Layout Documentation
Layouts in Houdini should be organized into USD Groups in the Scene Graph Tree.
To assist with this, there are the LnD Layout node group(green) and LnD Layout Group (purple) node group. Feel free to use as many groups as needed to keep things organized.
Naming the bottom node of each node group will name it in the Scene Graph Tree (see how the highlighted nodes above have names that match the scene graph tree). Please name things good so that lighters can find them later.
As you layout assets inside of a LnD Layout Group, make sure that the Destination Primitive path starts with `@PATH`. This will autofill the correct path to the group and keep it up to date as things shift around. For example:
To add an individual asset(s), drag it from the Layout Asset Gallery into the viewport. This will create an Asset Reference node somewhere in the graph. Disconnect it and drop it inside an LnD Layout Group. You can then transform the asset as needed in the viewport. If you add more than one asset of the same kind in the same group, make sure to name them differently (add a number or location) or else they will overwrite each other.
The Solaris Layout node is a powerful tool that lets you use various brushes to place objects into the scene. It can be used both to place objects to create the layout, and also placed below the merge node to place clutter-type set dressing on top of the scene. In the latter case, you can still keep things organized by using multiple Layout nodes.
I was not able to get the Instancer Primitive to automatically update, so you will need to change it to `@PATH`/$OS.
Layout node documentation can be found here.
The Point Instancer node is similar to the Layout node, but allows you to be more precise by defining specific locations instead of using brushes. To set this up, create geo, like a line or curve (with resample node) inside the instancer node with the points that you want to copy geo to. Then, plug in one or more assets into the second input to copy them to those points. If you want multiple variants of a single asset, duplicate the Asset Reference node and set the variant on the duplicate.
More documentation can be found here.
