Growing a Mycelium with VEX - Houdini Tutorial

[@dnch]

heck yeah, you are on the roll Konstantin, tried to figure this out myself but had no luck, thanks for this!

[@massimobaita7178]

Thank You very much, Konstantin!

[@purplelight2947]

so impressive! thanks for sharing!

[@kir11]

Awesome tuts!

[@patrickl9930]

Man they’re coming fast and furious this week :)

[@troopxl666]

Nice!

[@UnCL0NED]

Impressive! 🔥🔥🔥 Thanks for sharing... Love watching your tutorials. They are an indespesible resource for me. May I ask your background or how you got into Houdini? Because I'm coming from a graphic design background myself and would really love to get into Houdini for Motion Design Graphics. But VEX is a big obstacle for me. What could you recommend to look deeper into to master this subject and (maybe some day) get even near your level of expertise! 😅 Anyway, thanks again and keep m coming! 🤙

[@KonstantinMagnus]

Thank you, UnCL0NED. I have a background in architecture and visualization. I originally switched to Houdini for procedural modeling of cities and buildings. Ten years ago Cinema 4D had little capabilities in this field unless you were willing to learn Python based on very little C4D-specific learning resources. Regarding Houdini you don't need to start with VEX. I first learned SOPs, VOPs and only then VEX. Plus a bit of Python and OpenCL. To learn VEX I did lots of exercises and took some challenges such as: - Bees and bombs: forums.odforce.net/topic/24056-learning-vex-via-animated-gifs-bees-bombs/ - Translating other tutors' VOP setups to VEX: ie. www.youtube.com/@houdinivex3897 - Watching commercial advanced-to-expert level VEX video courses. - Replacing/altering the functionality of certain SOP nodes. - Reading books about programming and maths. Frankly being a non-programmer / non-mathematician the first two years were quite frustrating at times. The node setups were disproportionally big for what they did and my procedures were not necessarily stable either. But I wanted to get good at this and it really has paid off.

[@UnCL0NED]

@@KonstantinMagnus Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I can concur that it indeed has paid off. What you are showcasing here on this KZbin channel is very impressive and inspiring. Your story really motivates me to continue learning Houdini. All hard things in live take time to master, So like you I will just take it step by step to compound the knowledge to one day get to your level. 😅🙏

[@khomatech0]

Joy of Vex is a fantastic place to start.

[@UnCL0NED]

@@khomatech0 Will check it out, thanks!

[@dattran6801]

​@@KonstantinMagnusDo you mind if I ask what programming/math books that you read?

[@vanity_ibex]

Im all pogged up rn

[@BougieChang]

the video is really hard to understand,especially the 'if' part in the third node in solver.Why do you use that condition?I don't get it.

[@KonstantinMagnus]

The if-conditions compare random values with remapped distances to increase the likeliness of growth in boundary regions and nearby food.

[@BougieChang]

Thank you for answering my question,I guess I still need some time to think about it.@@KonstantinMagnus

[@cromave]

Can you please tell me how to change the growth speedrate of this mycelium? I tried changing the offset value, but it didn't work for me

[@KonstantinMagnus]

Hi cromave, I think it can be done by increasing the substeps on the solver node.

[@staimacire9866]

How can I speed up the animation of the growth?

[@KonstantinMagnus]

Increase the number of the substeps on the solver node.

[@staimacire9866]

@@KonstantinMagnusThanks, and is there a way to make the edges less circle like, to break up the silhouette a bit?

[@FP-in1kq]

Would this work on a three-dimensional surface as well?

[@KonstantinMagnus]

Hi FP, yes you would comment out the line that sets position Y to zero and use a xyzdist/primuv-combination to make sure the points stick to a surface. There is a 3D example under the link in the description, as well.