Hey,

Is there a simple method for exporting MP4's from Houdini in OSx?
Generally I'm making OpenGL ROPs as it's mainly wireframes etc I want.
Just wondering if the TOPs/Image Magick method was good for Mac.

Thanks

The only way I have been able to do it and export Image renders and using video studio to compile them in to an MP4. I am on a PC but there are a lot of video editors out there. I think OSx comes with one.

If its only wire frames than try "Flip-book settings output" you can output audio also with "lines wire frames". I use only that ..

Unfortunately (and increasingly out of step with just about any other DCC out there) Houdini stubbornly refuses to have any support for Quicktime both when it comes to export options, as well as import for, say animated materials. While I'm not arguing that image sequences are the de facto standard when it comes to final output, sometime having a quick and dirty Quicktime mp4 or h.264 file to share with a client as WIP would come in extremely handy.

At this time, your best option is to grab Blackmagic Resolve, and use it as a conversion tool. It's fairly easy to set up and it's fast, plus it's free!

P.S.

Bonus points if you actually learn how to use Resolve properly since it's a fantastic finishing tool.

Simon Russell
Just wondering if the TOPs/Image Magick method was good for Mac.

Yep, tops+ffmpeg works quite well. You can also use tops to control avconvert if you want hevc video:

https://www.tokeru.com/cgwiki/index.php?title=HoudiniTops#Calling_an_external_app_.28avconvert.29_with_the_generic_generator [www.tokeru.com]

Thanks for the answers.
I'm still struggling a bit.
Installing FFMPEG isn't straight forward, currently installing Homebrew.
Not sure what is going on exactly but I'm just trying to piece it together. Surely there must be a better way!
By this I mean maybe not having to install something to install something to use something and all the Terminal stuff...
If there's a clear guide somewhere that would help

--------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, I've got it working!
In case anyone else is having problems, I installed Homebrew (in Terminal, super easy) and then installed FFMPEG and IMAGEMAGICK using Homebrew. You basically just paste one line into Terminal and it installs the software.

Then I used project in the help file for the ffmpegencodevideo node (example_top_ffmpegencodevideo)

I didn't even have to point anything towards Imagemagick or FFMPEG, it just worked.

A better option, in my opinion, is to always render things as PNGs, and then use ffmpeg aftwerwards (in terminal) to convert those frames in to video. This way you're always sure you're working with high quality data, and then tweak with the ffmpeg settings without pressure.