Realistic dripping water droplets setup (Houdini .hip file)

This is a complete setup for simulating sliding droplets in Houdini.

A basic+ understanding of Houdini is essential to customize the setup for your own project (intermediate-level experience is recommended).

This is a super light procedural setup with a POP Solver in it's core. On my machine it simulates about 500 frames of multiple droplets sliding over a surface in under 30 seconds.

Follow these 10 steps to create realistic droplet simulations:

1) Import your asset

2) Create a density attribute

3) Scatter 3 levels of points (big, medium, small) based on the density attribute

4) Convert your asset to a VDB for collision

5) Generate a noise-based speed multiplier point cloud

6) Mark moving (active) points and adjust their attributes

7) Run the simulation

8) Mesh the moving points

9) Mesh the static points

10) Mesh the trail points

The project file also includes a basic lookdev setup in Solaris, so the droplets are ready for immediate rendering.

UPD (17.7.2025): Released v1.1 with a few new features:

1) Added a possibility for droplets to fall down when they approach the geometry's bottom edge. Could be useful for sliding and falling rain droplets simulations.

2)Also added a possibility to draw static sliding droplets with "Draw Curve" node for still renders.

Got questions or need help? Just drop me a message at gimmesteamvfx@gmail.com