New Video Tutorial - Shading with the Mantra Surface Shader

adrianlazar

if a mod want's to merge all me threads about the video tutorials I recorded please go ahead Smile

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Hi guys,
In this new free SideFX Houdini Training Video I’m going to show you how flexible the standard Mantra Surface Shader really is.

Watch it here: http://training.adrianlazar.com/2012/02/21/houdini-shading-with-the-mantra-surface-shader/

At almost 2 hours long this video tutorial is focused on shading and shading only. Using just the parameters that are exposed by default in the standard Mantra Surface Shader I’m going to create 26 materials representing different types of surfaces: wood, metal, glass, plastic, concrete, paint, etc.
The scene used in this training video is from a real production, a short movie that me and a friend are currently working on.
On a few occasions I had to cut out the render time in order to keep the video easy to follow.
It doesn’t have any voice over but from time to time short tips are displayed on screen.

A small note: Remember that the Mantra Surface Shader is not a black box and that it can be heavily modified if you dig inside.

Make sure you don’t miss any tutorial by sending an email with the subject “subscribe” to news@training.adrianlazar.com or by following me on twitter: AdrianLazar3D

Hope you like it and for more tutorials visit my Houdini Training page here: http://training.adrianlazar.com

circusmonkey · Houdini Guru Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 1805

Hi,
There seems to be no sound >

rob

dulo · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 3:45 am GMT Post subject:

Very nice indeed. Have been thinking about making houdini video tutorials for quite some time but till now I had not enough time .. Sad

So double thumbs up for your great videos !!

AndyAl92 · Lurker Joined: 02 Nov 2011 Posts: 15

Awesome

Thanks!!

adrianlazar · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 3:40 pm GMT Post subject:

Guys I'm very happy you like it Wink

@circusmonkey: it does't have sound and I explained why in another tutorial thread, here: http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=24898 .
I wrote that it doesn't have any voice over on the cover but looks like some people don't see it, I'll try to mark it better. I also edited my first post to specify that there's no VO

@dulo: you're right, it does take some time to record training, it's not as straightforward or as easy as many people think - and as I thought also before starting. On the other hand it's very rewarding to share with others your knowledge so it make it worth the effort. The only issue is with time in crunch periods.

@AndyAl92: you're welcome, glad you like it

zarti · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:58 pm GMT Post subject:

Thanks ! , adrian .

respect ! , for what you are doing . That 's the spirit ..

--regarding the sound / voice missing issue
personally i have no problem with it . maybe because i have been tempted to record short houdini-sessions too , but felt my self insecure in spoken english , i do understand your situation .

Anyway , it is nice to stand and watch behind someone 's shoulder who is using houdini

.. and his shoulder doesnt partialy covers the screen . =)

there are always things to learn ( for sure ) ..

--regarding the merging of threads in a Single one
if forum moderators dont make it sticky , you can always keep uploading videos frequently and that thread wd behave as a 'sticky' one .. =)

--suggestion / request
this might be momentarily inapropriate since you are recording sessions of a project , but here it is :
i wd be really interested on seeing CHOPs and / Bone-Setups sessions .

--ps
nice project , by the way . hope youd share with us the final result too .

goodLuck !

adrianlazar · Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:34 am GMT Post subject:

Hi zarti,
I'm happy you like it.

About making a tut for how CHOPS / bone setup works the problem is that I don't know either. I want to make tutorials about what I know best to do and unfortunately I don't know almost anything about CHOPS, animation or character setup.
If some day I'll learn it and what I've learned might be useful for other people as well then definitely I'll make a tutorial.