buildingEngine node guide 1

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Creating  a  building  with  buildingEngine

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Gustavo Patow ViRVIG-UdG

Universitat de Girona (UdG)

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DOWNLOADS  

Go  to  this  web  page  to  know  more  about  the  skylineEngine  system.  buildingEngine  is  a  module  part  of  the  main  system.  

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http://ggg.udg.edu/skylineEngine/

buildingEngine node guide 2

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The  software  

• buildingEngine  comes  as  a  .otl  • A  Houdini  library  of  digital  assets  • First  thing,  you  must  install  the  library  

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•  Install  Digital  Asset  Library  

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buildingEngine node guide 3

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•  Select  buildingEngine  

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•  Now,  let’s  do  the  outline  of  our  building  •  Swap  to  a  “top  viewport”  

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buildingEngine node guide 4

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•  And  create  a  Curve  node  

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•  And  draw  a  (2D)  polygon!  •  (try  not  to  make  it  too  big  or  too  small…  about  10x20  units  would  be  ok)  

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buildingEngine node guide 5

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•  Switch  back  to  a  “perspecMve  viewport”  

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•  And  rename  our  object  to  “building”  

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You can take the grid out

buildingEngine node guide 6

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Extrude  node  •  And  now  add  an  Extrude  (Digital  Asset)  node  

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Extrude  node  •  Extrude  is  used  to  generate  the  mass  model  from  the  building  lot  

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buildingEngine node guide 7

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•  But  nothing  can  be  seen!  

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Filters  and  Products  • All  buildingEngine  nodes  work  with  a  system  of  filters  and  products.  

• A  filter  is  used  to  select  the  geometry  we  are  going  to  operate  onto  

• A  product  is  what  this  node  produces  •  They  are  modeled  as  Houdini  groups  

•  So,  the  curve  has  no  label  and  the  Extrude  node  does  not  know  on  what  to  operate!   14

buildingEngine node guide 8

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•  So,  let’s  create  a  Group  Geometry  node,  to  add  a  label  to  the  polygon  

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•  Our  label  will  be  “lot”  

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buildingEngine node guide 9

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•  Now,  we  can  configure  our  Extrude  node  •  Filter:  lot  •  product:  mass  •  height:  10  (?)  

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•  Now,  create  a  new  Comp  node  •  And  wire  the  Extrude  into  it  

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buildingEngine node guide 10

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•  First,  set  the  filter  to  mass  

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•  Now,  set  the  number  of  components…  in  our  case,  3:  •  front  →  facade  •  side  →  sides  •  Top  →  roof  

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buildingEngine node guide 11

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•  Our  new  model  is  idenMcal  to  the  previous  one…  •  Except  that  no  boVom  was  selected!!!  

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•  Now,  lets  subdivide  the  facade  into  floors  •  For  that,  create  a  Subdiv  node  and  wire  our  Comp  node  into  it  

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buildingEngine node guide 12

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• Choose  •  filter:  facade  •  Axis:  Y  (default)  •  Divisions:  2  

•  Uncheck  Approximate  •  Value:  2  (absolute)  •  Product:  boVomFloor  

•  Check  Approximate  •  Value:  1  (approximate)  •  Product:  floors   23

•  As  this  node  is  “tuned”  for  facade,  it’ll  only  work  on  the  facade  

•  It  will  result  in  two  divisions:  one  fixed-­‐size  for  the  first  floor  

•  And  other  represenMng  the  other  floors  

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buildingEngine node guide 13

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•  Now,  let’s  divide  the  floors  area  into  its  several  “floor”  areas  

•  For  that,  create  a  Repeat  op  

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Repeat  node  •  Is  idenMcal  to  a  repeated  subdiv  node  •  It  performs  as  many  subdivisions  as  possible  given    

•  The  desired  individual  area  •  The  total  area  to  subdivide  

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buildingEngine node guide 14

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Repeat  node  

•  Set  •  filter  =  floors  •  Product  =  floor  •  Axis  =  Y  (default)  •  Check  Approximate  •  Value  =  1.5  (approximate)  

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Repeat  Node  

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buildingEngine node guide 15

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Repeat  node  (II)  • Create  another  Repeat  node  

• Wire  the  first  one  into  this  one  

•  Set  •  Filter  =  floor  •  Product  =  window  •  Axis  =  X  •  Value  =  1.5  approximate  

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Repeat  node  (II)  

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buildingEngine node guide 16

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Subdiv  (II)  •  Create  a  Subdiv  for  the  1st  floor  •  Connect  Subdiv1  to  it  

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Subdiv  (II)  •  Set:  

•  filter  =  boVomFloor  •  Axis  =  X  •  Divisions  =  3  

•  boVomWindows  •  Value  =  1  approximate  

•  door  •  Value  =  2  absolute  

•  boVomWindows  •  Value  =  1  approximate   32

buildingEngine node guide 17

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Subdiv  (II)  

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Non-­‐linearity!  •  With  buildingEngine,  we  can  be  non-­‐linear!  

•  For  instance,  wire  the  Subdiv2  into  the  Repeat2  already  created  

•  Simply  add  boVomWindows  to  the  Repeat2  filter!  

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buildingEngine node guide 18

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Non-­‐linearity!  

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Insert  node  •  Now,  let’s  insert  some  real  geometry!  •  For  that,  let’s  create  an  Insert  node  •  And  wire  the  Repeat2  to  it.  

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buildingEngine node guide 19

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Insert  node  •  Set  

•  filter  =  window  •  Product  =  ?  •  Asset  File  =  choose!  •  RotateY  =  180  (depends  on  your  asset)  

•  Uncheck  “relaMve  z”  •  Scale  Z  =  0.3  

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Insert  node  

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buildingEngine node guide 20

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Insert  node  •  Let’s  create  another  Insert  node  for  the  door  

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Insert  node  

•  Set  •  filter  =  door  •  Product  =  ?  •  Asset  File  =  choose!  •  Uncheck  “relaMve  z”  •  Scale  Z  =  0.3  

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buildingEngine node guide 21

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Insert  node  

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Object_merge  node  •  This  is  a  standard  Houdini  node  •  Useful  to  visualize  several  nodes  at  once  •  Like  the  Merge  node,  but  without  the  wires!  

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buildingEngine node guide 22

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Object_merge  node  •  Set  number  to  2  •  And  choose  the  insert  nodes!  

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Object_merge  node  

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buildingEngine node guide 23

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More  non-­‐linearity  

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More  non-­‐linearity  

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buildingEngine node guide 24

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More  non-­‐linearity  

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Visualizing  the  entire  model  

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buildingEngine node guide 25

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Add  the  roof  to  the  visualization  • At  the  Object_merge,  increase  the  number  to  3  • And  add  the  Comp1  node  • But  do  not  forget  to  add  only  the  roof  group!  

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The  entire  model!  

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buildingEngine node guide 26

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HDA  •  If  wanted,  we  can  create  an  HDA  with  the  building  nodes.  

•  For  instance  add  •  Building  height  (from  Extrude)  •  First  floor  height  (from  Subdiv1)  •  Floor  height  (from  Repeat1)  •  Door  with  (from  Subdiv2)  • Window  width  (from  Repeat2)  

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The  entire  model  as  an  HDA!  

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