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To make a looping smoke burst with a distinct branching shape, use a procedural point network to define the branches, derive a velocity field from those paths, and rasterize both velocity and smoke attributes into Pyro. For motion variation, animate between multiple branch networks and vary the emitting points rather than repeating one unchanged source. In Karlis Stigis’s Houdini example, ten network variations provide that changing scaffold; sourced velocity set to Copy helps preserve the branches during simulation.
How the branching network becomes a Pyro guide
The point network is a geometric scaffold for the smoke, not the smoke simulation itself. Its branch paths provide directions for the velocity field, while separate source attributes create density and temperature. Keeping those jobs distinct makes it easier to adjust branch shape without confusing it with Pyro’s turbulence and other motion.
Seed and grow the point network
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Start with a cylinder and populate it with points using Points from Volume. Choose a starting point group to seed the growth.
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Run a repeated search, connect, and advance cycle. Active points propose unused neighboring points within a search radius; each proposed neighbor selects its closest candidate parent. Connected points become active for the next pass, while the previous generation stops searching.
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Adjust the search distance to change link length, and the candidate limit to control how many neighbors an active point can propose. These settings shape the branching scaffold before any smoke is simulated.
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Track point groups and candidate-parent lists through the repeated wrangles, and propagate root IDs from parents to children. Stigis’s implementation uses an initialization wrangle followed by three repeated wrangles.
Edge Transport provides normalized distance along branches. Join the segments into paths, then resample and smooth them. Use neighboring distance values along a path to derive an outward direction, and store that direction as velocity on the path points. This makes the network’s geometry legible to Pyro as a directional flow rather than just an emitter shape.
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Wrap the network setup as a Houdini Digital Asset (HDA), then place the solver inside an outer loop to create ten packed branch variations. During animation, switch among those variations to change the velocity directions, and vary the emission points as well. Stigis selects points around cluster roots and adds random points for smaller bursts.
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Use Pyro Source to add density and temperature to the emitter points. Then use Volume Rasterize Attributes to rasterize density, temperature, and the path velocity field into volumes for the Pyro Solver’s source input. Stigis reports using Density Scale 10 for this particular effect; treat it as a shot-specific setting, not a universal starting value.
Choose how sourced velocity interacts with the simulation
The velocity sourcing operation has a visible effect on whether the branches remain distinct. In Stigis’s comparison, Add accumulates incoming velocity with the existing flow, making the branching pattern less clear. Copy replaces velocity in the sourced region on each update, repeatedly reinforcing the path directions. Turbulence can still move smoke outside those regions.
| Operation | Effect in this example | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| Add | Combines sourced velocity with the existing flow; Stigis found the branches less distinct. | Use when accumulating the new flow into existing motion is the desired result. |
| Copy | Replaces velocity in the sourced region, reinforcing the branch paths on each update. | Use when keeping the branch directions visually defined is the priority. |
For this shot, Stigis disables flame and buoyancy and tunes turbulence so the pattern remains recognizable while moving. Those are choices for this effect, not rules for every Pyro setup. If a Copy-driven result looks too rigid, tune turbulence and the emission variation rather than assuming the branch scaffold itself must be discarded.
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Contain the smoke and balance simulation detail
A thickened cylinder converted to a signed-distance collision field confines the smoke while leaving its interior hollow. The example uses minimal OpenCL for this fixed-container setup. The author notes that animated sources need a source-frame caching preparation step before simulation, so do not assume an animated source can be used directly in the same way as a static one.
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SideFX’s Houdini 22.0 Pyro guidance emphasizes that source geometry strongly affects smoke behavior, voxel size should be chosen relative to scene scale, and smaller voxels increase resolution and simulation cost. Padding must leave room for the motion; excessive padding also costs performance. Tune resolution and padding together: enough detail to read the branches, and enough volume margin to contain their movement, without simulating empty space unnecessarily.
For a loop-oriented setup, SideFX advises using looping sources where possible and accounting for source and collider frame ranges in the workflow. Houdini’s Pyro system can be built from a smoke object, source volumes, and a Pyro Solver in DOPs; the SOP Pyro Solver wraps the simulation building blocks in a single SOP workflow. The appropriate workflow and feature availability depend on Houdini version and edition. SideFX distinguishes COP Pyro, a GPU-oriented workflow with DOP-level permissions that is unavailable in Houdini Core; its Pyro FX information lists tools for Core, FX, Indie, Education, and Apprentice, with Core limited to SOP-level simulation tools.
Make the loop vary without assuming it is seamless
The ten packed networks and changing emitter points are a way to keep the motion from reading as one static source repeated unchanged. They do not, by themselves, prove that the first and last frames match. The cited example does not specify a loop duration or a universal timing recipe, so the cycle length and transition timing have to be chosen for the shot.
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Check the first-to-last transition in the rendered sequence, not just in the viewport. A loop can have varied middle frames and still show a visible jump at its boundary.
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Inspect both the branch directions and emission pattern across the cycle. Switching networks changes the guide velocity; varying emission points changes where smaller bursts begin.
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Where the source itself can be looped, follow SideFX’s recommendation to use looping sources where possible. Keep source and collider frame ranges aligned with the intended simulation range.
Cache the fields needed for shading and motion blur
Keep density for volume rendering and velocity for motion blur. In Stigis’s cache workflow, the output is converted to VDBs, velocity components are recombined into a vector field, velocity is resampled to half resolution, and density is stored at 16-bit precision to reduce cache size. This trades some field precision and velocity detail for a lighter cache; check the result at the final render scale before relying on it.
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What to adjust when the result misses the target
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Branches are too short or too long: adjust the point-network search distance, which controls link length.
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The network branches too densely or sparsely: tune the candidate limit, which controls how many neighbors an active point may propose.
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The smoke loses its branch definition: compare Add and Copy sourcing; Copy preserved path directions more clearly in Stigis’s example. Then tune turbulence so it animates the smoke without obscuring the scaffold.
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The smoke escapes or the sim is unnecessarily heavy: check the signed-distance collider and padding, then adjust voxel size against scene scale and required detail.
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The loop feels repetitive: animate between the packed branch variations and change emitter points rather than cycling one unchanged network and source.
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The cache or render loses useful motion: verify that density is present for shading and that velocity survives the conversion and resampling for motion blur.
The approach is inspired by Entagma’s VEX space-colonization tutorial and the 2007 paper “Modeling Trees with a Space Colonization Algorithm.” Stigis adapts the idea to connect existing points rather than create new positions from averaged attraction directions.
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