Houdini 20.5 Nodes Geometry nodes

Edit geometry node

Edits points, edges, or faces interactively.

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Overview

The Edit SOP allows you to transform or sculpt faces/edges/points on a curve/surface interactively.

Unlike most Houdini operators, Edit is cumulative. You can perform multiple edit operations (on multiple selections) in a single Edit node. An Edit node stores the final result of all the edits you perform in that node.

Edit supports two main ways of working: edit (using a manipulator ) and sculpt (using brush tools ).

Note

You cannot animate Edit nodes. To animate transformations, use the Point, Transform, Soft Transform, Peak, or Soft Peak operators, or other types of deformation.

Setup

  • You can only use Edit interactively in the viewer.

  • Keep the parameters for the Edit SOP visible in a parameter editor pane as you use the tool in the viewer pane. The parameters contain controls that modify the behavior of the tool in the viewer.

    In edit mode, the parameters affect the current selection. When you select new points/faces, the parameters reset. In sculpt mode, the parameters affect future strokes.

  • Before you try to select points, turn on the Points icon in the viewer pane’s display options toolbar (on the right side of the viewer). (If the display options toolbar is not visible, click the stowbar on the right side of the viewer pane to show it.)

Tasks

To...Do this

Transform points and/or faces

  1. In the parameters, click Edit and then Transform.

  2. Set the selection type using the toolbar on the left side of the 3D viewer, or the Select ▸ Selection Type submenu.

  3. Select the points/faces you want to transform.

  4. Do any of the following:

Move points and faces along their normals

  1. In the parameters, click Edit and then Peak.

  2. Use the manipulator to move the selected items along their normals. See how to transform points and/or faces above for more information about how to interact with the Edit tool.

  3. See also the Extrude SOP.

Push, pull, or smooth points by brushing over them

  1. In the parameters, click Sculpt.

  2. The controls on the tabs control how the brush works. These controls are common to all brush-based tools in Houdini. See how to use brush tools .

Notes

  • Press while working in the viewer to get a menu of tool options. For example, you can assign different functions to the mouse buttons.

  • Use the soft radius options to do proportional modification of the surrounding points as you transform.

  • Edit has an optional second input for reference geometry. When the second input is connected, the Edit node transforms your edits relative to the differences between the geometry to edit and the reference geometry.

  • You can use the details pane to edit the position of each point or vertex in a piece of geometry.

  • Only committed edits are affected by reference geometry. Press the Commit Transform/Peak Changes button to commit an edit. The current edit is automatically committed when starting a new edit or performing a sculpt operation.

Parameters

Group

The group to apply the edits to. If this is blank, the edits apply to all geometry in the first input. You can create a group and use this parameter to mask the edits so they only apply to the points or faces in the group.

Group type

The type of geometry to use in the group. If the group has only one type of geometry (for example, points), you can just use “Guess from group” and Houdini will figure out the geometry type from the contents of the group.

Edit

Transform

See the online help for the Transform SOP for information on the parameters on this tab.

Preserve Normal Length

Preserve normal lengths when recomputing point normals (when Recompute point normals is on).

Transform Space

The transform parameters are interpreted relative to this transform space.

Global

The group is transformed relative to the global space.

Local Frame

The group is transformed relative to a single local space determined from the group.

Local Frame by Connectivity

Each connected island in the group is transformed relative to its own local space.

Local Origin by Connectivity

Each connected island in the group is transformed relative to the global space using a local origin, determined by the center of the bounding box.

Local Frame

The method for determining a local frame from a collection of components.

Component

The local space origin is the center of the bounding box and the local space orientation is the average of the individual orientations of each component.

Normal+Vector

The local space origin is the center of the bounding box and the local space orientation is determined by the average normal and a world space Up Vector.

Oriented Bounding Box

An oriented bounding box is computed with the local space origin and orientation being determined by that oriented bounding box.

Up Vector

If the Transform Space is Normal+Vector, then the second degree of freedom may be specified via this parameter. The local y-axis will be rotated to match the specified up vector as closely as possible.

Slide on Surface

Constrain edits to the existing surface, so points and edges will seem to “slide” across the existing surface when you move them.

Peak

See the online help for the Peak SOP for information on the parameters on this tab.

Distance Metric

Method for measuring which points are within the soft radius.

Edge

The shortest distance to a point in the group following a path along edges.

Surface

The shortest distance to a point in the group following a path along the surface.

Radius

The 3D distance to the closest point in the group.

Radius with Connectivity (deprecated)

The 3D distance to the closest point in the group, as long as there is a connected path contained entirely within the Soft Radius.

Attribute

Lead Point Attribute is used to determine which normal each point should follow if in Peak mode, and Distance Attribute determines how much each point is affected. Only points in the input group will be affected, even if other points have valid values in the attribute.

Soft radius

Distance within which other points/faces follow the points/faces you edit directly.

Apply Rolloff

If Distance Metric is Attribute, apply a rolloff to the distance output by treating the Distance Attribute as raw distances. A value of zero will be fully transformed, while higher values will be transformed less. Only points whose values are less than or equal to Soft Radius will be affected. Otherwise the value is treated as if it has already been rolled off, and the transform is multiplied by the value. A value of one will be fully transformed while smaller values will be transformed less.

Distance Attribute

If Distance Metric is Attribute, this specifies the point attribute containing the values that modify the amount each point in the group is transformed by. If Apply Rolloff is true the values are treated as raw distances and will be rolled off to between zero and one, otherwise the transform amount is multiplied by the value.

Lead Point Attribute

If Distance Metric is Attribute and Translate Along Lead Normal is true, this specifies the point attribute containing the point index of the whose normal should be translated along. A value of -1 will cause the point to be translated along its own normal.

Soft type

The type of rolloff for soft modifications. This affects how much influence your direct edits have on other points/faces with the soft radius, based on their distance.

Linear

Linear falloff: the amount of influence decreases linearly with distance.

Quadratic

Slow falloff: direct edits affect distant points/faces more than with Cubic.

Cubic

Quick falloff: direct edits affect distant points/faces less than with Quadratic.

Metaball

Calculate falloff according with the metaball density function you specify in the Kernel function parameter.

Tangent angles

Angles of the cubic rolloff function’s tangents. The first value applies to the tangent farthest from the source point, the second applies to the tangent closest to the source point.

Kernel function

Density function to use when Soft type is Metaball.

Visualize Falloff

When to output the soft radius falloff as a vis_falloff point attribute.

Never

Never create or write to the vis_falloff attribute.

Always

Always create and write to the vis_falloff attribute.

When Viewport Tool Is Active

Only create or write to the vis_falloff attribute temporarily when the viewport tool for this node is active.

Sculpt

See the online help for the Sculpt SOP for information on the brush parameters.

Use Orient Attribute

If set, all edits are applied relative to the orientation described by a quaternion point attribute named “orient”. This is most useful when the orient attribute is animated for use with the Wire Solver DOP.

Use Mirror

If set, all operations will be reflected along the plane of symmetry.

Axis

This defines the normal of the plane of symmetry for reflection.

Origin

This defines the origin of the plane of symmetry for reflection.

Distance

This is the distance of the plane of symmetry from the origin of symmetry.

Threshold

This is the maximum distance from a points mirrored position to search for the mirrored point.

Plane Tolerance

This is the tolerance used to determine if a point lies directly on the plane of symmetry. The soft falloff from any points not directly on the plane will be clamped at the plane of symmetry.

Recompute Point Normals

Recomputes point normals if they exist.

Commit Transform/Peak Changes

Saves the current edit and resets the parameters to start a new edit.

Reset All Changes

Restores geometry to initial state.

Inputs

Geometry to edit

The geometry to apply the edits to.

Reference geometry

(Optional) When this input is connected, all edits take place relative to the difference between the geometry to edit and this geometry.

Examples

ReferenceGeometry Example for Edit geometry node

This example creates an animation illustrating how the Edit SOP’s Reference Geometry input can be used to apply an edit on animated geometry.

TerrainEdit Example for Edit geometry node

This example demonstrates how to create a terrain using the Edit SOP.

See also

Geometry nodes