Free Houdini add-on GGro creates crazily beautiful organic forms
3D artist and motion designer Gio Gargiulo has released GGro, a Houdini toolset for growing organic forms.
The add-on, which is currently free in beta, generates growth animations that resemble a range of real-world forms: from plants, fungi and sea creatures to nerve networks, and even crystals.
A versatile toolset for growing organic – and some inorganic – forms
GGro (pronounced ‘grow’) does what its name suggests: it grows things over time. Gargiulo describes it as doing for growth animations what the MOPs toolset does for motion graphics.
You can get a feel for the types of forms it can grow from the image above: they’re all slightly abstract, but they resemble a range of real organisms, from corals to slime moulds.
Other examples show forms resembling patterns of neurons, and even clusters of crystals.
Over 70 nodes for generating growth animations for motion graphics and VFX
GGro begins with a static mesh, then animates its outward growth, with users able to guide the process using controls for ‘fuel’ and growth direction, and by masking out parts of the surface.
It comprises over 70 nodes: the base growth solvers, for generating 1D, 2D and 3D growth patterns; influence nodes to guide the growth; and utility nodes for post-processing the output.
Users also get a space colonization and a reaction-diffusion solver – unlike Houdini’s own new Reaction-Diffusion solver, GGro’s version acts on meshes, not 2D images.
Not much documentation yet, but download it and try it for yourself
GGro is currently in beta, so the online documentation is still pretty limited, but you can get a feel for the workflow in the presentation above, recorded at the Cologne Houdini User Group.
Gargiulo says that he aims to optimize performance and add presets for common growth forms before the final release.
Price, system requirements and release date
GGro is compatible with Houdini 21, although most features should work with older versions. The download includes the base HDA and example files.
The add-on is currently free in beta. Gio Gargulio hasn’t announced a final release date.
Read more about Houdini organic growth toolset GGro on Gio Gargiulo’s website
Download the free beta of GGro from Gumroad
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