A toolset to procedurally create terrain for TaleSpire in Houdini.

Python 100.00%

terrain-generation procedural-generation talespire houdini houdini-digital-assets procedural terrain-generator

houdini_talespire_terrain_generation_toolset's Introduction

Houdini_TaleSpire_Terrain_Generation_Toolset

A toolset to procedurally create terrain for TaleSpire in Houdini.

About the Toolset

This is a set of tools to aid in the creation of TaleSpire Terrain in SideFX Software's Houdini. Houdini has a free "Apprentice" license available for non-commercial work. It is designed to let creativity flow, you can use every aspect of Houdini to help you sculpt creations for TaleSpire by hand or procedurally. At its core these tools utilize the Heightfield features of Houdini to craft landscapes so if you are new to Houdini learning that aspect of the software is a good start.

Houdini is a node-based procedural system so the Toolset consist of a set of Houdini Nodes called HDA's (Houdini Digital Assets)

Overview Video

Feature overview video:

Current Nodes

TaleSpire_Terrain

The main node for managing a terrain project, this node contains subnetworks that allow a workspace to craft your terrain. It is also the main interface for setting up the terrain and exporting the final results.

TaleSpire_Object

This node is used to import a TaleSpire Tile, Prop or Slab for use in the system. It has controls over the placement of these objects in regard to how they interact with other nodes like TaleSpire_Tiler and TaleSpire_Scatter. You can also export directly from this node, in case you just want to rotate or replace assets.

TaleSpire_Biome

This node defines a Biome which controls what TaleSpire Tiles and Props get put on to the terrain. It has subnetworks within for defining sets of objects, rules for placing Tiles and rules for placing/scattering Props.

TaleSpire_Tiler

This node is used within the TaleSpire_Biome node to define what areas specific sets of tiles are placed on the terrain.

TaleSpire_Scatter

This node is used to scatter props on to a heightfield terrain based on rules and masks. It can work inside a TaleSpire_Biome node or externally if used with the new TaleSpire_Object_Set node.

NEW Nodes!

The following nodes are new as of v0.19.0-alpha and are considered Work In Progress. Some features may be missing or broken.

TaleSpire_Copy

This node allows you to place assets on specific points fed in to the 1st input. It can work inside or outside a biome. The 2nd input can be used to designate which objects to place on the points, as defined in a TaleSpire_Object_Set node.

TaleSpire_Object_Set

This node is a container for TaleSpire_Object nodes, it works similar to the objects network in the TaleSpire_Biome node. This allows you to define sets of objects to use in nodes like TaleSpire_Scatter and TaleSpire_Copy allowing those nodes to work external from a Biome if desired.

TaleSpire_Export

This node can take the data from TaleSpire_Scatter and TaleSpire_Copy nodes and export them directly to a slab or multi-slab without needing to set up a terrain. Its feature set is currently limited but will eventually support all the features of the terrain nodes export.

Installation

The installation instructions are available on the wiki.

Toolset Installation Instructions

Examples

Terrain

There is an example Houdini scene file included with this distribution hip/examples/example_Forest_Gully.hipnc. It is best to copy this scene to an alternate location before running it as it needs to save local data. Alternately you can launch it and "Save As" to a working directory.

I recommend running through all the comments before attempting to resize the map from its 60x60 default since there are a few areas that may not work properly which are noted within the file.

Biomes

There is a scene file containing example biomes being used for development, more biomes will be available in the future. hip/examples/biomes.hipnc

Better with Mods!

This tool supports use of a mod that allows multiple slab pastes at once. That's right, instead of laboriously hand placing hundreds of slabs you could do it all with a single click and paste.

To install and use the mods visit the wiki page:

Multi-Paste Feature

Contact

Join us on Discord to discuss the toolset, share work and inspiration and to get the latest news.

https://discord.gg/Wx54CAtz4H

Attributions

The TaleSpire Slab Encoding/Decoding code was originally authored by LuPro at LuPro/SlabelFish

houdini_talespire_terrain_generation_toolset's People

Contributors

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all-in-one-houdini hengle xyztlp alvarengaflavio caianyuan rubbyzhang theaufish-git kingmax

houdini_talespire_terrain_generation_toolset's Issues

Add a check to make sure the TaleSpire Directory is found.

Right now the system will just fail with a python error that isn't very informative. A check should be added to make sure that the TaleSpire directory is indeed a real directory and prompt the user if it is not found.

Load Warning - From TS_Obj inside biome_tiles

This came from an issue of a user on the TS Modding discord, putting it here to remember to work on it.

The warning can just be ignored, everything should work fine.

Load warnings for C:/Users/xxxxx/Documents/Talespire/Houdini_TaleSpire_Terrain_Generation_Toolset-master/hip/examples/example_Forest_Gully.hipnc

Warning:     Problem while synchronizing child node:
             Warning:     Skipping unrecognized parameter "scat_area_type".
             Skipping unrecognized parameter "scat_area_center".
             Skipping unrecognized parameter "scat_area_size".
    [/obj/Forest_Gully_Example/biomes/Biome_Pine_Forest/biome_tiles/Dirt_Tiles/objnet/TS_Obj]

             Problem while synchronizing child node:
             Warning:     Skipping unrecognized parameter "scat_area_type".
             Skipping unrecognized parameter "scat_area_center".
             Skipping unrecognized parameter "scat_area_size".
    [/obj/Forest_Gully_Example/biomes/Biome_Pine_Forest/biome_tiles/Grass_Tiles/objnet/TS_Obj]

Observation - When naming network boxes for props, if there are spaces in the name, the props will not load.

Not a real issue, just an observation of an idiosyncrasy that may be worth noting in the comments of the default terrain setup. When naming network boxes for props, if there are spaces in the name, the props will not load. This can be replicated by renaming a prop network box to have a space rather than underscore, correcting the node reference, and refreshing the biome.

Replacing spaces in the name with underscores (as god intended for all naming conventions) resolves this issue. Took me a while to figure this out because I usually favor underscores.

-Oz

Priority issue when multiple non-default biomes overlap

When two non-default biomes overlap the behavior is not clear.
Perhaps a priority setting on the biome could be added so biomes could be applied in a specific order.

Add an option on the TaleSpire_Object node to set the footprint of an object when scattering.

When scattering objects of various size it would be nice if other objects were aware of how far they should keep away by allowing the footprint to be set per object.

Did I probably miss something?

Being doing houdini world open tools for some times and client myself , but i have a hard time on your set of tool and supposed demo file to understand. When i run one of the two demos file, i can not get far from just having just the terrain, certainly nothing about the biome, scattering and anything like in the video.

Is is possible to get a more friendly example maybe ?
Im probably not the onyl one to be confused... :)

Cheers!

I get lots of houdini error too on 19.5, python 3 : ---->

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Object/TaleSpire_Biome/refresh_biome", line 1, in
File "C:\Users/vincent/Documents/houdini19.5/Houdini_TaleSpire_Terrain_Generation_Toolset-master/scripts/python\htg\nodes\OBJ_TaleSpire_Biome.py", line 11, in refresh_biome
cook_node.cook(force=True)
File "C:\PROGRA~~1/SIDEEF~~1/Houdini 19.5.368/houdini/python3.9libs\hou.py", line 16926, in cook
return _hou.Node_cook(self, *args, **kwargs)
hou.Operation failed: The attempted operation failed.
Error while cooking.

TS Asset Preview

This Feature Request from Calithlin on the project Discord.

The request is to add some sort of icon preview to the TS Object nodes interface for Tiles and Props, or perhaps along side the node with the background image feature of Houdini. The icons are already available so it is just a matter of figuring out if it can be added to the panel or how to create and manage an attached background image icon.

Screenshots for Docs

This is just to store images for the Readme

Build/Cache Terrain doesn't work if the scene isn't saved.

Build/Cache Terrain will run but might not seem like it worked if the scene isn't saved.

Recommend that a warning dialog pop up and require the scene be saved before this is run.

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