Houdini Substeps

This weeks Top Tip on Houdini substeps comes from our very own Graham Collier!

Houdini – Substeps!!!

When running simulations with Houdini substeps, it’s always a good idea to check if your emitter and collision object are setup correctly.

Under Global animation options, switch off Integer Frame Values. Now you can scrub through subframes in the viewport.

Switch on Display point trails in the viewport to check your velocities.

No velocities on your animated geo? Then try using a trail SOP set to Compute Velocity. If your point count is changing and you have IDs then switch on Match by Attribute and set it to id.

If your geo is not updating during substeps then try using a Timeblend SOP. This can be used to compute fractional positions within a frame.

If you have deforming collision geometry, then make sure you have Re-evaluate SOPs to Interpolate Geometry switch on. You can switch on the Collision guide geo to check it updates.

Take a look what Graham had to say about his latest VFX work in SMITE:

BRINGING THE DIGITAL WORLD TO LIFE

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As well as pre-rendered footage, we also deliver in-engine, live action and 2.5D solutions; all created by the same highly skilled team. Our highly adaptive production pipelines ensure an efficient, high quality and transparent creative process.

Please get in touch with Callum if you have any questions on how we can help you, [email protected]