Connecting multiple objects with a smooth 'Metaball' Effect

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Hi there,

I need to achieve a Metaball type connection effect but with any 2 random objects.

The connection effect needs to work no matter how far the distance between object A and B.

I have illustrated my problem below. Perhaps there is a more straight forward method for achieving this look and functionality? The import thing is that Object B can be moved independently and always have a smooth connection to object A, whilst retaining its core shape.

Really excited to see how this can be achieved elegantly

Many thanks,

Stevus.

Attachments:
ConnectionProblem_01.PNG (68.7 KB)

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I like to use the vex lerp function for something like that.

Just need to make sure the source and destination specified has the same number of ‘values’…or you might get some odd results…of course that might be desirable.

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/vex/functions/lerp.html [www.sidefx.com]

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/vex/functions/slerp.html [www.sidefx.com]
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BabaJ
I like to use the vex lerp function for something like that.

Just need to make sure the source and destination specified has the same number of ‘values’…or you might get some odd results…of course that might be desirable.

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/vex/functions/lerp.html [www.sidefx.com]

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/vex/functions/slerp.html [www.sidefx.com]

Great, thanks. I'm still getting to grips with using VEX functions, I'm guessing the lerp/slerp functions return values that can then be used to add new primitives? Do you know of any resources/tutorials showing how to implement these functions into a workflow?

Cheers
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i did something similar here:

http://forums.odforce.net/topic/32720-combining-two-primitives/ [forums.odforce.net]

you can dissect it if you like.
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Here's what I would do with the lerp function.

In this file, at the moment it's only doing tx translations of the circle, but further coding could also do ty and tz.

Attachments:
Lerp To Circle.hiplc (153.9 KB)

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