Advanced Scattering in Houdini 18.5

In the video I will show how to use the new Scattering features from Houdini 18.5. With these new nodes you can better select or mask out areas to place and scatter models. The new Scatter and align also handles orientation and scale by default so you don't have to worry about setting these attributes.
Further more an attribute from pieces node is used which can be used to assign models based on a pscale value.
Link to the work of Sebastian Bielecki www.artstation.com/bieleckki
I used his kit bash set in the video for generating sci-fi props and suits.
If you have not seen the new Houdini 18.5 check out the website for more info about it www.sidefx.com/products/whats...

[@irql2]

That was neat. I love watching these videos and seeing what kind of stuff you guys can come up with!

[@JohnLarryGroff]

This is extremely helpful and well-presented. Thank you for putting this together.

[@junzheshen3343]

Super useful! This allows me to do so much more without writing VEX myself and not jumping back and forth between heightfield scatter and scatter.

[@flashgiz1]

21 seconds in and I already learned 2 very useful tips. 1. It's nicer to have lights in the viewport while using high quality lighting with shadows . 2. Alt-click to merge nodes :) thank you!

[@i20010]

Thanks! I havnt noticed that sneaky alt merge!

[@ShariSolo]

Flawless explanation. Thank you, Simon.

[@jinhoonchung]

Flawlessly presented. Thank you!

[@MortenKvale]

Awesome, thank you Simon for all you educational content!

[@trulycreative9795]

super well put together, and with a lot of attention to detail!

[@andvfx]

Very cool, straight to the point, thanks!

[@ianward5779]

great video, really clear and easy to follow.

[@juliengherlenda9476]

Love that ! Looking forward to others tutorials

[@hiratrq]

Great tutorial! Thank you so much for sharing

[@AllmakeDesigner]

I think this is good start to make procedural Rocks in game fx like ground attack and similar. Thank you

[@borissolaris4421]

Simon is the best as always!

[@SveGalabov]

thank you :) i wonder if i can do some manual tweaks to the procedural build such as using attrpaint to mark/block areas of the mask myself... Just for more control...Will give it a try

[@massimobaita7178]

Thank You very much, Simon!

[@slick3d392]

For sure has inspired me.

[@cob666fuk]

How are the sci fi elements nicely aligned on a grid on the torus? Mine are randomly oriented (like on the character)

[@hitta750]

would be nice if this could be answered. kinda disappointing to follow the whole video only to get something that doesnt work. maybe including the hip file in the description would lead to less confusion when future updates change how some nodes work.

[@graphic-nations]

how is your view port look awesome with shadows?

[@planebreach]

Is there any way to reverse the scale of the scatter ? I mean if the mask is fading the object are larger. Can we do the opposite - when the mask is more thick the object - larger, when the mask starts fading - they become smaller.

[@juancarlosgzrz]

how do you randomize rotation and scale after scatter?

[@BradASchreiber]

On 18.5.351 maskbyfeature the Group is not showing up. I have the group node under the grid as in the tutorial.

[@laplanddream]

So nice! Could you share hip file for 2nd example please

[@minhtri4881]

Hi Simon, i tried to use this for dopnet1, but there is a warning said object contains duplicate values for the "name" point attribute, when i run the simulation, the rock just drop through ground plain, is there any way to fix this, thank you!

[@junglingmitapfel2902]

Really nice! Is there a way to do this with instanced geometry with a material and uvs? I have not yet found out anything about this.. No matter what I do, my assets remain grey.

[@simonhoudini5074]

Material and uv are support by default in Houdini instances

[@JonasJCom]

awesome

[@filmeseproducoesaudiovisua9969]

Bro very cool 👽

[@smithpark87]

I'm studying while watching this tutorial, but I think I eat it because the rotation value is not properly applied when I apply it with mechanical parts.Is there any tip? I want to make the machine look like it's in the tutorial.

[@dnch]

nice, by the way hod do you get such nice lighting in viewport?

[@junzheshen3343]

Middle shelf. Change the lighting to the third one. But it depends on your hardware, cuz it takes more computation.

[@simonhoudini5074]

Look at the light bulbs on the side of the viewport and use the high quality one. Further add a sky light in the object level

[@chrisgg]

Amazing. My sciifi ring version just looks a swiss cheese :) Will you share the HIP on Gumroad?

[@MissEldira]

are you able to stop the objects from clipping into each other?

[@simonhoudini5074]

The scatter and align node outputs a pscale, which holds the distance between points and can be used to scale models nicely.

[@caspgin]

So the intersection of geometry is handled automatically?

[@junzheshen3343]

Yes, just like the heightfield scatter.

[@fran.fernandez]

how u get that nice render in the viewport?

[@simonhoudini5074]

I have a video about lighting in the viewport of Houdini if you are interested in that

[@xrossfader]

Wait a second… you merged without a tab key… hot key setup??

[@simonhoudini5074]

Select multiple nodes and hold ‘alt’ , while dragging an output of a node

[@mrGr88n]

@@simonhoudini5074 could U please say how to make that parameter pane pop up over the network view pane (in ur top right corner). I'm searching for this info for 4 hours already =)

[@brianberk8035]

I followed your tutorial but scatteralign isn't scaling the copied spheres at all.

[@brianberk8035]

maybe the 2022 version is different? the copied spheres overlap and there's no interpolation option in maskbyfeature. i was able to get a slight scaling effect by turning off "calculate directional mask" in maskbyfeature, but it just isn't working like your tutorial.