The Karma Room Map Shader performs various calculations on the used geometry to determine the map’s dimensions and orientation. With native Houdini geometry, this process is straightforward, but sometimes objects from external sources don’t fulfill the shader’s requirements. A common issue with geometry from other DCCs is an inconsistent vertex order and differently orientated vectors.

Follow this link to get more information on troubleshooting faulty geometry.

You can create the SOP nodes in the obj network, but also through a SOP Create LOP in the stage network. In this and the following examples, all geometry nodes are located on the obj network.

1. Press ⇥ Tab to open the Tab menu and create a Geometry OBJ. Double-click the node to dive into it.

2. Add a Grid SOP. This node represents the window.

3. Change the grid’s Orientation to XY Plane.

4. For Size, enter 2, 1.

5. Set Rows and Columns to 2 each to simplify the projection geometry.

6. Add a Room Map Frame SOP and connect its input with the output of the grid node. The Karma Room Map shader requires some information to scale and orient the map correctly. This node creates the appropriate attributes.

7. Turn on Visualize to see the most important attributes.

8. To terminate the short network, add a Null SOP and connect it to the Room Map Frame SOP’s output. Rename the null, e.g. to GEO_WINDOW, and turn on the blue Display/Render flag.

Above you can see the three axes for each vertex, representing the red tangentu (Utan) and green tangentv (Vtan) vectors. The blue vector is the cross product from tangentu and tangentv and represents the grid’s normal. The blue vector’s direction indicates, for example, on which side of the grid the map appears. You can use the node’s various checkboxes to change the map’s orientation without changing the object’s geometry. Use Up Vector, however, fixes many issues with an inconsistent vertex order.

The following, very basic LOP setup imports the SOP network to the USD stage to create a preview.

1. On the stage level, press ⇥ Tab and create a SOP Import LOP.

2. SOP Path must point to the GEO_WINDOW null on the obj network. If you have followed the steps above, the path is /obj/geo/GEO_WINDOW. Alternatively, click the node chooser icon and navigate to GEO_WINDOW.

3. Add a Material Library LOP and connect its input with the output of the SOP Import LOP.

For final rendering you also need a Camera LOP, the Karma Render Settings LOP and an USD Render ROP node.

In Houdini 20, materials are created inside specific Subnet VOPs. Once you've created a subnet and dived into it, the Tab menu provides only shader nodes that work with the chosen subnet. Here’s the entire shader network (the steps for its creation are explained below).

1. Double-click the Material Library LOP to dive inside.

2. From the Tab menu, choose Karma Material Builder. Double-click this node as well and dive inside. The subnet comes preconfigured with several nodes. You can delete the mtlxdisplacement node.

3. Add a Karma Room Map LOP and connect it’s out output to the next input of the Material_Outputs_and_AOVs node.

4. The File parameter lets you choose a map. By default, there’s a karma/roommap_debug.exr entry. For now, keep this map.

   The node’s first three inputs expect geometry attributes from the Room Map Frame SOP. The SOP node analyses the window’s scale, position and orientation for the correct projection of the interior map.

5. To bind the window’s attributes to the shader, add three MtlX Geometry Property Value VOPs. Connect their out pins to the shader’s position, tangent, and bitangent inputs.

6. For all three MtlX Geometry Property Value VOPs set Signature to Vector 3.

7. The three Geomprop parameters are roomP, tangentu and tangentv.

You can now connect the Karma Room Map shader to a MtlX Standard Surface VOP. The material creates a realistic impression, where reflections, color, and brightness match the lighting situation.

1. Connect the room map shader’s out output with the base_color input of the material.

2. Connect the shader’s normal output with the material’s normal input.

3. To create a glass effect for the window, add a MtlX Normal VOP and connect it to the material’s coat_normal input.

4. The Karma Room Map VOP’s Mix Normals parameter adds fake normals to each room wall to mimic the interior’s diffuse appearance. This way you can adapt the room’s look to the ambient light situation.

If you have created a Karma Material Builder subnet from the Tab menu, then the MtlX Standard Material node is already connected to Material_Outputs_and_AOVs node and you're ready to apply the material to the window object(s).

You can now return to the stage level and preview the result. In the viewport, set the render delegate to Karma CPU or Karma XPU. After a few moments you should see something similar to the image below.

Now you can start to customize the room. The shader VOP provides parameters to scale the map, change the room’s depth and turn on slices.

• You can use the Scale parameters to control the virtual room’s dimensions. With a Z value of 2, for example, the room appears deeper.

• When you turn on the Slice parameters, you can see four differently colored cards inside the room. Use Slice Position and Slice Scale to define the slices' appearance.

• Load your own File to change the interior.

In this example, you copy the original grid to create a total of three panes.

1. On the obj level, dive into the geo1 node and select grid1.

2. Change Scale to 1, 2 to get an upright rectangle.

3. From the Tab menu, add two Transform SOPs. Connect the output of grid1 with the input of transform1 and transform2. You now have two branches and each branch/transform node contains a copy of the original grid.

4. On the first transform, set Translate to -1, 0, -0.25 and Rotate to 0, -30, 0.

5. On the second transform, set Translate to 1, 0, -0.25 and Rotate to 0, 30, 0.

6. Add a Merge SOP, then connect the grid and transform nodes its input.

7. Connect the Merge SOP’s output to the input of roommapframe1. Below you can see what you should get.

The glass front in the previous example can be copied to create several floors similar to an office building and each floor should show a different interior. Start with the window geometry. Here is the network you will be creating.

1. Dive into the geo1 node on the obj level.

2. Add a Line SOP to determine the number of floors. In this example, Length is 6.25 and Points is 4.

3. Delete the existing Attribute Wrangle and create a new one. Connect its first input with the output of the Line SOP.

4. The VEXpression is i@roomID = @ptnum + 200. The new @ptnum attribute adds the line’s point numbers. Currently, the roomID is copied to the windows' points. This is going to be changed in a later step.

5. Add a Copy to Points SOP. Connect its first input with the output of merge1. Link the second input to the output of copytopoints1.

6. An Attribute Promote SOP copies the roomID attribute to the windows. Connect its input with the output of copytopoints1.

7. For Original Name, enter roomID.

8. Set New Class to Primitive.

9. Connect the output of roommapframe1 with the input of attribpromote1.

When you turn on the Null SOP’s blue Display/Render flag, you should see four floors. Each floor has three windows. You should also see the roomID numbers. If not, select roommapframe1 and turn on Visualize.

The Karma Room Map shader has {Slice} Offset UDIM parameters to switch to another texture in a file sequence. A file sequence consists of several maps with equal names and extensions, but varying UDIM indices, for example

• interior.1001.exr, interior.1002.exr, interior.1003.exr, interior.1004.exr

To make the render engine aware of the file sequence, replace the indices through a token

• interior.<UDIM>.exr

Use this common notation as a file name for the shader’s File parameter (note that you also need a path, pointing to the files). When you use the Offset UDIM slider to change the maps, you will also see that all floors have the same map applied. If you want a different map for each floor, you have to randomize the maps.

One solution is to drive Voronoi noise through the roomP attribute that stores a window’s position. By default, there’s a high probability that you get the same map applied several times, especially in setups with just a few windows. To fix that you can introduce a factor to control the Voronoi noise, while higher values add more randomness. The comparison below shows this concept. Without a factor, nearby Voronoi cells often have equal colors, indicating a high probability for identical maps. In the right image, a factor of 100 results in more variation.

Here’s how to use the noise for randomizing maps.

1. Dive into stage/materiallibrary1/karmamaterial

2. Add a MtlX Multiply VOP and connect in1 with out of the MtlX Geometry Property Value node with the roomP attribute.

3. For Input 2 enter 50, 50, 50. With just four windows this is a good starting value for randomizing the interior maps.

4. Lay down a Karma Voronoi Nose 3D VOP. Link position with with the mtlxmultiply1 node’s out.

   The Voronoi cell position vectors are available at the p outputs. The vectors must be split into their components again to drive the shader’s UDIM parameter.

5. Add a MtlX Separate Vector 3 VOP to get the components. Connect the node’s in input with p3 from the Voronoi noise (p3 normally gives more randomness).

6. Add a MtlX Range VOP. This node remaps the incoming values. Connect its in input with the MtlX Separate VOP’s outy. On the separate VOP you can see an Outhigh parameter. The value must correspond with the number of available maps. In this example there are four maps for four windows, so the parameter’s value is 4.

7. Connect the out pin with the shader’s room_offset input.

Your network should look as shown below.

Slices add extra layers to the interior to create a deeper spatial impression. When you open the shader’s parameter and turn on Slice {n}, you can see Slice Offset UDIM parameters. If an interior map has slices, you can use the slider to swap the slices. An interior map can have up to four slices.

You can use the method from Randomizing maps to drive the Slice Offset UDIM parameters.

1. All you have to do is adding more MtlX Range VOPs and connect them with the out[xyz] outputs of the MtlX Separate 3 node.

2. Then you set the range VOPs' Outhigh parameters to 4 - the maximum number of slices per map. Empty slices have a black background and considered to be completely transparent.

3. Connect the range VOPs' out pins to the slice{n}_offset inputs of the shader.

Below you can see three different views of the randomized interior maps on multiple windows and floors.

The window’s geometry is created from two polygon curves. The space between the curves is filled with polygons to get a solid object. Note that the guide below is a basic method to illustrate the concept.

1. On the obj level, open the Tab menu and create a Geometry OBJ node. Double-click the node to dive into it.

2. Inside the Geometry node, add a Curve SOP. Move the mouse over the viewport and press 2 to activate the Top perspective. Then, press Enter to get into drawing mode.

3. Make sure that the node’s Primitive Type is set to Polygon.

4. Use the LMB to draw points. More points create a smoother surface. Press Enter again to terminate the curve.

5. Add a Line SOP and set Length to 2 (or any other value).

6. A Copy to Points SOP copies the curve to the line’s points.

7. Connect the Copy to Points SOP’s first input to the curve node’s output; the second input is linked to the line’s output.

8. Add a Skin SOP to create polygons between the curves. Connect the first input with the copy node’s output.

9. A Fuse SOP cleans up the geometry by snapping points together.

   You now have a solid object for the map’s projection. The remaining steps are the same as in the previous examples.

1. The Karma Room Map Frame SOP adds all relevant attributes. Add the node and connect its input with output of the network’s last node. The creation of a custom roomID attribute isn’t necessary here, and all polygons should have a common roomID value of 0.

2. Terminate the chain with a Null SOP and rename it to GEO_WINDOW, for example.

The LOP setup for rendering with Karma follows the previous descriptions: the Karma Room Map shader requires the attributes from the Karma Room Map Frame SOP and an interior map. If you have multiple copies of the curved window, you can again use the Randomizing maps and Randomizing slices methods to apply different maps. Here are two different views of a curved window.

Once you have understood the concept, you will see that this shader is very robust and flexible. The shader also works with different shapes and lets you control all relevant attributes. You only need a single shader node to furnish a complete building.