Overview
Natsura is a toolkit for growing trees, shrubs, grasses and other plants inside Houdini. It is a general growing system, so it can be used for more than plants.
You build a graph that describes how a plant grows, and Natsura grows it in a simulation, from the point of view of a bud that elongates and splits. You are not modelling a skeleton and scattering geometry on it. Alongside the simulation there are parametric controls, mapping and effectors for shaping, and direct controls in the viewport.
The graph is not the usual Houdini chain where each node changes some geometry. It only becomes geometry at the end, in a Simulate. Because the whole plant grows together, branches appear at the right time and can respond to each other, instead of each layer seeing only the layers made before it.
New here? Install Natsura, find your way around the Interface, then grow Your First Tree.
Who it's for
Natsura is for artists who want to model foliage procedurally without leaving Houdini, working in the viewport and on parameters; for technical artists who want to compose the underlying nodes and VEX into new growth behaviour; and for studios building libraries of plants for game engines.
Core concepts
Most people start with simulation and shaping and pick up the rest as they need it.
Getting started
Features
Going further
Take Your Tree to Unreal covers the Nanite Skeletal Assembly export and wind.
Extend Natsura is for technical artists: your own decorations, VEX effectors and maps, and your own tools built from the core nodes.
Install & Upgrade covers the ways to install and how upgrading works. For problems, start with Common Issues and Troubleshooting. The FAQ covers what Natsura needs and how licensing works, Commercial Use covers paid work, and Support says how to reach us.
The Node Reference lists every documented node.