HOUDINI | REDSHIFT
PARTICLE SIMULATION STUDIES
Particle simulation 01 Pop grain simulation with Redshift instances on particles
The goal was to emulate the look and feel of a rigid body simulation but with particles only and be able to display a large number of detailed objects. The orientation and motion are determined by a mass attribute affecting the torque force of each particle and how much force is being applied to them. The instances are high poly Megascan assets with high-resolution textures. By using different attributes, I could split the particles into different groups based on their pscale and randomly apply a specific color or material per object. Each instance is a unique variation and this was all generated within the same Redshift Material.
Particle simulation 02 Pop grain simulation and vdb metaballs
This simple animation consist in a small amount of pop grain particles converted into Metaballs. The goal here was to learn how a very simple particle simulation could be reworked post cache by using its attributes. In this case, the pscale was modified post cache to spawn vdb metaballs of a specific size that would allow intersections. The same cache was also reused to spawn the grains inside each metaballs and a mountain sop was added at the very end of the node tree to add a subtle "jiggly" motion to every element and achieve a nice liquid effect. One little trick I have learnt through this project, is that you can blur the normals of your objects. In this case, I had to use this trick to soften the reflexions on the metaballs surface.
Particle simulation 03 Pop grain simulation - mix vdb metaballs and particle instances
This animation is similar to the previous one except that I have combined vdb metaballs and classic instances generated at render time. I used the split node to split the particles based on their pscale. The larger particles were isolated and converted into vdb whilst the smaller ones were generated at render time by Redshift. The large particles have a mountain sop applied at the end of the node tree, to add some "liquids" motion.
Particle simulation 04 Fake rigid body dynamic simulation and procedural marbles
The main challenge for this simulation was to transform a classic particle simulation into a pseudo rigid body simulation. I have found a few tutorials talking about quaternion matrices and have applied them to this project. The result is particles capable of adapting their orientation, rotation speed, and alignment to a surface as they roll and collide into each other. The marble material is fully procedural and consists of a single instance of Maxon noise with randomized offset and cycle values based on the particle Id attribute. The Id attribute also randomizes the displacement and normal textures so that every single instance is uning. The split between solid and translucent marbles is also part of the procedural material setup and is based on the particle Id as well.
Particle simulation 05 Fracture and particle simulation
This simulation was a simple test scene to see how my computer would handle several millions of particles (approximately 6 million). I have added a simple fracture simulation to it and learned how to add debris from a pre-cached simulation to instance particles. Both simulations were retimed in Houdini which was also another interesting thing to try and learn along the way.
Thank you for watching.
