Hi everyone.

I am a good modeler, but a lousy animator.

I cannot locate a satisfactory answer for my question.

My needs, at the moment, require me to work outside of Houdini.

The lack of FBX support is deterring, but, can I get my Houdini rigged/ animated model to play inside of 3DS Max for Max output?

Houdini is very exciting, but possibly outside my work flow. Houdini seems that it would be the holy grail for animating, but lacks crossover capability for the price point now offered to a wider consumer base.

It's not easy to leave it all behind.

Thanks for reading. Advice and answers appreciated.

Hi theron,

You can write out the animated model into a sequence of Wavefront OBJ files (animated_model.$F4.obj) and use a OBJ importer in Max to read them.

Cheers!
steven

You could also write a pointcache file that max can read.
Would be more work than the object way :roll: .

Georg

stevenong
Hi theron,

You can write out the animated model into a sequence of Wavefront OBJ files (animated_model.$F4.obj) and use a OBJ importer in Max to read them.

Cheers!
steven

That sounds interesting. I've never wrote a program command before. Where could I find instructions for “write out… into a sequence?” Is there a more specific term(s) for this process?

Thanks guys for replying.

Hi Theron, Typically we use Geometry Output (ROP) to write out ths sequence of geometry. However, I don't think this feature is enabled under Apprentice program.

Alex, the Geometry ROP is available for Apprentice since 8.1 was released. This is to facilitate the Auto Rig capture, I believe.

theron, to write out a geometry sequence, you can use the ROP Output Driver in SOPs or the Geometry ROP like Alex said.

Please see attached file for both methods.

Cheers!
steven

stevenong
Alex, the Geometry ROP is available for Apprentice since 8.1 was released. This is to facilitate the Auto Rig capture, I believe.

theron, to write out a geometry sequence, you can use the ROP Output Driver in SOPs or the Geometry ROP like Alex said.

Please see attached file for both methods.

Cheers!
steven

Aah. That's cool. I thought Geometry ROP was disabled in Apprentice. Guess I have a lot of stuff to try to remember these days… and forget a lot too… :?

Thanks Steven.

the named$F4.obj to pointcache writer wasn't as diffucult as I thought.

you can write out a sequence of .obj files and generate a pc2 (pointcache) with a maxscript.
then import the first obj and apply the pointcache.


Georg

You are great guys and I thank you for your time and advice.

Steve, I tried your .hip file and could not make heads or tails of it. :shock: Thanks anyhow and my apologies for your time.

I realize that I am still a little fish in the shallow end of the pond.

I work in construction and have precious little time to make my dream happen. It is a silly dream, but I want to see my 3d models come to life.

Houdini is really stressing me out. I am one of those people that needs to be shown what to do… not because I am a sock puppet, but because I have too much firing in my mind all at once. Mostly, I am thinking about work and my fiancee. lol

I would have a little more confidence if there was an Auto-Rig Part 2 video or something that told exactly how to capture geometry.

I am going to check out the pmg Messiah. I heard that works directly with Max and other host programs.

Thanks again, guys.

Theron is it the lack of information on the subject of character animation within houdini thats making you want to transfer your character back to max ?

R