Shape Curves Tool - creates Braids, Dreadlocks, Curls, etc

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Hey everyone,

Just wanted to post a new tool I developed which turns curves into braids, curls, dreadlocks, etc…
It accepts multiple curves, groups and animated curves (due to the reference frame calculations it performs)

Here is a video I posted showing what the tool can do and I quick guide on how to use it:
https://vimeo.com/140151898 [vimeo.com]

I put a lot of hints and help in the tool so just hover over parameters to see what they do… Right now the help file doesn't contain much except for credits and a disclaimer but eventually I'll get around to adding some proper help there too…

Hope you enjoy it!
Let me know if you find bugs or have any improvements or questions or whatever…

Cheers
Corbin Mayne

PS. I hope this is the right thread to post this in???

Attachments:
ShapeCurvesTool.hda (594.2 KB)

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very interesting stuff do you create a polygon at the top of the curve that can be use for using procedural hair?
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Hi Pelos,

Thanks!
No I don't create a polygon to copy procedurally down the curve… I tried that at first but it ends up being very heavy…
I duplicate the curves and offset their points by a sin/cos wave (depending on whether the braids have even or odd number of strands)

Feel free to download the node and dive inside to see how I built it…
It's not actually that complex of a setup…

Hope you enjoy :-D
Corbin
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Hi everyone,

Sorry, I only realised that because I uploaded the tool from my laptop I was uploading the non-commercial version…

Here is the commercial version for you

Enjoy,
Corbin

Attachments:
ShapeCurvesTool.hda (590.7 KB)

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I'm amaze when you did the curve. Do you use commercial tool on that?
seo agency Liverpool Street [seocompany24.co.uk]
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Hi wharton,

The tool was built in the commercial version of Houdini so it will work in either the commercial or the apprentice version… but the tools itself is not commercial - ie. its free to use so you can just click the download above, install the asset library in your Houdini and you've got the tool…

:-D Enjoy!
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Hi everyone,

It was brought to my attention that some of the embedded otl files were incomplete definitions so I have fixed it and here is the new version…

Thank you to Sergey Oz for mentioning this!

Enjoy!
Corbin Mayne

Attachments:
ShapeCurvesTool.hda (773.9 KB)

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This tool is amazing, extremely helpful for grooming and many other uses, thank you!
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Annyone have a working verison of this ? When i try to open it i just get a blank file (what version was it created for ?)
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This tool has lost a lot of its functionality especially because of the new ramp UI.

Would love to get an update.
Senior Groom TD @ Industrial Light & Magic - abvfx [abvfx.me]
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So out of the box, this tool no longer works, but I figured out a simple workaround.

dive into
...Shape_Curves_Tool1/calculate_curve_vectors/reference_frames/compute_ref_frames
and change
for vtx_i in xrange(vtx_n):
to
for vtx_i in range(vtx_n):
it shows up in a few places, so searching for
xrange
, and replacing it with
range
seems to do the trick

Not sure if all the functionality is there, but so far so good!
Edited by skittixch - Sept. 8, 2022 23:21:06
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Thanks for posting. Yep I got it working a couple months back, tracked down the issue.

Im sure not the first time there has been a python2 - 3 bug
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abvfx
Thanks for posting. Yep I got it working a couple months back, tracked down the issue.

Im sure not the first time there has been a python2 - 3 bug

Hi do you think you could post the updated HDA with the bug fix? I'm a new
Houdini user and this tool is perfect for what I'm trying to create.
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davidooso99
Hi do you think you could post the updated HDA with the bug fix? I'm a new
Houdini user and this tool is perfect for what I'm trying to create.

Here !

I updated the xrange functions, but I didn't changed anything else !
All credits still belong to Corbin Mayne, I simply fixed a bug.
Edited by BenjiBe - Feb. 29, 2024 07:27:41

Attachments:
ShapeCurvesTool.hda (803.1 KB)

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BenjiBe
davidooso99
Hi do you think you could post the updated HDA with the bug fix? I'm a new
Houdini user and this tool is perfect for what I'm trying to create.

Here !

I updated the xrange functions, but I didn't changed anything else !
All credits still belong to Corbin Mayne, I simply fixed a bug.

Thank you! But this is a non-commercial version...
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BenjiBe
davidooso99
Hi do you think you could post the updated HDA with the bug fix? I'm a new
Houdini user and this tool is perfect for what I'm trying to create.

Here !

I updated the xrange functions, but I didn't changed anything else !
All credits still belong to Corbin Mayne, I simply fixed a bug.


This file corrupted my houdini. I loosed all icons and getting tons of errors at reboots...

EDIT: Maybe thats because i openned the hda as a scene instead of importing it as an hda.
Edited by johnseventine - Oct. 23, 2024 09:00:25
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