Houdini Real Time Destruction to Unreal 5

Hey guys,

I was using APEX plugin for destruction in UE4, but now when we moved to UE5 there is no more an option to import chunks for my destrcutable mesh.

Instead, I can only import FBX, I see the physics asset and all the bones that are created from Houdini, but it seems that Chaos is not recognizing it as destructive mesh.

Could anyone shade the proper workflow for fracturing in Houdini and importing the fractured object back to Unreal Engine 5.1

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sing it as a destructible mesh for a reason.

Welcome to UE5 :stuck_out_tongue:
Basically, Apex has been deprecated in favour of Chaos.
…I have actually never tried, but it seems to be sligtly tricky, to get your custom fracturing from Houdini → Unreal. At least I couldn’t find a great ‘official’ solution. Here is something from SideFX:
https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/unreal/chaosintegration.html

If it’s not a complicated fracture, you could always try your hands at using the new chaos fracture tools.

Alternatively, if you do not need realtime collision, the default solution would be VATs ( Vertex Animation Textures). SideFX has different VAT tools for different occasions (RigidBody, SoftBody, Liquids etc.):

Unfortunately we need collision, the guide from SideFX is for building HDA with Houdini Engine, this is the option we are going for if we cannot find solution.

I wanted to see if there is a way to import it from external source since it’s quite a simple process. But yet again, like most new features nothing is really working, and if it does it breaks something old.

Houdini to Unreal

I have never tried this but it seems like a well-integrated approach to building the HDA and just generating the geo. Than you procced with the chaos system as usual.

https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/unreal/chaosintegration.html

Hey, for anyone interested. I have built an HDA that works with the Houdini Engine and can be fractured and sent to geometry collection. There are no limitations for the use other than reselling it as your own personal tool.

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Thank you for sharing!