Instant Terra

Bridge to Houdini

This document explains how to use the Early Access version of the Instant Terra Houdini bridge.

First steps
Creating an Instant Terra project
Creating and setting up an Instant Terra node in Houdini
Exposing parameters

First steps

Prerequisites

Instant Terra
Instant Terra 2.3.3 or Instant Terra Pro 2.3.3, or any newer version, must be installed on the computer.

Houdini
Houdini must be installed on the computer.

Installing the Bridge to Houdini

Download the zip file containing the Instant Terra Houdini bridge.
Unzip the file into the houdinixx.x folder in My documents, xx.x being the installed version of Houdini, for instance, My documents\houdini18.5.
You must have config, dso and help folders inside the houdinixx.x folder.

Creating an Instant Terra project

Choosing between a terrain generator projet and a terrain transformer project

There are two different ways to use Instant Terra with Houdini:

Terrain generator mode: An Instant Terra project is used to create a terrain. This terrain is then converted into a heightfield in Houdini.
Terrain transformer mode: The Instant Terra project takes a Houdini’s heightfield as the input and modifies it. The result is converted into a new heightfield in Houdini.

Creating an Instant Terra project to generate a terrain

Start Instant Terra. Create a new project or open an existing project.

Create a Terrain to Houdini node and connect it to the node containing the terrain that you want to send to Houdini.

Creating an Instant Terra project to transform a terrain

Start Instant Terra. Create a new project or open an existing project.

Create a Terrain from Houdini node. Add nodes to modify the terrain.
Create a Terrain to Houdini node and connect it to the node containing the terrain that you want to send to Houdini.

Here is an example of a graph with a very simple distortion effect.

Tip: At this step, the Terrain from Houdini node is always invalid as there is no terrain. When creating your graph, you can temporarily replace it with another node, for instance an import node, to obtain a terrain.