Capabilities and Limitations

Bunkai.Satori · Lurker Joined: 13 May 2012 Posts: 10

Dear all,

It is usually said that Houdini is the most powerful particle software for development of movie like effects.

I believe it is, however, every product has its weaknesses and limitations. A time ago, I've seen one animation reel, which I consider as breathtaking.

https://vimeo.com/6794856

As i do not know Houdini good enough to have my own opinion, would you advise, please, if Houdini is capable of such effects? If yes, is it easily capable, or here we reach the limitations of the software?

Would you be so kind and provide me with some examples of similar work done in Houdini? Anyway, this webpage is great, but is there any great portal focuses especially on visual effects and Houdini output?

Thank you and kind regards.

zdimaria · Houdini Expert Joined: 03 Jan 2012 Posts: 359

Houdini is definitely capable of doing this. It would be as simple as running a fluid sim, and then advecting points by that sim in pops. As far as 'easy' goes, it is not a challenging effect to achieve, as long as you have a base understanding of the software. I wouldn't recommend jumping straight into this.. its totally dooable, but I think it would help, and you would learn better by first getting a good foundation. Thats just my opinion though.

Peter Quint has a 3 part tutorial on a very similar effect. https://vimeo.com/12092711

Bunkai.Satori · Lurker Joined: 13 May 2012 Posts: 10

Hi Zdimaria,

thank you for your response and feedback. Actually, I saw that video today - nice coincidence. Smile

Currently I learn Houdini Fundamentals, and watch 3DBuzz trainings on youtube.

Anyway, if anybody will be so nice to provide another great materials, examples, and ideas, i will be happy to hear.

It would be interesting to understand what is in the limits of Houdini, and what is too much. Anyway, is thre any limit of particles, Houdini can process in single scene?

sanostol · Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 3:00 pm GMT Post subject:

the limit for particle is quite high and plays a important role when it comes to rendering. the more ram you have the more particles you can render.
there are methods to sim tons of particles for this kind of effect. basicly you split them in different sims, as they only react to a fluidsim. sim a 10 million sim ten times with different seeds for example with the wedge rop. later you use the delayed load procedural to only load them for rendering. you can split them for rendering, too, by splitting them into passes for example. in h12 you can handle much more geometry than h11 in one go, but breaking it up is a good idea.
The drawback is that you get huge cachefiles on disk, but ram and discspace is quite cheap
it also is a good idea to cache them on a local disk as moving it through a network slows down the process

Bunkai.Satori · Lurker Joined: 13 May 2012 Posts: 10

Hi Sanostol,

Thank you for your response. Anyway, I currently work in Germany, in Brechtesgaden - beautiful place to be in.

Currently I have 8 GB RAM. How does this amount of memory stands from Houdini viewpoint? Is it terrible low, or is it acceptable for initial experimens?

As my configuration is a bit old, to purchase additional RAM, I will need to replace motherboad and CPU too. It will mean purchasing new PC for me.

If I need to find qood quality ifnormation, tutorias, etc.. is there any great webpage apart from sidefx.com and odforce.net?

protozoan · Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 5:55 am GMT Post subject:

Bunkai.Satori · Lurker Joined: 13 May 2012 Posts: 10

Hi Protozoan,

thank you for your response.

I have already searched, what are the possiblities for me. Surprisingly, i can not go higher than 32 GB. This it the current limitation for desktop PCs. If I wish to go more, then I have to purchase expensive workstation.

Is there any workaround of breaking the limit of 32 GB for Houdini? Or is 32 just ok even for nice renderings consisting of large amounts of particles?

zdimaria · Houdini Expert Joined: 03 Jan 2012 Posts: 359

imo 32 is more than enough, unless you start doing very large and detailed fluid sims.