Ruining a Maya model — Matthew Burgess

In this post I will go over how this model was broken apart using fracturing and RBD simulation in Houdini. This model was used in the Bounty Hunter short.

Starting out with concept, the model was brought in using our USD workflow. Once unpacked, the pieces were split into those to be static, and simulated, and out of those split into fractured and intact groups. This was a more manual process in order to direct how the pieces would look after being broken apart. With some slight cleanup they were merged and fed into a dopnet for simulation.

A pop wind node to give some turbulence and a pop attract with a negative value was positioned to push the pieces apart. The static geometry was also brought in for collisions. The frame was frozen at a point in the simulation that looked best and most fit the concept art.

For post cleanup, small geometry was deleted to prevent glinting in render and any undesirable geometry was removed. Some care was taken in order to preserve all the incoming USD attributes I could, before publishing the model and moving to surfacing.

Thanks to Steve Davidson for the base model, Ania Gareeva for concepting and Tom Scior for Surfacing.