Hello,
I am fairly new to Houdini but not to 3D. I am practicing (hard surface) modeling and i am trying to keep everything as modifiable as possible. Before starting Houdini I read many people saying that the traditional style of modeling is not the procedural way of houdini, which is fine, i am figuring out almost everything i need. But i am wondering how do you model smooth edges, bevel can make ngons so thats not the best option. Same goes for boolean, needs edge reconnection.
Traditional subdiv modelling is based around control loops or edge creases so that doesn't feel like it should be the way ( you for sure can ), either.

My current project doesn't require flexibility, but when, why and which method of modelling do you guys use.
Also “use x 3d program” is not the answer i am looking for.

This may not be helpfull as you probably have more in depth experience with 3-D modelling than I…but…

Best bet I would say is to just start modelling, perhaps using some tuts to get some sense of the different tools that you may not be aware of yet.

I don't have a reference to a recent topic on this forum.

But it was about using the new H16 Boolean tools with the polybevel ones. Some had some issues with the polybevel.

However, there was a member that mentioned an asset tool they were making available soon that ‘solved’ the issue.

My point being, I think it's quit possible that with a bit more experience and some work you might be able create your own tools to suit your workflow in terms of how and what you want to model; if you can't find it within Houdini or from an external source to use with Houdini.

Probably best to just start modelling in a way you think might suit your purpose and post the file with questions as issues arise.

I mean you already mention you want ‘smooth edges’. Well you could use poly with high resampling of that edge, or maybe just use a bezier curve or even nurb curves…or look into using nurbs surface/bezier surfaces.

There are tools that can convert too between poly, nurbs, beziers.

Yeah i am practicing in order to understand the program better. I am currently starting off with a curve and extruding outwards onto my desired geometry, haven't tried nurbs though. I have used blender and max, and surfaces were never fun there.
Off course all info is welcome

Here is a semi-procedural way of subdivision modeling inside Houdini:

https://vimeo.com/konstantinmagnus/houdinitube [vimeo.com]

My current project doesn't require flexibility, but when, why and which method of modelling do you guys use. Also “use x 3d program” is not the answer i am looking for.

i model 50% houdini/50% maya. the main driving factor in deciding which software to use is the nature of the modelling. hardsurface and architectural type modelling is really well suited to houdini, and I feel like it can be faster and more responsive to do this type of work in h regardless of a ‘pure procedural’ approach or not. because of some of the interactive viewport tools and personal comfort level, organic type modeling is much faster in maya in my opinion.

try a variety, you'll find your own balance.

When to model procedurally?

When you need variation or have to respond to changes in direction.

You don't have to go out of your way to make things procedural. Houdini, by it's very nature, is procedural. If you're dropping nodes, you're using proceduralism. You can always go back to any node in the graph and change a property. You can always surface any property in a node as part of the user interface in a digital asset.

However, there is a caveat. Say you manually select half of some geometry and do an operation on it, like a extrude. What you've done is group a specific set of faces. Further up the graph, you decide to edit a node that increases the number of polys. Now your extrudes downstream are broken because the face numbers have changed. So before you manually select half of the geometry, think about what you're trying to accomplish. You can usually write a group expression for that. For example, @ptnum < (@numpt/2). With a group expression in place, changes to the number of polys upstream won't affect your extrudes downstream. To me, this is the crux of thinking procedurally.

aoakenfoArchiact

When to model procedurally?

When you need variation or have to respond to changes in direction.

You don't have to go out of your way to make things procedural. Houdini, by it's very nature, is procedural. If you're dropping nodes, you're using proceduralism. You can always go back to any node in the graph and change a property. You can always surface any property in a node as part of the user interface in a digital asset.

However, there is a caveat. Say you manually select half of some geometry and do an operation on it, like a extrude. What you've done is group a specific set of faces. Further up the graph, you decide to edit a node that increases the number of polys. Now your extrudes downstream are broken because the face numbers have changed. So before you manually select half of the geometry, think about what you're trying to accomplish. You can usually write a group expression for that. For example, @ptnum < (@numpt/2). With a group expression in place, changes to the number of polys upstream won't affect your extrudes downstream. To me, this is the crux of thinking procedurally.

I understand that by definition Houdini as a whole is procedural. I was mostly referring to modularity. I was asking what people prefer to do since as you said, you have to go out of your way to write specific groups so that the node tree doesn't get messed up. Out of desire to learn Houdini better, I struggle a bit to write those groups, even though my current modelling practice project doesn't need it at all.

Hey, in the same boat here, using Houdini more and more for modeling (mostly for games) and figuring out the best balance between doing things procedurally vs destructively.

Just recently did the lowpoly of this in H: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OzDAv [artstation.com]

Took advantage of proceduralism for repeating parts like strings, tuners, knobs, screws. For the rest just topobuild and basic modeling operations and locking nodes & deleting history (getting better at just letting the history be on my current project).

Procedural approaches for smooth edges from the top of my head: for games/normal map baking maybe convert to VDB + smooth & bake it down, for prerendered a rounded edge shader could do the job. Also, the Fusion HDA seems useful if you can get your hands on it, discussed here (vimeo links by vux): https://sidefx.com/forum/topic/48935/?page=2 [sidefx.com]

Konstantin's shampoo project demonstrates a viable technique of first achieving an approximate result organically, then going back and wiring things in a more structured fashion.

Where can I get Konstantin shampoo project ?

Konstantin and tamte and I forget the other guy have great heads in Houdini.

I don't know if the source project files are available, but here's a video link of the process:

https://vimeo.com/112114913 [vimeo.com]