Houdini 20.0 Nodes Geometry nodes

Labs Biome Initialize (Beta) 1.0 geometry node

Processes input terrain types and creates biome regions, assigning necessary biome attributes and data used by the suite of biome tools.

For terrain, Biome Initialize converts input terrain types into a Houdini Heightfield volume. For biome regions, the different options create flat, single-poly regions with primitive attributes and biome settings to deliminate the bounds of the expected biomes. Multiple input types are supported , but the two output types will always be a Houdini Heightfield volume for terrain and polygonal regions for biomes.

Note

The biome tools are in beta and are subject to change based off of feedback, testing, and future development. We encourage our users to let us know of any feedback or bugs they encounter while using these tools.

Parameters

Biome Profile

Path to the biome profile JSON containing biome data such as names, parameters, etc. This data is set through the Labs Biome Profile node.

Terrain Input

Terrain Input Type

Takes in one of the specified height field input types and converts into a Houdini HeightField volume.

Houdini HeightField: Input is a Houdini HeightField volume.

Terrain Mesh: Input is a polygonal mesh.

Heightfield Image: Input is a greyscale heightfield image.

Terrain Mesh

Terrain Settings

Grid Spacing

Voxel size of the output HeightField in meters. A higher number results in lower resolution.

Terrain Size

The width and height of the HeightField volume.

Center

Position of the center of the HeightField in world space.

Uniform Scale

Amount to scale the HeightField.

Auto Size Height Field

Enable this parameter to calculate the size of the HeightField based off of bounding box of geometry. Disable to activate manual controls.

Heightfield Image

Image Settings

File

The path to the image file to import.

Channel

Selects which data channel to use as the value for the height field/mask.

Terrain Settings

Grid Spacing

Voxel size of output HeightField. A higher number results in lower resolution.

Height Scale

Scales the height value from the image.

Clamp Minimum

Clamps height values to at least this value.

Clamp Maximum

Clamps height values to at most this value.

Transform

Orientation

The initial axis alignment of the 2D volume in world space. The default is ZX, aligned with the “ground” plane.

Sampling

Determines if pixel data from the image represents the center of the pixel or the corner.

Center

Position of the center of the HeightField in world space.

Uniform Scale

Scales the entire HeightField.

Biome Input

Biome Input Type

Takes in one of the specified input types and converts into polygonal biome regions.

Image File: Takes in a standard image input such as PNG or JPG. Regions are extracted based on major color groups of the image.

Photoshop File: Takes in a PSD file, using the individual Photoshop layers to extract regions.

Houdini Curves: Input is Houdini curves used in conjunction with Labs Biome Curve Setup.

Houdini HeightField Layers: Converts different HeightField layers into regions.

Mesh with Attributes: Converts localized/clustered primitive attributes from a mesh into regions.

Tip

To visualize the results of Biome Input, connect a Null node to the second output and enable the Display flag.

Image File

Image Input

File path to an input image Tip: for faster calculation times, use a lower resolution image.

COP Input

Link to a COP Network to use. Remember to set the Render flag on the COP node you wish to process from the network.

Match Size to Terrain

Enable to automatically match the biome regions to the size of the input terrain.

Biome Generation

Number of Colors

The number of dominant colors to cluster and extract from the image.

Region Smoothing

Amount of smoothing to apply to the generated regions.

Neighbor Consolidation

Extended Influence

Search distance to look for primitive neighbors when consolidating clusters.

Iterations

Number of times to attempt to consolidate primitive neighbors.

Extracted Colors

Extract Regions

Extracts the colors of regions into a menu and generates biome assignment parameters.

Visualization Color

The dominant color extracted from this particular region. Color can be changed for visualization purposes, but will be overwritten if node is cooked again.

Biome Name

The biome to assign this region. To adjust biome names, settings, or add/delete biomes, see Labs Biome Profile.

Biome Hierarchy

The priority to give this region compared to other regions. A lower number will give the biome priority when using Biome Overlap resolution.

Photoshop File

File

File path to a Photoshop (PSD) file.

Reload PSD

Refresh the Photoshop file.

Layers To Extract

Layer Name

Name of the Photoshop layer to extract (case sensitive).

Biome Name

The biome to assign this region. To adjust biome names, settings, or add/delete biomes, see Labs Biome Profile.

Biome Hierarchy

The priority to give this region compared to other regions. A lower number will give the biome priority when using Biome Overlap resolution.

Brightness Threshold

Controls the point at which to start considering data eligible for the curve

Visualization Color

Color to assign this region for visualization purposes.

Advanced

Resample Step

Distance in resampling the curve.

Inline Point Threshold

Tolerance for removing inline points.

Shrink UVs

Shrink the UVs on the curves in order to better sample the interior colors of the image. Sometimes the curves can sit too close to the border and the UVs pick out the color of the background.

Shape

Option to shrink or expand the shape.

Size

Distance to shrink or expand the shape

Houdini Curves

Create Curve Setup HDA

Creates a Labs Biome Curve Setup node.

Load Biomes

Loads in the set biomes for the curve regions.

Biome Name

Loads in the set biomes for the curve regions.

Visualization Color

Loads in the set biomes for the curve regions.

Houdini HeightField Layers

Layer Hierarchy Type

Determines how to assign hierarchy values to regions. Dominant Layer Value assigns a higher priority to layers that have the highest value at the sampled location, while Manual Hierarchy Value enables a parameter to manually assign hierarchy values to individual regions. A lower number will give the biome priority when using Biome Overlap resolution.

Layers

Layer

Name of the HeightField layer to use to generate a region.

Biome Name

The biome to assign this region. To adjust biome names, settings, or add/delete biomes, see Labs Biome Profile.

Biome Hierarchy

The priority to give this region compared to other regions. A lower number will give the biome priority when using Biome Overlap resolution.

Visualization Color

Color to assign this region for visualization purposes.

Mesh with Attributes

Attribute Name

Name of the primitive attribute to use to generate regions from. Attribute can be an integer, float, or string.

Attribute Settings

Attribute Value

The value of the attribute to extract a region from.

Biome Name

The biome to assign this region. To adjust biome names, settings, or add/delete biomes, see Labs Biome Profile.

Biome Hierarchy

The priority to give this region compared to other regions. A lower number will give the biome priority when using Biome Overlap resolution.

Visualization Color

Color to assign this region for visualization purposes.

Load Values

Automatically loads all unique values as region assignments.

Refresh Values

Refreshes primitive attribute values if they have been altered.

Biome Overlap

Enable Cutout

Enables regions to boolean out of one another. The shape with a higher hierarchy value will override the shapes with lower values when deciding which shape to cut out of.

See also

Geometry nodes