Simple_colors
Houdini Digital Asset (simple_colors) for coloring drones procedurally. It spreads a value from 0 to 1 over the drones — along a line, around a point, by point order, from a spot light or from an attribute — and turns it into color through a ramp. The pattern can repeat, be reshaped and broken up with noise.
It works on any drone points: a figure while it is being built, or the animation in SHOW_TIMELINE.
HDA: houdinitools/hda/simple_colors.hda
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Group group | String | — | Points (drones) to color. Empty colors all points. |
Pattern valuetype | Menu | Line | How a value from 0 to 1 is spread over the drones; the color ramp turns it into color. Line: along the line from Start to End. Radial: by distance from Start, reaching 1 at the distance of End. Length: by point number. Spot light: lit by a spot at Start aimed at End, with shadows from the geometry itself. Attribute: from a point attribute. |
Attribute attName | String | — | Point attribute that gives the value for the Attribute pattern, stretched from its smallest to its largest value. Hidden when valuetype != attribute |
Start startpos | Float ×3 | 0, 0, 0 | Start of the pattern: the line start, the center of the radial pattern or the position of the spot light. Hidden when valuetype == length or valuetype == attribute |
End endpos | Float ×3 | 1, 0, 0 | End of the pattern: the line end, the distance where the radial pattern reaches 1, or the point the spot light is aimed at. Hidden when valuetype == length or valuetype == attribute |
Hardness hardness | Float | 0.5 | Edge of the spot light: 0 gives a wide soft wash, 1 a tight hard-edged beam. Sets the cone angle and how sharp its rim and the shaded side are. Hidden when valuetype != spot_light |
Color
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Mode mod | Menu | Tile | Tile repeats the pattern Frequency times. Remap passes it once through Shaping and shifts it by Offset. |
Frequency freq | Float | 1 | How many times the pattern repeats, in Tile mode. |
Offset offset | Float | 0 | Shift of the pattern: in Tile mode it slides the repeats along, in Remap mode it is added to the value. |
Shaping shaping | Float ramp | — | Reshapes the pattern value (horizontal axis) into the value passed to the color ramp (vertical axis). |
color colorramp | Color ramp | — | Drone colors from the lowest pattern value (left) to the highest (right). |
Noise
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Add Noise addnoise | Toggle | Off | Break the pattern up with 3D fractal noise. |
Frequency freq2 | Float ×3 | 0.1, 0.1, 0.1 | Frequency of the noise along X, Y and Z: higher values give smaller spots. Hidden when addnoise == 0 |
Offset offset2 | Float ×3 | 0, 0, 0 | Moves the noise through space; animate it to make the noise drift. Hidden when addnoise == 0 |
Amplitude amp | Float | 1 | Strength of the noise. Hidden when addnoise == 0 |
Roughness rough | Float | 0.5 | How much the finer noise layers add: 0 smooth, 1 grainy. Hidden when addnoise == 0 |
Max Octaves maxoctave | Integer | 8 | Number of noise layers; more layers add finer detail. Hidden when addnoise == 0 |