Boolean Complex Geometry
by Clark Cheng
Posted on August 24, 2013 at 9:00 PM
Boolean SOP in Houdini is great but sometimes it doesn't work with stubborn geometry, even if its already closed. I was looking online for other options and decided to learn how does a "Boolean" operation work. I came across this research paper on how they calculate complex mesh geometry fast.
They're 3 types of boolean operations:
- Boolean Difference or Subtraction
- Boolean Union
- Boolean Intersect
The steps that are included for the fundamentals of a booelean is:
We will name the geometry A and B for simplicity sake.
- Split geometry A with B and vice versa
- Choose which parts to keep
- Fuse and Retriangulate
In this example, I will show a boolean difference.
2 spheres as text geometry.
Mesh A and the intersection of the Mesh A and B.
Mesh B and the intersection of the Mesh A and B.
Connect the geometries like a normal with the Boolean SOP.
Change Solid A to "Surface".
When we merge the two resulting booleans, we get both sides. We can see one face is reversed.
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Here is an example of lots of spheres boolean into the main one
