I have always wanted to do a dynamic locomotion setup, I have tried in the past with wire and sop solver with .... interesting results ;) With FEM in Houdini 13, the rest attribute is stored on vertices which allows a tetra to change its rest state independently of the surrounding tetras. With this, parts can be expanded and shrunk to get a muscle type action. I have started with a worm since it is quite simple, the contractions and expansions move back along the worm in a wave, opposing the travel direction. It took quite a bit of tweaking to get him moving at all. One major element of a real worm's action that's missing is the little hairs that grip the ground. I couldn't find a way to change the friction per point so I have gone a bit hacky and multed down v wherever I didn't want the worm to move. I would love to hear if there is a per point friction control! Here is the video Houdini 13 FEM Worm locomotion from Sam Hancock on Vimeo . ...and the .hip is
There is no doubt that Houdini is a most unusual creature, for this is a hamster with an advanced vocabulary and a terribly immodest opinion of his own superior brain power. Houdini believes without question that hamsters are a higher form of life than humans. He is, however, a kindhearted creature (generally speaking) and tolerates the bumbling ways of humans well enough.