Houdini 20 is out and the literal poster child of this release is the new Feather workflow. And this really is a whole workflow, because it offers tools not only for creating feathers but also for creating a whole plumage, simming and rendering. So, let’s take a look at all of it. In this episode we build a plumage from the templates we created in episode one using the standard Houdini grooming tools as well as something a bit more procedural.
https://entagma.com/downloads/H20_Feathers.zip
Thanks for the breakdown, really useful!
One thing, I noticed when I was following your steps on the procedural groom that the feathers would be distorted, the barb direction gets messed up when they’re positioned in this way. I guess you’ve noticed it, but here’s a closeup pic showing the problem:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/meqokwmb3eruez0hkqwsc/featherDeform.jpg?rlkey=o3bxq03xxhp745rw12ebzby4n&raw=1
I wonder if the barborient attribute is being calculated correctly?
Thanks again!
Hey Chris, thank you! I actually didn’t notice that! Creating this series was a bit hectic. The feather template and the groomed feather in your screenshot however are different models. I used one of the feathers I just copy-pasted into my template in ep01 for my procedural groom. So the difference isn’t as drastic as in your picture, but still the feather in the groom should look different. I’ll investigate and update the post once I find a solution!
Thanks for the update yeah I guessed it was a bit manic. And yes the two pics aren’t showing the same feather, but it was part of the same setup (a different variant) – this angle showed the problem most clearly. Hope it’s a simple solution 🙂
I can confirm that the curve orient node that you’ve added breaks the barb orientation that comes from the template. The recommended way is to use the groom orient tools to rotate the feathers, and use a feather_utility node in the template to add the barborient attribute.