Houdini Origami SOP

I created this SOP a while back for a project which didn't go through. Basically it lets you create simple paper folds on a grid and animate them. The idea was to create a set of nodes which would then allow me create more advanced folds but it didn't get that far.

The SOP node worked by first setting a vector for where the paper would fold and then setting the fold angle. This was done by first splitting the grid into two sections, then rotating one side and finally attaching them together. You could also bend the fold with falloff and animate all the parameters. I will definitely be coming back to this in the future.

Nodes layout for creating a paper aeroplane.

Houdini Import OBJ Python Script

Recently I'v been working on a project where I had to import an obj file into Houdini which was made up of loads of different objects. The problem with using a simple file node is that the entire obj file is imported into a single geometry node. If you need to get an individual object then you can get it as a group. However this is tedious if you want to animate each individual group.

So instead of creating a transform sop node for each group and then animating it, I decided to make a simple python script. The script creates a geometry node for each group and puts an object merge node in it which only imports that specific group. Then all the geometry nodes are put inside a subnet.

To use the script just create a geometry node which has the file node that imports the obj file in it. Then select the geometry node and run the script. You have to create a shelf tool to use the script.

Obj file split into separate geometry nodes.