Fully-Procedural Houdini Tool That Can Turn 3D Models Into LEGO

VFX/Technical Artist Matthieu Michon, who previously joined 80 Level to tell us more about the Green Lantern Artillery VFX, has once again amazed us with a brand-new project unveiled in his latest ArtStation posts.

This time, Matthieu showcased a neat LEGO City game prototype that lets the player build and demolish LEGO structures. Created as a personal project, the prototype was developed using Houdini, 3ds Max, and Substance 3D Painter, while Unreal Engine 5, along with its Blueprints system, was chosen to power the game. The creator emphasized that the most challenging part of the project was animating LEGO pieces individually without any animation or bones, only through the material's Vertex displacement.

The project's highlight, however, is the incredible procedural Houdini tool built by Matthieu to set up the LEGO world. As shown by the author, the tool can automatically create LEGO versions of 3D meshes and allows to export four different LODs.

You can see the Houdini graphs behind the tool by checking out the full breakdown shared by the artist on ArtStation. You can also learn more about the project itself by clicking this link.

Previously, Pascal Beeckmans also experimented with procedural structures in Houdini made of LEGO bricks:

And prior to that, BcM Industries showcased a Houdini-based LEGO generator for creating blocky structures and simulating realistic LEGO destruction:

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