Houdini Tri-Planar Displacement
Global Offsets
Standard workflow using different displacements on a simple rock form
The tool can also be used in Mask Mode to generate a point attribute for later use in any node. Layering multiple Displace nodes can give some interesting results as well.
Individual Offsets
Global Scale
Result of Tri-Planar Displacement on a simple rock mesh
Different displacements applied to some very simple rock meshes
I wanted to create a tool that extended the capabilities of Houdini to shape and create organic rock shapes through the use of different noises. Through the use of Vex/Vops, I was able to find a way to apply different displacement maps in the X, Y, and Z directions without the limitations of UVs. Options include the ability to use different texture maps for each direction, as well as scale, offset, and strength. There is also the ability to rotate the overall direction of the displacement. The displacement maps used in these examples are from the Quixel library. I have another version of this tool in the works that applies the displacement maps through Volume Vops, which opens up even crazier possibilities!