My Houdini tools

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olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

EDIT April 10 2023
The Field Dimension tool is published. :)
The link also contains information and links to Modelleicher's script and NMC T-Bone's Blender addon which is part of the workflow.

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Just thought I'd make a 'main thread' for my exploration of using Houdini to create maps for FS.

Here's my latest doodle, a tool to create fields. What it does is take a mask, flatten/smooth the terrain, and export the updated heightmap.
I am looking into if I can make this tool also create the corners required to use modelleicher's field dimension script.



Last edited by olahaldor on Mon Apr 10, 2023 10:47 am, edited 3 times in total.
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

A new iteration of the fields and field dimensions tool. Get perfect results every time.. :)
I forgot to mention that I have a script that automates the process in Blender, so it's basically import the object, run the script and then export to i3d. Really easy, really fast. :)
TheSuBBie
Posts: 538
Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2020 11:38 am

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by TheSuBBie »

And how much does the Houdini software programme cost ( the version required for your scripts) ?
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

€259/year for Houdini Indie I think. :)


I can list the feature set of the tools I've made so far

Road tool
- Import and export of heightmap
- Import splines from GE or create new splines directly in Houdini
- The spline will automatically follow the terrain and smooth any inclines which are too steep
- Automatically flatten the terrain along the spline and creates a UV unwrapped road mesh
- With user input you can add vertex colors for snow overlay textures

Field Dimensions tool
- Import and export of heightmap
- Import EPS or create your own spline for your field
- Can do sharp and smooth corners on fields
- Automatically creates the required objects for use with Modelleicher's field dimension script

The user interaction required in Blender is also run mostly with a script.
This step is required to make all the spheres be individual items in the scenegraph, in order for the script to correctly place field dimensions.
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

Updated the field dimensions workflow. :) Threw Substance Designer into the mix, to sort out the masking of weight files so the field ground texture will finally work.

olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

I found this by luck, or accident, while looking for a node, and thought I had to look into what, and how.
This is real fast! Can iterate and apply snow mesh to many buildings.

It's not a complete "one click solution", but it gets you going by making the snow mesh, which you can bring into Blender and use the script Redphoenix have made to get the proper vertex colors.

Katra
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2022 1:00 pm

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by Katra »

i did houdini in university and man that stuff has a steep learning curve, but thats an amazing tool
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

Katra wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 5:28 pm i did houdini in university and man that stuff has a steep learning curve, but thats an amazing tool
Nice! I guess you studied something related to gamedev or VFX?



Made some more progress on the field dimensions tool the last couple of evenings.
And now I've got a working script in Blender to fully automate the process of prepping the field dimension stuff to run with Modelleicher's script.
Cheers to T-bone. Awesome effort creating this script for me, and everyone else.

More automation, basically. :)
Katra
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2022 1:00 pm

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by Katra »

olahaldor wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:14 am
Nice! I guess you studied something related to gamedev or VFX?
Modelling and animation for games, yeah, with a focus on hard surface and proceduralization + VFX and cinematics

Ive been wanting to make maps and script mods for fs22 for a while but the lua modding is a bit opaque and slow to get into Dx
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

Excellent! I used to work in a couple studios for CG animated movies for a few years, and just started teaching the craft. :)
If you've ever stepped into GE and know your way about how to make a map, I'm sure you see the benefit of throwing Houdini into the mix.

Would be interesting to see what you could come up with if you have some knowledge about Houdini.

You don't have to know it all. I know next to nothing about scripting. And others have no clue how to deal with 3D models and UV mapping. We have our strengths and weaknesses, but together we find solutions that help each other out.

I'm part of a couple discords where there are some very talented scripters/programmers, and it's fantastic to showcase what I'd like in a tool, to see them embrace the idea and come up with a script that solves it all in GE or Blender. They help me, and I help them in any way I can. :)

DM me if you like. If you have an Artstation or other portfolio I'd love to have a look.
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

The field dimension tool is complete :)

With the tailor made interface you can select a few different view modes, whether to import an external bitmap mask or draw curves directly in Houdini.

Export updated heightmap, temp field dimension objects to be used with modelleicher's script in GE, and updated field masks for ground textures, should you want to go that route.

Available soon! :)
Time to get Houdini!

Next up is finalizing the road tool.
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

The Field Dimension tool is published. :)
The link also contains information and links to Modelleicher's script and NMC T-Bone's Blender addon which is part of the workflow.
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

Worked on refining the UI and adding a couple features on the road tool today :)
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

I made a new tool today which let you create railway tracks, including spline for the trainsystem in Farming Sim.
Just like the road tool, it will deform the terrain, place the tracks on the terrain, and... it just works, out of the box.

Original textures from the railway in Elmcreek works out of the box too!
Disregard that it's flying, it's just part of the testing phase. I don't want to commit to the deformed landscape until I got the correct path. :)
olahaldor
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:08 am
Location: Norway

Re: My Houdini tools

Post by olahaldor »

I've made more progress last night.
I can now very accurately randomly place rocks (to form cliffs), and trees, all within houdini, and change the temporary models to the actual reference in GE using W33zl's script.

The temp objects not only keeps the position, but also rotation and scale!! W33zl's script only needs a small update to also copy the scale data, and it's a definitive 100% match between Houdini and GE :gamer: :mrgreen:

Since all the objects keep their translate values, it means you can adjust them as you require in GE, should you discover that it blocks something important, or you outright feel it's in the wrong spot. Move it, delete it, just like usual.

This is a major break through! Here's some screenshots of the result from tonights stream. Everything here is 100% procedurally placed within Houdini and brought to GE.

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