Marbles & Cup project

Marbles falling into a funnel, then going through the funnel into a cup

What is this project about?

This is a project where I wanted to let myself be more familiar with houdini. So I decided to make a small simulation where I let something fall onto something and then into a object with collision. In this project I used a marbles to fall onto a funnel and then go from the funnel into a cup. I made this project with the help of an Houdini tutorial on their website.

Project date: December 2024

Project duration: 1 week

Development Team: Solo project

Engine: None

Software: Houdini

Programming language: Node system

You can watch the video below to see my final product

My role & contribution in this project

Creating a simulation where marbles fall into a funnel and then go from the funnel into a cup

Starting shape of cup

I first started by making the cup. I created a tube node, tweaked the settings so that the top would be spread out more. Giving it more a cup shape, then I gave it a yellow color.

Making the cup more defined

Then I added a polyfill so that the bottom would be closed, meaning that there is no more hole at the bottom of the cup. Following that I added a soft transform. With that node I stretched out the middle of the cup, making it more round. Then by adding poly extrude I pulled the outside faces so that it has a more thicker shape.

After that I added a reverse which reverses faces, giving it the same color outside as the inside. Then I added a poly bridge, for that I selected two faces of the cup. One up and one below, then with the poly bridge I connected those faces together. Then I bended the shape of that giving the cup it's handle.

Elevating the cup & subdividing

Lastly for the cup I added a matchsize & subdivide. Matchsize elevates the cup to the ground plane. Subdivide gives the cup more faces which makes it more detailed & smooth.

Then I created a box for the marbles. I then elevated the box above the cup with a different matchsize node. Then by adding a scatter, it deletes the box and in it's place are points.

Creating box above cup, then in box's place scattered points

Randomizing points and placing a sphere on all the points locations

Then by adding 2 attribute randomizers I randomize every point with their own size and location. Afterward I added a sphere, which I then connect to a copy to point node. Connecting the attribute randomizers to the copy to point node as well would place a sphere on every point.

Making the funnel

I made the funnel by adding a tube first. Then by making the top wider, afterward I extruded it to give it more thickness. And lastly I gave it a color & placed it above the cup with matchsize. Then I merge the cup, funnel and marbles into the same scene in the gif below.

Merging the cup, marbles and funnel into the same scene

Importing scene into final stage

I've then imported everything into the final stage as u can see above. Then I added colors to the cup, funnel and marbles. Giving them a more metallic material. And lastly I added a camera to get the perfect shot, 4 point lights to light my scene and finally the render settings. You can see this in the gifs below.

Adding metallic material, setting up camera, lights and render settings.

Retrospective

This project was fun to do, creating a simple but yet satisfying simulation. It turned out really well. I'm hoping to slowly create more complex and beautiful simulations in the future.

But for now I see this as an successful project, the houdini tutorial taught me a lot. I learned how to put a object on the locations of points and how to make an object into points. I learned how to extrude an object to make it thicker and how to connect 2 faces of an object into an handle for example.