SpeedTree Controller 3.0 🌳

🌳 SpeedTree Controller for Houdini: Unleash Your Creativity as an Individual Artist! 🌳

In the demanding world of VFX, animating vegetation like trees demands precision, efficiency, and adaptability—challenges that static tools often exacerbate. SpeedTree Controller 3.0 addresses these head-on, empowering Houdini artists to integrate SpeedTree assets into procedural pipelines with enhanced control and realism. Developed by lead Houdini expert Carsten Baars and VFX specialist Arvid Schneider, this updated bundle refines the core suite while introducing targeted advancements for modern workflows, tested previous versions rigorously in Houdini 19.5, 20, and now completely overhauled to fully support Houdini 21. Whether you’re building forest scenes for film, games, or simulations, this toolset transforms complex tree behaviors into intuitive, adjustable processes that align with your artistic intent.

Recommended Houdini version: H21 - latest production build

Join the official SpeedTree Controller discord server for help - feedback - support: https://discord.com/invite/CnGNnTCVVA

What's Included?

• Importer: Effortlessly bring Speedtree alembic caches into Houdini. Focus on creativity, not importing. Automatically create tree spines for animation and simulation purposes.
• Stackable Wind Generator: Layer procedural wind effects with granular control, simulating natural gusts and ambient motion without manual keyframing.
• Tree Deformation: Apply procedural deformations to static trees, enabling fluid animations that respond to environmental forces or narrative needs.
• Tree Simulation: Build advanced RBD fracture systems with constraints, velocity fields, and forces; version 3.0 adds animated fractured trees and RBD merging for dynamic break-apart effects that reassemble or persist realistically in shots.
• Leaves Transform: Customize and animate leaf clusters with fine-tuned parameters, ensuring subtle movements that enhance overall foliage dynamism.
• Pack and Cache: Simple tool to create intermediate caches between all the steps in the setup.
• Example Quick Setups: Ready-to-use Houdini Digital Assets for quick integration into your scenes, showcasing advanced setups like fractured wind simulations and instanced foliage.
• Solaris Workflow: One-click setup for USD-based render pipelines, now enhanced with a Karma Uber material node for unified shading across tree components — ideal for efficient lighting and texturing in Karma XPU or CPU renders.
• Example Scene Files: One-click setup for USD-based render pipelines, now enhanced with a Karma Uber material node for unified shading across tree components — ideal for efficient lighting and texturing in Karma XPU or CPU renders.
• Full Embedded Documentation: In-depth guides integrated via Houdini’s help functions, providing context-sensitive explanations, parameter breakdowns, and troubleshooting directly within the interface.
• Official Discord Server: Join a dedicated community channel for real-time support, feedback, and collaboration with fellow VFX artists using the bundle.
• File Cache Controller: The File Cache Controller comes free with this bundle and is an optional asset. Ideal to get a proper version management for HIP files and caches.

Prerequisites & Outcomes

Prerequisites are minimal: Basic Houdini knowledge (procedural nodes and VEX familiarity recommended) and a valid SpeedTree license for asset imports. No advanced scripting required—the HDAs handle the heavy lifting. Outcomes include faster iteration on VFX sequences, from subtle swaying branches in wide establishing shots to dramatic fracturing in action sequences, all while maintaining procedural non-destructiveness for revisions.

Compatible with industry-standard pipelines, SpeedTree Controller 3.0 equips you to master vegetation in Houdini, blending innovation with practical VFX application. Dive in today—download the bundle and start animating trees that move with purpose, right from your next scene setup.

Ground Shockwave Demo

Rock N Roll Forest Demo

Crag Destruction Demo

State Switch Demo

Wind Shockwave Demo