Quick Columns with Revolve

I presented in my Houdini series a whole paragraph about building columns. Fact is, it was somehow complicated and performances are pretty bad as we accumulate for-loops in VEX wrangles.

If you just want the shape of a column and do not care at all about all the flutes and stuff, here is a super simple set-up to create your column (but can be used to design bowls or such) that just uses 2 (or 3) nodes.

• First we create a curve thanks to an Attribute Wrangle (can also use Houdini’s curve but you need to draw it in the viewport. I personnally prefer drawing a function but that’s personal taste)
• Use Revolve node (add a PolyExtrude after for giving some consistency)

float height = ch('height'); // height of the column
float radius = ch('radius'); // radius of the column
int sampling = chi('sampling'); // sampling the points of the curve
//a low sampling will give a geometric look while a high will make smooth curves

int prim = addprim(0,'polyline'); // the curve we create

for(int i=0; i<sampling+1;i++)
{
    float value = radius * chramp('ramp',1.0*i/sampling); // value on the x-axis
    vector new_point = set(value,i*height/sampling,0); // next point on the curve
    int ind_point = addpoint(0,new_point); // we create this point
    addvertex(0,prim,ind_point); // and add it to our polyline
}