houdini will automatically increment a number at the end of the name by one each time duplicate name is detected. Another great tool when you don't really need to create an hda.
You could tweak the chain node that controls the placement of the props on the building. Adding more spacing or including the size of the balcony as input will give better spacing
@@simonhoudini5074 Thanks for the reply! I figured that was an option. And I assume if you wanted the window to have more variations you would have to include the window with the balcony bounds and vary its size somehow?
@@simonhoudini5074 would you point out some of this workflow? a small asset perhaps? i feeel a lack of info on that over the internet, how to proper setup a texturing worflow using houdini and substance inside unreal! i would pay for this !
Hey Simon, I've been following and trying to replicate on my own and I get to 27:00 in the video and none of my assets get placed on the subsequent floors, only the first one. Any idea why this might occur, I've been going back and trying to see where I could've gone wrong but cant spot anything. Please let me know if you know of any solutions, thanks!
This is such an amazing tutorial! I just started to study Houdini a week ago and then came across this video. I've got a problem in this tutorial and need someone who can help me solve this problem. Like 47:53 in this video, I wrote the same VEXpression in an Attribute Wrangle node as to make the normals into opposite directions . However, all normals of the points direct to the same direction like positive Z direction. How can I solve this problem?? It seems like they have been already oriented in the same negative X direction at one previous node PolyFrame...
@@vytasrauckis6703 Figured it out because the same problem came to me. In your "Boolean" within the "Output Geometry" section, change the "Detriangulate" option to "No Polygons" instead of "All Polygons". That fixes the issue and allows the tutorial to continue perfectly. Posting more for anyone else who randomly had this happen
Hi there, this interface you show at 3:52 , I can’t seem to get these sliders to appear after I’ve assigned the x_ y_ z_ I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’ve rewatched your video at this point several parts and can’t proceed. I have the correct number of floors input and floats like you show.
Hello Simon I have a little problem that I can't find where it is: at 22:19 when you rotate the meshes with the transform node mine are disappearing during the process and come back when they don't face the good angle. How to fix this? And why does this happen?
Make sure to have good pivot points on the models. Also since this is for the chain node, if models suddenly are larger or very small the chain node could give odd results. Try for example a simple box and a transform in the chain and see how that reacts, based on that you might want to change the models you plug into the chain node.
@@simonhoudini5074 Hey ! sorry for my late answer. So it appears that my meshes were really larger than the box so for now I just upscale my box. By good pivot points what do you mean exactly ? because they are placed at the center of the world in 3ds max , my meshes are just offset pretty much like yours. Also I have some trouble to have good result with the boolean phase (basically my doors are not at the bottom of the cube)
Having an issue with creating versions for the HDA, whenever a version is created the x,y,z variables in the Type Property get incremented in a strange way, i.e. x_# becomes x_#_2, etc... And that breaks the network until the parameters are correctly renamed. This is probably a bug..
Sounds weird, so if you use a multiparmeter all parameter in there will get a # (either placed by you or Houdini). For example x_# and houdini will automatically make x_1, x_2,... based on the multiparmeter value. If you still indeed get x_#_2 , that could be a bug and maybe switching Houdini version could work.
I do not know why there is a need to go fast when some people are real beginner... actually even making the Asset at first for me is no explanation keep going ?! houdini tutorial always like that
Simon's tutorials are actually pretty detailed, compared to others', so I don't understand why everyone is so annoying in his comment section, while there are clearly far less detailed explanations in videos about houdini. I guess he just attracts those of us who are only starting, and that's why he gets all those comments.
I have been using blender for 3 years, also used Houdini for 2 days for a chocolate simulation, I got a conclusion that Houdini is way more difficult to learn as a knowledge of code is also required in order to put values in input fields, while blender geometry nodes setup is way much easier to learn and adapt according to your needs. Correct me if I am wrong.
You are wrong man. You use houdini 2 days and you have a conclussion ? You don’t need to know coding to use procedural stuff in houdini. Its better to know some vex. But its not mandatory. Houdini let you do all you can imagin. Blender not. But you have to spend a lot of more time to learn houdini. 2 days… OmG. In houdini you build your own geometry nodes if you want. Not always is load a pluging and use a limit parameters to make stuff. The control that houdini gives you to build procedural stuff its much better than any software
I'm currently making a building generator for my project. At some point of it I needed to copy objects on a plane, considering its size, orientation and spacing. I spent good 2 days coding a wrangle for it (I kept going back to it because something wasn't working). I had no clue there is a chain node! I am literally so angry right now. Every time I watch you working I learn so much little nodes and tricks I can use. Please don't stop sharing
Happy to see the video helped you! There are many different ways of placing models but the chain node has great uses here and is fast to setup. I can however be limited based on what specifics you have on a project.
At last new tut from our teacher !! Thank you !
And of course it is very interesting to see how you build the final scene =)
Thanks :D , Yes I will look into making more info about scene
you are the best teacher ever
You are always a great inspiration Simon, thanks for this tutorial ! I've been working on procedural buildings generation for a while now, and thanks to your teachings I can test new stuff now, grazie :)
Thanks a lot Martina, It was greet meeting you at the VIEW😄
love it more overwatch content would be amazing!
Really Nice Tutorial ! I'll Combine this with Luo's World Aligned X-Y-Z Material Functions in Ue4.
Yes! Thank you Mr. Simon!
Super cool style Simon, congrats!
This is amazing , so many useful tips. Hope there is a second part.
Thank you!
great videos Simon, ty so much
digital gold right here, thanks a lot!
Such a helpful tutorial, thank you!
Thank you for sharing! Merry Xmas and Happy NY!
Excellent tutorials! Covers so many different nodes.
Amazing tutorial, thanks for sharing!
this is amazing sir
Awesome lesson, thank you a lot!
Thank you for this very nice, inspiring tutorial, Simon !
Keep it up Simon. Love your videos! :D
Great Tutorial: thanks
Very cool, thanks for sharing! :)
I would buy a 2ºpart if u upload it to gumroad for the uving and texturing part which is always the most obscure part of this process and the one which is never covered for whatever reason.
A few days ago I saw this image and though "I wonder I could make it in Houdini" (I'm still learning)
Guess I wasn't the only one XD
Great stuff!
Absolutely brilliant tutorial. And I have also looked at a number of your other ones. They are incredible. What I am struggling with is how to get the final procedural house to replace the standin buildings that you get with OSM data. What I would like to do is use the height, width and detpth of the buildings that come with the osm data, to control the number of floors and the width and depth of the placement of the buildings. Using mapbox throws an additional spanner in the works as it has a terrain placement which is the correct elevation above sea level and I thing that kills the building generator nodes ability to create the base height, when I try build an environment the other way. Any help or if you could point me to some resources on how to replicate the generated buildings would be great.
The building tool right here would need a lot of tweaking to work nicely with OSM. It will also be super slow as we would loop per building and make one. A long time ago I did a video on OSM. www.sidefx.com/tutorials/city-building-with-osm-data/
Before you make the buildings you probably wanna project the OSM 2D shapes on the terrain to set those correct. Then you can go into shaping the buildings.
Hope this helped you
Amazing! Will you do more realistic procedural tutorials ?
Thanks! Probably yes, based on what inspires me in the future
Hey Simon! Thank you very much for this one! I took some knowledge from this and tried to incorporate it into my own HDA. Instead of Box i used Add sop to create points. Do you by any chance know how i could add gizmos/handles to show for every point i add in Unreal? I tried referencing them using Indie-Pixel bridge tutorial but it ain't working . I assume having fixed amount of points is something totally different than dynamic one.
At the last part of the video I show the add node to place the elements but to get that in unreal is more tricky. You can try using a curve/spline in Unreal and only get those points to spawn the props
Hello. Where I can download procedural projects? Houdini have something like UE market or blender market?
floating islands generator next please :)
Danke Simon
Simon, ive seen your older videos from 17.5. Is there a difference in the H versions?
Спасибо огромное
😀😀😀
Hey simon, how should the assets we use be aligned? If they are not centered to origin when I copy the assets back on the points they get offset. For example, I may want to move my door down by 0.1 units. If I add the transform right after the asset import, when I copy the asset back onto the point it is of course now moved by 0.2 units because now I am copying the asset with a transform of 0.1 onto the point which already had the transform of 0.1. What seems to work is to just make sure assets are aligned to center and do additional transformations inside the scatter asset before the chain sop. The other way is to have two versions of the assets. One version that transforms the assets to the right spot, then the assets that are centered so when they are copied back the transform is not doubled as mentioned before. any thoughts?
Great lesson Simon ! But :( I have a problem with the vexpression (I'm using Houdini 20.5) that don't work for me (vexpression for a box : ch ( strcat(../x_", detail(-1,"iteration",0)+1)) Thanks in advance for answer.
ch(strcat("../x_",detail(-1,"iteration",0)+1))
you missed the " infront of the ../x
I cant see all the options in match size node at 9 40. What can be the reason?
Hey Simon I was wondering if you are willing to do something like a pipe generator like the one from Project Titan which tutorial never came out
Another fun trick during the Preparing Assets section: before copying the attribute create node you can type opdigits(".") into the value field and it will automatically increment the value based on the corresponding node name. This works because there can't be two identically named nodes within the same network, so houdini will automatically increment a number at the end of the name by one each time duplicate name is detected. Another great tool when you don't really need to create an hda.
That is a great trick, I did not know about that one! Thanks Chris :)
@@simonhoudini5074 happy i could show you something! I watch and rewatch your videos all the time! Thanks for teaching me so much about Houdini
My balcony doesn't appear if i don't add invoke node to it, but I can't use it, because it will cut a hole in the wall with boolean. How can I fix it?
Why does the detail value at 6:53 need to be -1?
nice!
This is great, but does anyone know how to create floor plans (interior rooms), not just exterior walls or elevations?
How did he keep his balconies from colliding? My buildings keep having their balconies collide.
You could tweak the chain node that controls the placement of the props on the building. Adding more spacing or including the size of the balcony as input will give better spacing
@@simonhoudini5074 Thanks for the reply! I figured that was an option. And I assume if you wanted the window to have more variations you would have to include the window with the balcony bounds and vary its size somehow?
Can you share project files ?
i wonder how to achive the materials its all done inside unreal right? procedural materials as well?
Materials and UV , are based on Tilling textures and trimsheets. There are a combo of Houdini and Substance Designer for making the textures
@@simonhoudini5074 would you point out some of this workflow? a small asset perhaps? i feeel a lack of info on that over the internet, how to proper setup a texturing worflow using houdini and substance inside unreal! i would pay for this !
Awesome tutorial. But how can I send this as an asset to UE5? With all the controllers to control these parameters inside the engine dynamically?
By using Houdini Engine you can do that
Hey Simon, I've been following and trying to replicate on my own and I get to 27:00 in the video and none of my assets get placed on the subsequent floors, only the first one. Any idea why this might occur, I've been going back and trying to see where I could've gone wrong but cant spot anything. Please let me know if you know of any solutions, thanks!
Hi! Had you found solution?
how can I randomize the floor count and create random copies
This is such an amazing tutorial! I just started to study Houdini a week ago and then came across this video.
I've got a problem in this tutorial and need someone who can help me solve this problem.
Like 47:53 in this video, I wrote the same VEXpression in an Attribute Wrangle node as to make the normals into opposite directions . However, all normals of the points direct to the same direction like positive Z direction. How can I solve this problem??
It seems like they have been already oriented in the same negative X direction at one previous node PolyFrame...
I have the same issue. The normals align to the same direction for both edges.
@@vytasrauckis6703 Figured it out because the same problem came to me. In your "Boolean" within the "Output Geometry" section, change the "Detriangulate" option to "No Polygons" instead of "All Polygons". That fixes the issue and allows the tutorial to continue perfectly.
Posting more for anyone else who randomly had this happen
Hi there, this interface you show at 3:52 , I can’t seem to get these sliders to appear after I’ve assigned the x_ y_ z_
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’ve rewatched your video at this point several parts and can’t proceed.
I have the correct number of floors input and floats like you show.
I have same problem
@@nikitatimokhov5600 have you been able to solve the problem?
@@nikitatimokhov5600 im not sure what i did, but i restarted the video instructions and im on version 20.0.590 and finally seeing those sliders.
@@kevincastaneda289 Thank you! Ill try it one more time!)
Great！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
I can't find split_prim by_nomal, can anyone help with this please? Thank you
Did you find it?
@@cameronbird3287 I have the same problem
@@cameronbird3287 You need to install labs
Hello Simon I have a little problem that I can't find where it is: at 22:19 when you rotate the meshes with the transform node mine are disappearing during the process and come back when they don't face the good angle. How to fix this? And why does this happen?
Make sure to have good pivot points on the models. Also since this is for the chain node, if models suddenly are larger or very small the chain node could give odd results. Try for example a simple box and a transform in the chain and see how that reacts, based on that you might want to change the models you plug into the chain node.
@@simonhoudini5074 Hey ! sorry for my late answer. So it appears that my meshes were really larger than the box so for now I just upscale my box. By good pivot points what do you mean exactly ? because they are placed at the center of the world in 3ds max , my meshes are just offset pretty much like yours. Also I have some trouble to have good result with the boolean phase (basically my doors are not at the bottom of the cube)
Thanks bro. I had the same issue@@braev83
Having an issue with creating versions for the HDA, whenever a version is created the x,y,z variables in the Type Property get incremented in a strange way, i.e. x_# becomes x_#_2, etc... And that breaks the network until the parameters are correctly renamed. This is probably a bug..
Sounds weird, so if you use a multiparmeter all parameter in there will get a # (either placed by you or Houdini). For example x_# and houdini will automatically make x_1, x_2,... based on the multiparmeter value. If you still indeed get x_#_2 , that could be a bug and maybe switching Houdini version could work.
10:50 I can't find Split_prim_by_normal in my Houdini
Hi Simon, could you make a video on the installation process for Houdini engine to Unreal 5.1?
I do not know why there is a need to go fast when some people are real beginner... actually even making the Asset at first for me is no explanation keep going ?! houdini tutorial always like that
Simon's tutorials are actually pretty detailed, compared to others', so I don't understand why everyone is so annoying in his comment section, while there are clearly far less detailed explanations in videos about houdini. I guess he just attracts those of us who are only starting, and that's why he gets all those comments.
I have been using blender for 3 years, also used Houdini for 2 days for a chocolate simulation, I got a conclusion that Houdini is way more difficult to learn as a knowledge of code is also required in order to put values in input fields, while blender geometry nodes setup is way much easier to learn and adapt according to your needs. Correct me if I am wrong.
You are wrong man.
You use houdini 2 days and you have a conclussion ?
You don’t need to know coding to use procedural stuff in houdini.
Its better to know some vex. But its not mandatory.
Houdini let you do all you can imagin. Blender not.
But you have to spend a lot of more time to learn houdini.
2 days… OmG.
In houdini you build your own geometry nodes if you want. Not always is load a pluging and use a limit parameters to make stuff.
The control that houdini gives you to build procedural stuff its much better than any software
3 years vs 2 days is your hint