Houdini 18 - Building Destruction - RBD Bullet Solver

In this video we are going to walk through the process of using the material fracture node as well as the new RBD Bullet Solver node. We are going to build a rough building and destroy it using those previously mentioned nodes. We are then going to learn how to Cache our simulations out and tweak the simulation with custom forces and constraint strengths.
Indie-Pixel Website: www.indie-pixel.com/
Indie-Pixel Patreon: / indiepixel
Indie-Pixel Discord: / discord
Indie-Pixel Twitter: / indiepixel3d
Thanks so much!
Kenny
Indie-Pixel

[@FillyourBrain]

More Tutorials plz. adding debris,smoke,particles,explosion to this would be awesome.

[@chrish1680]

Probably the easiest, clearest Houdini tutorial I've seen so far

[@cadmanfox6874]

this is scary

[@coreys9419]

This is excellent! Cleared up basic RBD better than any other I've found thus far. Being new at Houdini, this format of step by step explanation when values are changed helps a ton.

[@travislrogers]

Love these quick hit videos! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.. super helpful!

[@samerghareeb2998]

I have followed step-by-step and really good tutorial I like how you are doing In really good pace, much appreciated

[@tulextreme]

Houdini is pure magic. Cyber magic! Thank you for this subbed eager to learn! Be safe

[@tristanstier5335]

Its crazy how well you made this tutorial. For someone who started houdini 3 days ago and wanted to get into destruction, I could understand most of what you were saying. Thank you so much!

[@IndiePixel3D]

Thanks! Glad you liked it! I'll try to pump out some more vfx tuts with the same format.

[@tristanstier5335]

@@IndiePixel3D Thx!

[@tristanstier5335]

also, say you use a bounding box for the group node. How would you rotate the box. It doesnt seem to have any place to do so?

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@tristanstier5335 so, put a transform node right below your box node and move your cursor into the scene view and hit enter on the keyboard...this will to expose the transform gizmo...you can cycle through the different methods using the hotkeys, t, r, and e. Or you can simply type in rotation values into the transform node.

[@jiyongshin1910]

Awesome! Straightforward! Thank you for the tuto!! :)

[@n000Face]

Hey I found a cool trick you might like- if you hold CTRL+ALT+SHIFT when you copy a node you actually create an instance of the node. Could be helpful for stuff like the copy node here- adjust the parameters on one and they all update :D

[@vladartiomav2473]

Exactly what I needed to hear! Just will need to subtract 1, like "ch("../copy1/ncy")-1" from the pillars "total count", and it's a fully procedural building setup!

[@Sodomantis]

God I love your speed. Tutorials for non idiots who know how to pause. Love it!

[@sanmanmohite6805]

Superb Man . Thanks. I m almost Learning Houdini because of Teachers like you. Thanks Again

[@eclairesrhapsodos5496]

Almost?

[@XianJaxxon]

Really nice. Short, sweet, and very clear.

[@revg9742]

this is the first time i know the trick to drag and drop selected text to create reference value ! neat !

[@MM-cn1wk]

Hi, nice quick and clear tut', thanks a lot for that ! A little improvement I found in order to get everything working more procedurally is to set the expression "npoints(0)/16" in the skin N parameter, so the walls don't crossover when changing the original grid shape. :)

[@Misstigon]

Very Clear and easy to follow . Thanks .

[@pavinivfx]

Saved my project with a simple thing that I couldn`t find the solution. I was trying to make a collider inside the geo to simulate the explosions, but this method is way more simple and effective.

[@crediblemulk4638]

Very nicely explained. Thanks

[@ShariSolo]

Elegant approach!

[@ifaisalstudio]

Amazing, very well explained, please more VFX tuts

[@federicoguillen7608]

You're great man, subscribed. Thanks a lot

[@eeeganesan]

U r awesome... With ur single video i learnt a lot...

[@ExplosiveKilla]

Thank you for the awesome tutorial.

[@doodlesnack3082]

Awesome stuff man!!

[@Gilloozz]

the modeling part was really good, I believe the sweep node is diff in houdini 18, thank you man.

[@IndiePixel3D]

Yeah, the sweep node changed...but for the better. Theres a vid fir the sweep node here on the channel that goes through the changes to the node.:)

[@dikmugget]

great tutorial! thanks!

[@real_dim_sum3963]

very good tutorial, thanks !

[@lveronese]

the alt click to merge tip alone is worth the video.. thanks

[@s-ho2166]

This tutorial is really optimize !

[@TheSupmag]

Hey :) Super cool! I wanted to combine two of your explosions, so it happened different places on the building.... with two groups with different names, merged them,and put them in a new group - and I got all the new selected points combined, but when I added them in the pointvelocity sop, and attached it in the solver - it only seem to pick up the group that is first in the merge node - any idea how to get around this?

[@s-ho2166]

That's cool and too ergonomic !! GG

[@TheSupmag]

You are a life saver!!

[@ThuXar]

Hey ! Great tutorial ! Very simple to understand and follow. However, when i put the point velocity nothing happen and i can't get the exploding effect. Do you know how to fix it ?

[@vickz372]

Hello , nice to see something about dynamic :) any eta on gumroad of wood cabine and procedural building ? I'm hesitant to subscribe to patron , but if you say to long I guess I'll have to :)

[@Marcosdandrea]

Love it!

[@sacha6486]

Nice Tutorial ! I have a question, if I want to add for example, put a second impact point on another zone with a delay, can I copy group create and pointvelocity node and merge them with a timeshift ? Or Is there another method ? Thank you so much ! :)

[@webmechanic4257]

Awesome Tutorial! A lot to learn in this video. Just wanted to know how to export this as a video from houdini?

[@user-bf4vp2gj4u]

loved this tutorial !! also REALLY want to see how to add smoke and explosion together !!

[@klarnorbert]

Easy: use debris source shelf tool on the fractured geometry -> then use billowy smoke shelf tool on the debris sim. GG ez. You can tweak it, but that's about it.

[@jono8326]

a tutorial on how to render this out nicely, would be amazing! thanks for the great video!

[@IndiePixel3D]

I do have another tut in the works.

[@jono8326]

@@IndiePixel3D thanks heaps!

[@kityoung03]

I'm new to Houdini and I have a problem with the skin node at 2:13. I have to set My "N" to 64 to get the same result witch makes more inner geometry inside.

[@robosergTV]

any info about the car racing course? Hopefully it wont use wheel colliders, but ray casts

[@resilientpicture]

Pretty cool

[@mnoor8946]

hey there , how can we add force like wind for the rbdbulletsolver?

[@dionborutzky]

Awesome

[@TheSiimur]

This is amazing man! I want to add smoke as it destructs. Is there any tutorials out there I can follow ?

[@WillPreston3D]

wicked! do you know how to make smoke come out from the inner surfaces?

[@IndiePixel3D]

Yeah, was going to do some more vids around destruction...debris and dust are the logical next steps

[@avtpro]

Wow. Thanks.

[@albancontrepois]

Very nice tutorial. But i don't know why destruction zone (last step) is not working to me

[@saebr]

This was an awesome tutorial as usual... Could you please please please continue it by adding smoke and dust and debris. I am kinda new and struggling with that... I don't want to use the shelf tools... If you could just add to the tutorial that and explain how it's done please. It would be highly appreciated. Thanks for all your effort.

[@IndiePixel3D]

Sounds like a good idea to me!;)

[@deepakragul307]

@@IndiePixel3D yeah man you are great please continue with smoke and all

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@deepakragul307 thanks so much! Yep, I'm planning on rolling out some more vfx vids on smoke and fire here shortly...stay tuned!

[@deepakragul307]

@@IndiePixel3D i like your tut very much i will support for u and for your vid and thanks for considering my message

[@felipemarceu3232]

Hi! Thanks for the tutorial! How can i stick all the building in the ground and prevent the parts for fall before a explosion for example?

[@kwesikwaa9204]

create a group for the ones you want to stick to the ground and add an rbd config node, in the attribute tab, load in your groups and enable "activate" and set the value to 0. Voila. they will stick to the ground till an external force disturbs the peace

[@felipemarceu3232]

@@kwesikwaa9204 thank you!!

[@MS_LandscapeSystem]

Hey, Great tutorial, thanks for sharing. Subscribed. I'm having a similar issue to other people here and couldn't fine a solution. The point velocity node is affecting the whole the building and not just the corner. I changed the group name to $OS as others suggested and tried lowering the strength on the glue constraints to very low and even nothing. I still can't get the point velocity to affect just the corner with the group selection. Any thoughts? I'm using 18.0.287

[@IndiePixel3D]

So best thing to do...and what I tend to do in these cases, is to drop a visualize node right after the point velocity node and visualize the v attribute on all the points. This will give you info about what values are being applied. I'll use that info to begin debugging my graph. So it's a good place to start.

[@smb3d]

Did you ever solve this. I'm having the exact same issue and nothing that I can find will fix it? Glue strength at 0.0001 and velocity very high, it just pushes the whole building.

[@joshwoloszyn]

Can you use the same rest of the node path with pre-made geometry?

[@davidasatryan3262]

this is cool tutorial respect for that, but i think this rbdmaterialfracture node is too heavy node for hard model building to destroy that. However its good experience, thanks for tutorial :)

[@luong-hoela5247]

i like how you set velocity on point and create explosion on that, is there a way to set the velocity activate on a certain frame?

[@IndiePixel3D]

There is an activate attribute on each fractured piece. You can animate that in many ways, but you can set the activate to 0 in the rbd configure node using an animated bounding object or it can be animated through a wrangle node with vex.

[@weilin7597]

thank you . i just don't konw how to add the force field, with the new solver

[@IndiePixel3D]

You can add the force by double clicking the rbd solver and adding a pop meta ball force...then convert the sphere to a meta ball and assign that to the pop meta ball force node inside the rbd solver node.

[@SteveGreenCRMDeveloper]

Great video. Would it be better to cache it using the RBD I/O node? It will pack your hi-res geo, constraints and proxy geometry at the same time.

[@IndiePixel3D]

Yeah totally

[@ailens.c]

love u so much

[@secretsurvivors5021]

how can we transfer uv from our model to rbdbullet solver for texturing

[@erichuang2332]

Awesome tutor,thanks!How to export this cool effect to unity?

[@IndiePixel3D]

So if you want to get the simulation into your game engine, we need to use the Vertex Animation Textures: www.sidefx.com/ja/tutorials/vat-paintsplat-houdini-for-games/

[@nathanieI]

Anyone got a tutorial on how to use impact points? The best work flow for particles and dust?

[@AbirAlamAkash]

currently using houdini 17.5,couldn't find rbdbulletsolver in there :(

[@fakn9159]

How do you make sure, the building stays on the spot. When I try to destroy my building (tower) with an explosion, the tower lifts up from the ground and actually falls because of the impact, not because of the destruction. Do I have to glue the Building to the ground plane somehow? Thanks!

[@rustytoe178]

Hey man, how would I add an animated object as a collider to this sim? Hooking up a rbd configure and plugging it into the collision geo doesn't work :(

[@pooya1]

I had a similar issue. it turned out I had to change the Simulation Start Frame to before the collision happens. this happens if you are on for example frame 600 and create RBDSolver. then the colider hits at frame 500.

[@Kamcio44]

I can't get the blast working. It moves the whole building not just the points I selected. I did everything just like u did so the only problem I can think of is that the version I'm using is 18.0.391 so it's a bit newer.

[@Kamcio44]

It feels like it works in the area I selected but it doesn't make a whole in a building. Increasing the strength doesn't help

[@IndiePixel3D]

Hmm...sounds like it might be your glue strength...try setting the glue strengths to something really low...or turn them off all together and see if you get results.

[@MikeJohnson-zb5rs]

@@IndiePixel3D Same issues here in 18.0.499, it seems that I have to set the glue to disable to get the velocity from the points to effect the individual fractures. Otherwise it will explode keeping the building together, then it will shatter it's roof when it hits the floor from flipping upside down... Setting super low glue like 10 or even 1 just makes the building fall apart on it's own weight.

[@shawntootill24]

@Addmix Thanks so much! Same issue for me!

[@despondentbosco]

@Addmix this worked perfectly! Thanks so much.

[@risnandarmultimedia5296]

beautiful to see it simulated. we can't blow up building in real world

[@YungInnFilmz]

im having trouble with constraints... I followed all the steps but the glue doesn't stick or hold unless i change the primary strength to -100 or lower even when doing that i cant control the chipping glue either...could you look at my file and see?

[@eclairesrhapsodos5496]

How to import USD animation into blender? Like I don't really want to reinstall Houdini Apprentice to Houdini Engine to be able to export Alembic. Sadly I cant use Nvidia Omniverse yet.

[@bekabaratashvili3178]

Great tutorial! Please, help me. It pushes the whole house, not selected points. I don't understand what i missed.

[@IndiePixel3D]

Make sure to assign the point group in the point velocity node so only those points get the velocity.

[@bekabaratashvili3178]

Yeah, velocity is assigned only to the point group. I use 18.0.287 version, it may be to blame.

[@ANigerianPrince]

Building complete at 5:30

[@G1NJO]

how to at inaktiv area? so the bottom doesnt "fall"

[@newtun446]

how do I select the bounding sphere?

[@nathaniel6674]

does anybody know which parameter controls the velocity of the explosion blast? thanks!

[@IndiePixel3D]

The point velocity node controls the strength of the blast

[@nathaniel6674]

@@IndiePixel3D cheers :) great tutorial, simple and straight to the point. thank you!

[@bobcharlotte8724]

How can you export this and get it WORKING in UE4? I have followed other tuts, checked all over about the rdb to fbx node but CAAAANNOT get the animation playing in UE4? Any hints or tuts pleeeeeeease?

[@bobcharlotte8724]

Add a pack node between the fracture and solver node and check the name attribute box

[@bishraboukalam4107]

Im using Houdini 18.5 and when i select the Skip every Nth point and decrease it, it stays the same it doesnt form into a building, can anyone help me with this ?

[@thorarinn13]

how do I export the simulation to a FBX file?

[@yizcarver2325]

hi~can i export this fx with animation as .fbx file?i want make it work in unity

[@IndiePixel3D]

Yep, theres a node in the labs tool kit:www.sidefx.com/tutorials/game-tools-rbd-to-fbx/ Or you can use the vat texture exporter

[@yizcarver2325]

​@@IndiePixel3D thank u! i am new for houdini i used to export with rbd to fbx with auto dop network with some tutorials , it works. but when i use dop network by myself porject ,it show me some error like :xxxxxxxx Geometry xxxx message that i can't remember,and i can't understand how to setup dop network. and i will try it again ,thank u very much!!

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@yizcarver2325 no prob!

[@CGEli-HeliusFlame]

Hey, Gr8 tutorial! But when I try to export it into fbx it says there is no geometry there.. I cant find how to fix this issue, does it work for you?

[@IndiePixel3D]

Sounds like you need to drop down an unpack node right at the end of your network. Sounds like the geometry is packed into points.

[@CGEli-HeliusFlame]

@@IndiePixel3D Thank you, I'll definitely try it

[@lnvy]

Hey, great tutorial, I enjoyed watching it! I was wondering, would one be able to export this sim from the filecache to an alembic format so the scene could be loaded into another 3D software?

[@GreenOpposite]

Yes. There is a node called "rop alembic output" that can do that.

[@lnvy]

@@GreenOpposite awesome! Thanks a lot!

[@vegetadm]

How you add the ground???? Ground is not coming in my file😅😅😅😅

[@shelter6503]

Can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. Trying to collapse a skyscraper model and it keeps falling through the ground plane. Hit the button to turn on the ground plane and also hit the ground plane button under the collision tab. WTF am I doing wrong!?!?!

[@nolram]

Hello, so I have tried following this tutorial 3 times now - however I have the issue that, instead of the corner being blasted out, my entire building just gets thrown across the ground, like it was not attached to the ground. I don't know where I went wrong because I 1:1 tried to replicate this - I have tried using an RBD configure to make pieces on the ground inactive, however this also removes the effect of the pointvelocity.

[@IndiePixel3D]

It seems that we need to delete the constraint prims from the grouped blast geo. This let's the point velocity apply firce to that area. Seems like something changed recently.

[@nolram]

@@IndiePixel3D Okay, and how would I got about doing that ?

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@nolram well, duplicate your group node where you are grouping points. But set the copied group node to select primitives. Wire in the constraints output into the group node so you select the constraints you want to delete. Then after the group node put a blast node and blast away the group of constraint prims. Then you should be good.

[@nolram]

@@IndiePixel3D Ah, thanks !

[@Rohit-nd6ie]

the point velocity node does not work in my view, its hooked up to the same part as well

[@Rohit-nd6ie]

when i do the skin node, it doesn't input the exact same as yours (same thing, skip every nth primitive, 8)

[@ale_dp9]

How I Can add debris and smoke?

[@IndiePixel3D]

I have to add another vid 9r two to show ya...basically it's a combination of particles and smoke solvers activated at certain times.

[@ale_dp9]

@@IndiePixel3D thanks sir. I ll wait it nice work!!

[@irql2]

Are you down with RBD's ?

[@IndiePixel3D]

Down with the RBDs!

[@umairmalik6480]

hey brother when you will upload your racing car course??

[@IndiePixel3D]

I am unable, currently to give any dates for the release of the car physics course. I understand everyone is excited to see it, but it's simply not ready yet. I try to work on it when I can, but is taking me longer than anticipated.

[@umairmalik6480]

@@IndiePixel3D thankyou so much for replying and i am very curious for that 😍

[@supertenchoo4271]

Guys i have nvidia cuda 310m will hudini run properly i miss a lot of tutorial..😣😣😣

[@IndiePixel3D]

Try to make simpler geometry and reduce the number of fractures. Itll run faster for ya.

[@supertenchoo4271]

@@IndiePixel3D may be next time could you make tutorial for us with low perfomance pc bcoz i dont understand anything about reduce the number of fractures or make simpl geometry

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@supertenchoo4271 oh, sure thing! I'll do a deeper dive into the fracture node then and show how to tweak for performance. My bad.. thanks for the feedback!:)

[@supertenchoo4271]

@@IndiePixel3D i will be happy thank you man

[@rookiedriver6672]

omg, this is a cursed 3d moddeling program

[@carlosrivadulla8903]

man u are good at modeling, make simple props tutorials. There is a huge lack of modeling tutorials

[@IndiePixel3D]

You got it!

[@IndiePixel3D]

Any particular props you have in mind?

[@carlosrivadulla8903]

​@@IndiePixel3D There should be some interesting or challenging shape you would like to model. It would be nice if you can have fun at the same time you teach us. If you ask me, I saw today this prop in the Houdini Channel ( prnt.sc/r0hbi2 ) It is simple but it has some insteresting parts and it could lead to nice variants. I would like to share the coolest modeling tutorials I know. Takes 1min to watch them and even if they are direct modeling they are as straightforward that they could almost be put in a macro. They are also replicable in any software. kzbin.info/www/bejne/laTJhYawaNmFZqc kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6jaqaiilNmJgqc kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKXbk3aBjc2smc0 Kind regards.

[@deepakragul307]

brother chipping is not working for me :(

[@IndiePixel3D]

Hmmmm....thats odd. Try messing with the Corner Ratio and Corner Depth to see if you can get them to show up. Or might have to change the seed values to get a different solve.

[@deepakragul307]

The building was shattering properly And the chipping not happening And the final blast also not happening Nothing change in the view port @ final

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@deepakragul307 Hmm, Id have to see your network. You can always email it to me through the indie-pixel website. www.indie-pixel.com

[@deepakragul307]

@@IndiePixel3D i cant see your mail id in your website brother

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@deepakragul307 I got your email....I'm just getting up for the morn. You can use the contact form and include a link to your file. Tganks!:)

[@WGIStudioGaming]

RayFire is very more easy & intuitive ! don't you think ?

[@IndiePixel3D]

If you like using Ray Fire then use Ray Fire...What ever makes you most comfortable

[@RM_3D]

When I search for fracture nothing comes up

[@IndiePixel3D]

Make sure you are in the obj context and have a geo node created, then dive inside the geo node and look for the fracture node there.

[@RM_3D]

@@IndiePixel3D Yes I managed to figure it out xD first time opening houdini lol managed to get what i wanted thanks :D

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@RM_3D excellent! Houdini can be rough at first but very powerful!

[@yujinjeon512]

In Houdini 18.5, the group name is not $os. In 18.5, the group name is group 1. Is there a reason?

[@IndiePixel3D]

Yeah they got rid 9f that in 18.5, you can always type it back in yourself, still works just not auto setup anymore.

[@yujinjeon512]

@@IndiePixel3D thank to reply

[@yujinjeon512]

@@IndiePixel3D Do I always have to fix it like this?

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@yujinjeon512 no, you dont have to use $OS....you can type any name you want in there for the group name.

[@yujinjeon512]

@@IndiePixel3D oh..i see..!thanks!!

[@smb3d]

Hey, sorry, I deleted my other post because I thought I was being a doofus, but I think I figured out what's happening... I was correct, you can't break glue constraints with anything other than impacts. So I believe what's happening in your example is that the point velocity is moving the individual objects that make up those sections of the building and they are impacting each other, which in turn is breaking the constraints inside each section. It looks like the point velocity is blowing out individual chunks of the building, but it's really not. This was confusing me because I've been trying to blow out the side of a solid object and have the thing collapse after the blast. Like if your building was a solid cube for instance. This doesn't work the way this is setup, so I've been searching for a solution. edit" I just found this, which I think will do what I need. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKu1e5Z9e9qDjrc

[@IndiePixel3D]

Ah ic, yeah that is most likely the reason...breaking constraints with a velocity force can be done by deleting the constraint primitives either in and animated way through vex or on the initial frame.

[@jokybones]

so annoying that you cant export this to blender :( cries in broke

[@IndiePixel3D]

You could use the rbd to fbd node that comes with the labs toolkit. That's one way.

[@jokybones]

@@IndiePixel3D is it possible in apprentice bc alembic export isnt

[@IndiePixel3D]

@@jokybones ahhhh...na...fbx comes with indie license or higher. In the case of apprentice then it would have to be a sequence of obj files. But that's not ideal.

[@Cappercph]

Hey :) Super cool! I wanted to combine two of your explosions, so it happened different places on the building.... with two groups with different names, merged them,and put them in a new group - and I got all the new selected points combined, but when I added them in the pointvelocity sop, and attached it in the solver - it only seem to pick up the group that is first in the merge node - any idea how to get around this?

[@bobcharlotte8724]

Hey hey, did you end up figuring this out? Having different groups and trigger them at different times?