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guide creation

Guide Creation

METHOD 1: scatter on surface (default)

  • Just a simple scatter of hair on a surface provided by the guide groom object node. ![[Pasted image 20230802112635.png]]

METHOD 2: use external geometry

  • Using a custom SOP network such as a scatter and line piped into the copy to points. Make sure the line direction is no in the Z axis, otherwise, the line will be lying down instead of point upwards
  • You don't have to set-up specific attributes, the guide groom will automatically create it for you.
  • I generally prefer this over the simple scatter on surface despite them achieving the same result. Mainly because you can execute a much better relax algorithm in the scatter node. Or just better overall placement of initial guides
  • The relax parameter on the guide groom is a bit crude and if you have fewer points, it doesn't really give a fair distribution of points which greatly affects the guide interpolation later on.

![[Pasted image 20230802112735.png]]

METHOD 3: manual creation through guide groom

  • Not in the guide groom object node parameter but through the guide groom SOP node.
  • This basically represents the traditional grooming workflow for other DCC like Maya xgen.
  • It works but its not sustainable relative to Houdini Workflow because once you use the guide groom SOP node, everything that comes before it will be ignore.
    • For example, you started to modify 100 guides. And you change it to 200 guides, the guide groom will only read the initial 100 guides.
  • Method 2.5. If you want to make it fully procedural, just create guides (curved lines really) as you would in SOP and just use the skin look up attribute node to make it a guide. Which is basically method 2.