Bridge Tool

Houdini tool is back !

This time, I’m presenting my second biggest tool with this bridge I had to create for my coursework. Everything is procedurally modeled in Houdini, allowing for a wide range of variations. You can adjust the stones, the bridge’s size and shape, whether it has a roof or not, the tiles, the pillars, and much more.

A new feature in this one: I used a trimsheet system that I sculpted in ZBrush to create the illusion of sculpted pillars, which were then baked in Substance all while keeping everything procedural.

As I like to say, the time you save now is time you won’t waste tomorrow, which is why I optimized my tool as much as possible. The first cook takes between 5 and 7 seconds, and every subsequent cook takes between 0.1 and 0.7 seconds, depending on the action performed and the bridge’s size (in extreme cases, a 2km bridge cooks in about 10 seconds). To achieve these times, I focused on compiling the tool to enable multithreading and avoided Houdini’s most expensive nodes as much as possible.

I hope you enjoyed my tech art work! If you did, feel free to leave a comment or a like, it would be greatly appreciated !