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TOTAL DURATION: 1h 54m 15s
Project Grot showcases an ancient cave, illuminated by the fiery glow of molten lava, taking the viewer on a journey through the depths of an otherworldly realm. In this lesson, learn how to create these alien-looking ruins. Start by learning how to build a procedural tool that transforms a rough blockout into a detailed, high-poly mesh that can be used inside Unreal. These kinds of tools are designed to give you fast iteration times, making it easier to experiment and refine your environments efficiently.
Learn more about Project Grot.
Explore the direction of the Procedural Ruins lessons. Learn how topics such as painted destruction, targeted edge wear, procedural flesh and working with vertex color masks will come together to create a Houdini Digital Asset that can be used inside Unreal.
Begin setting up the core logic behind the Ruins Tool, focusing on how to paint destruction onto a 3D model using vertex colors. Explore how to apply Voronoi fracturing to selectively break apart your geometry, giving you full control over how the damage is distributed across your mesh.
Learn how to use the SideFX Labs Edge Damage tool to add realistic wear and tear to the mesh. You’ll also cover how to add a switch node into your graph, making it easy to toggle between low and high detail modes for better performance and flexibility.
These ruins also include organic flesh-like elements. Learn how to integrate these fleshy elements into your damaged structures, using point scattering, noise, and procedural methods to create eerie, organic shapes that seamlessly blend with the destruction.
Learn how to add vertex color masks that will inform a shader in Unreal where to apply textures, similar to how masks in photoshop work.
Learn how to convert the node network into a Houdini Digital Asset (HDA) for use in Unreal. Create Unreal-specific attributes, like those that automatically assign materials, to ensure a smooth integration between Houdini and Unreal.
Learn how to install Houdini Engine and bring the procedural asset into the Unreal workspace. As you work, you will also learn how to debug and iterate on the tool in real-time using Session Sync, ensuring a seamless workflow between Houdini and Unreal.
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COMMENTS
xhesibeqiri 6 months ago |
Hi there!
thank you for the tutorial, very helpfull but there is a missing info tho: how to make the vertex color materials so they work in ue.
there is no explanation on how to apply the RGB channels we created to a material in UE g.g
hopefully you guys can cover that too, wolud be great!
jooleanboolean 5 months, 3 weeks ago |
Hey hey :)
The specific material that ended up in the project was made by my colleague, so I didn’t cover how it was made. However if you’re interested in general how to make your own vertex color based shader, I wrote an article that should help you get jumpstarted:
https://www.artstation.com/julianbragagna/blog/yYYq/houdini-revisiting-vertex-colors-in-the-age-of-nanite
I hope this helps!
raffi.janf 5 months, 3 weeks ago |
GOD BLESS YOU MAN
Zandermn 5 months, 1 week ago |
Amazing tutorial. I like the way it organized. I have a viewport related problem: my mesh display black and white instead of purple when I reach to 5:00 part of the video. How can I change the display back to purpule?
Zandermn 5 months, 1 week ago |
Sorry. I forgot it's in mask viewing mode. You enable it by open node info graph and enable layer "mask".
Mttvizzi 3 months, 1 week ago |
Hi, I followed every part of the tutorial, but I'm encountering an issue with Houdini Session Sync in the final step. When I open the GEO container and try to dive into the HDA, it appears empty. I've checked that the versions of the plugin and Houdini match.
What could be causing this?
jooleanboolean 3 months ago |
Hey Mttvizzi,
I'm not exactly sure, but it might be that you still need to cook the tool once? Usually when you open Session Sync for the first time it comes with an empty container, and requires you to either make a change or press the Cook button once more. I hope that helps!
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