How can I turn an Edge or Edge Loops into a Curve?

Can you delete all but the edges you wish and then use a convert sop set to nurbs curve?

Koen

End Sop -> unroll

koen:
No, I can't. If I delete everything but the edges, only points remain.

eval:
How does that give me a curve object? I am sorry, I do not understand.

Once you have only the points, use an add sop to put the edges back, and then the convert.

Hope that helps.

Koen

For that matter you could skip the delete step as you can remove unused points in the add sop any way.

I'd just snap a new curve to the points, if you turn on “Snap consolidate” then a reference to the source geometry will be placed in your curve sop. Then if the geometry changes shape the curve will follow.

If you need something more procedural you could try grouping the points and use the “by group” option on the add sop.

Also try the dissolve sop with Delete non selected, then follow up with a convert sop.

Dissolve SOP is usually pretty good and straightforward for this since it's rewrite

One of the methods:

Nathan Apffel
Its hard to believe that these are the best solutions in Houdini for extracting a curve from an edge.

Houdini is a toolbox, not a toy.

Konstantin Magnus
Houdini is a toolbox, not a toy.

Why can't it be both? What I love about houdini is that it can have the easy up-top nodes and assets for easy artist usage, while still allowing access to the technical basis.

Dear David,
The free HDA on orbolt is as good as a build in node.
Just imagine all those tools to be build in. Horror! It would be a mess!
Also sidefx would have to maintain all those tools.
look here
https://github.com/Aeoll/Aelib [github.com] ( i do like this stuff!)
and here
https://github.com/qLab/qLib [github.com]
and there is much more.
A lot of cool hdas out there and just browsing trough them takes hours!
Do you want this all to be integral part of houdini? I dont.

What would be cool is a slightly better repository orbolt is a bit quirky…

regards

Olaf

Olaf Finkbeiner
What would be cool is a slightly better repository orbolt is a bit quirky

Haha! I can agree with that… it's difficult to see what houdini version an asset is for, some are assets embedded in assets, etc.
I would love to see shelf presets with hda tools that can be shared. I think you houdini veterans / code artists underestimate how intimidating these installs and external tools can be for less technically skilled artists. In my circles, I am technically versed non-coder artist, and I get overwhelmed. Without eetu and matt and others, I'd be lost. (Or rather… more lost, cause I'm not as lost as I would be :-) )

Konstantin Magnus

Nathan Apffel
Its hard to believe that these are the best solutions in Houdini for extracting a curve from an edge.

Houdini is a toolbox, not a toy.

This is a joke right?
Sorry for reviving this.

Why would something efficient be a toy?
I am trying to create a curve from a set of edges for half an hour now. Something that takes a few seconds in literally any other software. And I am now going back to SI and do it there.
Artists are paid for using tools not to create them. But hey, you still can feel elitist when using Houdini….

OneBigTree
Why would something efficient be a toy?
I am trying to create a curve from a set of edges for half an hour now. Something that takes a few seconds in literally any other software. And I am now going back to SI and do it there.
Artists are paid for using tools not to create them. But hey, you still can feel elitist when using Houdini….

so if you tried Dissolve SOP as suggested https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/14838/#post-224788 [www.sidefx.com]
and it didn't work, post a file with the issue, as I mentioned since the rewrite Dissolve SOP seems to be pretty good at extracting curves from edges
you may need to append Ends SOP set to Curve U Open if you want open curves or Polypath as you see in vux's file

tamte

OneBigTree
Why would something efficient be a toy?
I am trying to create a curve from a set of edges for half an hour now. Something that takes a few seconds in literally any other software. And I am now going back to SI and do it there.
Artists are paid for using tools not to create them. But hey, you still can feel elitist when using Houdini….

so if you tried Dissolve SOP as suggested https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/14838/#post-224788 [www.sidefx.com]
and it didn't work, post a file with the issue, as I mentioned since the rewrite Dissolve SOP seems to be pretty good at extracting curves from edges
you may need to append Ends SOP set to Curve U Open if you want open curves or Polypath as you see in vux's file

Yepp, I tried that. It had trouble working with an edge group. Probably a more general issue because after trying about 20 time it finally worked. But the point is that in Houdini every simple function requires so many steps, that in the end you get a massive overhead of additional actions that it nullifies any advantages you get from the procedurality. Creating a complex model doesn't stop with extracting a curve.
All the fundamental things needed for modeling in Houdini are still achieved in most other applications a lot faster and with less actions even if the tool itself in H provides greater flexibility.
At the end of the day all that counts is if I deliver the model to my client. If I instead tell them “ I have built all the tool to create the model” they will probably be impressed but refuse to pay me.
So I go back to the software that enables me to get paid, even if you can do “anything” also in Houdini.
And if it is a toy that gets me paid, yes, I am gonna use the toy.

fair enough, I generally don't use Houdini for traditional modeling either, use the tool best suited for the task

tamte
fair enough, I generally don't use Houdini for traditional modeling either, use the tool best suited for the task

My point exactly

OneBigTree
This is a joke right?

OneBigTree
I am trying to create a curve from a set of edges for half an hour now. Something that takes a few seconds in literally any other software.

OneBigTree
Artists are paid for using tools not to create them. But hey, you still can feel elitist when using Houdini….

Not being part of the marketing team I usually ignore threads like these, but here is a suggestion..

lol Konstantin….I had a dry response last night but scrapped it…glad I did…your is so much better.

Not sure if this helps but I've found some of the tools useful…
https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/56685/ [www.sidefx.com]

The “GameDev Edge Group to Curve” sop might be useful for this…