Procedural Race Tracks - Houdini 17.5/18 and Houdini Engine

Install Whodini and the Whodini engine in Unity and Unreal to build HD content, and learn to download, install, and create your first Whodini project with organized assets.

Learn where to download Houdini from sidefx.com, choose the production build (17.5.258), and start the download, with guidance to use a modern browser and skip daily builds for now.

Create a Houdini project and organize its folder structure, selecting a location, naming the project, and configuring GEO, digital assets, simulations, textures, and desktop folders for race tracks.

Create a new Unity project and install the Houdini engine by dragging the Unity package into the assets folder, then set up a pipe session to connect Houdini.

Install the Houdini Engine in Unreal Engine and create a new project. Enable the Houdini Engine plugin and set up a race track tools folder with an HD subfolder.

Find the Houdini engine documentation for Unreal and Unity on the Side Effects support site, learn what parameters, attributes, and groups do, and compare engine differences for cross-platform HD workflows.

Recap installing Houdini and the engine for unreal, creating your first Houdini project, managing project files for portability, and reviewing engine differences and documentation to prepare for building hd.

Learn to navigate Houdini's scene view by orbiting, panning, and zooming with mouse controls, switch between transform gizmos (translate, rotate, scale) with E, R, and T, and adjust display modes.

Explore the Houdini user interface, including the top menus, desktops, shelf tools, and the network view. Learn to place objects, adjust transforms, and use the timeline for animation and audio.

Create and work with notes (nodes) in Houdini, build geometry inside an object level geo node, transform and reconnect components, and craft procedural models through node networks.

Expose and connect parameters in a Houdini HDA using the type properties window, drag-and-drop, and alt-middle-mouse to control box scale and position with range clamps and defaults.

Import Houdini assets into Unity with the Houdini Engine, organize and update hdr/hdl files, and adjust asset parameters in the Unity inspector to build race track props.

Procedurally create a road cone in Houdini by shaping a tube into a cone and refining with clip, fuse, and polybevel.

Bevel edges on the road cone, create a platform base from a grid, and use null and group nodes to procedurally organize geometry in Houdini.

Procedurally build a road cone in Houdini by adding legs with the grid and extrudes, copy to points, apply vertex colors, and package as HDR for Unity and Unreal.

Finish the road cone by grouping primitives into legs and platform, applying color groups and normals, and packaging it as a scalable digital asset for Unity or Unreal.

Test in Unity demonstrates importing a Houdini asset, placing a road cone in the scene, adjusting scale and vertex colors, and planning racetrack tools.

Test a built road cone in Unreal Engine by importing the hdr road cone from the Houdini project's HD folder, then adjust size, colors, LEDs, and collision.

Define a core toolset for the procedural race tracks, listing track tool, bumpers, fences (chain link and guardrail), and key props like signs, lightposts, and foliage.

Install and enable the Houdini game dev tools shelf, update to the latest version, and access game dev nodes in object and geometry levels to build procedural race tracks.

Gather reference images from Google and study favorite games to shape a racetrack toolkit for Houdini; drag a placeholder node to define a tools list and install assets.

Build a simple track tool that creates geometry with road lines and enables user curves for interactive adjustment inside Whodini, Unity, or Unreal.

Generate the track geometry by sweeping a width line along a backbone curve, center it on extraction, apply skin with auto closure, color via vertex colors, then extrude and bevel.

Add and expose track geometry parameters in Houdini: set resolution, refinement amount, width, and color, and link the user curve to the Houdini Engine editable node for Unity testing.

Test Whodini track tool in Unity, saving changes with save node type. Drag it into Unity hierarchy, then edit and shape curves by moving points using control to add points.

Learn to generate track sidelines by creating outer curves with an add node, sweeping lines, and offset controls, then assemble track and sidelines with an object merge.

Create a reusable helper utility in Houdini to map a backbone cross section to a node, set two unique outputs (profile and path), and save as a digital asset.

Test the Houdini track tool in unreal by re-importing the Houdini asset, rebuilding the asset, and adjusting width, offset, and track width to refine the race track.

Built a track tool as an advanced HDA with user curves for Unity, set up UVs, added road lights, and created a utility to automate tasks.

Fix the open curb issue by examining normals and vectors, and reveal a surprise bonus Houdini technique in this introduction.

Add a center line to a race track using Houdini's road tool, carved notes, and resample for spacing. Switch between centerline on and off with presets, ensuring normals and UVs.

Fix open curvature by transferring normal from first point to the last, fuse points, and retain moves promoted to the vertex class, then apply center line technique in procedural models.

Set up a basic Houdini HDA to import geometry and extract the track user curve, using object merge, dot notation, and groups to pass data between nodes.

Test geometry importing in unity by configuring ui test inputs, promoting track input to hdr, and importing curve data to drive a procedural race track with the houdini engine.

Import test input geometry into Unreal, rebuild assets to enable centerlines and curves, then use asset input to feed basic track data from Houdini Engine.

Open the scene in the Houdini engine to see what's happening under the hood of your Unity workflow and debug by inspecting merge and global nodes and input geometry.

Review how to hook up geometry inputs, pull in external geometry, place road bumpers along the track perimeter, pass attributes in the procedural system, and debug in the Houdini engine.

Learn procedural techniques to generate race track bumpers, detect turn direction by measuring curve length, and create normals, bumper geometry, and vertex color patterns for Houdini.

Create a Houdini digital asset to generate track bumpers, expose track curve input for the Houdini engine, promote track width from points to detail, and sweep to form outer curves.

Measure the length of each track segment from the inner to the outer curve to guide bumper placement, using separation of curves, primitive matching, and per-segment length attributes.

Detect the direction of a turn by comparing inside and outside curve lengths using an attribute wrangle in the Whodini engine, with clear turn visualization.

Smooth bumper curves and offset ends to avoid overlaps, then sweep a profile along the curve to create bumper geometry, adjusting clipping and directionality for inside versus outside turns.

Compute normals on outer and inner track curves, normalize them, and use the result to orient bumper geometry along the track perimeter with adjustable offsets.

Learn to generate bumper geometry procedurally in Houdini by copying a profile to points, skinning to shape the bumper, beveling edges, and adding caps with a poly fill node.

Offset the bumper from the road, add end caps, adjust normals for extrusion, bevel edges via group promote, and fuse geometries while preparing for UVs and materials.

Apply vertex colors to create alternating red and white bumper patches using procedural selection of every other primitive, verify counts, and test in Unity and Unreal.

Test Unreal track bumpers by importing and placing the bumper, aligning to the track, and adjusting inputs; fix normal maps and debugging hiccups as Unreal updates drive iteration.

Learn to compute curve directions in Houdini by flattening normals, creating a stable right vector with cross products, and deriving an up vector to maintain orientation on moving curve points.

Review how to create flow levels with the policy framework and use normals to extract curve directions, maintaining orientation when copying or sweeping along curves for procedural, curve-based models.