ah yes found the comment you were talking about
gonna talk to them to find out more
“a large tool effort”, as they say, indeed it's a whole pipeline in general that needs to be thought through. very curious about how they approached it. anway, that's cool !
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Houdini Lounge » CUSTOM HOUDINI CROWD PLUG-IN IS ANNOUNCED - ALPHA
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Houdini Lounge » CUSTOM HOUDINI CROWD PLUG-IN IS ANNOUNCED - ALPHA
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
It's my experience on projects involving crowds and flocks( Invictus, Ender's Game) which got me studying the subject rather in depth from boids to action-based , and finding the best unifying framework for all that.
I haven't asked or told anyone, no, hoping to make some money out of this: i've always wanted to do this anyway, and learned a billion things in doing it ( from hardcore HDK C++, skeleton/action representation, motion capture which i went ahead and did myself -yey!-, and much much more ).
Many small and limited crowds setups have been developed over the years, some using pre-cached geo with delayed load, but i think never a full solution as complete as Massive or Miarmy, like i did.
Crowds are in the air, so much in the air that i've always wondered why they were'nt there yet. Apart from the ragdoll side of things which uses bullet, all that i've developed could have been done 5 years ago within Houdini.
Yep the lack of comment from them is weird. I wasn't included in the alpha/beta if there was any, so i dunno.
If they're cooking something, it will have to have GPU acceleration, otherwise i would say it's not really a “novelty”, it's just something built on top of what they already have ( except the DSO). I expect more from them, especially on the “harder core” side ( especially the GPU side of things) which is now an absolute priority if they want to compete with Fabric Engine which is catching up rapidly on the nodal representation of scenes and algorithms and has a killer “Horde” system.
It has PEX which is GPU-accelerated and is like VEX and produces amazing performance for crowds among other things ( and PEX has visual graph representation, so they have VOPs too) . Again, if they go this way, they have to also rethink entirely their character pipeline and completely “Vexify” it like Fabric Engine has done. I also started doing that. Serious highly photorealistic crowds now mean complex rigs and not just linear skinning, but also muscle, lattice etc. This can all be done in VEX too, which my stuff is doing, and is doing at rendertime!!! , and which to my knowledge is lacking for the “competition”( Massive/Miarmy).
Not to mention motion retargeting in CHOPs which people have been requesting for years and which becomes extemely handy to produce movement variety.
If they can have all that, then that's awesome!
I haven't asked or told anyone, no, hoping to make some money out of this: i've always wanted to do this anyway, and learned a billion things in doing it ( from hardcore HDK C++, skeleton/action representation, motion capture which i went ahead and did myself -yey!-, and much much more ).
Many small and limited crowds setups have been developed over the years, some using pre-cached geo with delayed load, but i think never a full solution as complete as Massive or Miarmy, like i did.
Crowds are in the air, so much in the air that i've always wondered why they were'nt there yet. Apart from the ragdoll side of things which uses bullet, all that i've developed could have been done 5 years ago within Houdini.
Yep the lack of comment from them is weird. I wasn't included in the alpha/beta if there was any, so i dunno.
If they're cooking something, it will have to have GPU acceleration, otherwise i would say it's not really a “novelty”, it's just something built on top of what they already have ( except the DSO). I expect more from them, especially on the “harder core” side ( especially the GPU side of things) which is now an absolute priority if they want to compete with Fabric Engine which is catching up rapidly on the nodal representation of scenes and algorithms and has a killer “Horde” system.
It has PEX which is GPU-accelerated and is like VEX and produces amazing performance for crowds among other things ( and PEX has visual graph representation, so they have VOPs too) . Again, if they go this way, they have to also rethink entirely their character pipeline and completely “Vexify” it like Fabric Engine has done. I also started doing that. Serious highly photorealistic crowds now mean complex rigs and not just linear skinning, but also muscle, lattice etc. This can all be done in VEX too, which my stuff is doing, and is doing at rendertime!!! , and which to my knowledge is lacking for the “competition”( Massive/Miarmy).
Not to mention motion retargeting in CHOPs which people have been requesting for years and which becomes extemely handy to produce movement variety.
If they can have all that, then that's awesome!
Edited by - Nov. 19, 2014 09:15:04
Houdini Lounge » CUSTOM HOUDINI CROWD PLUG-IN IS ANNOUNCED - ALPHA
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Hi,
Price is not set yet.
What i can say already is that it will be cheaper than the other commercial solutions ( Massive/Golaem/Miarmy), even if it can do more ( mostly because it lives inside Houdini)
I need to see how big the demand isout there.
Also, it's been made in separate modules and will be also sold in modules ( so you don't have to buy everything):
The main components are:
1)The “action-prepping module” that converts Houdini skeletons into custom skeletons, build the actions file(s) out of mocap +it's where you build the action graph
2)The crowd solver
3)The dedicated ragdoll solver
4)The procedural
We can imagine that users that don't have Houdini 13 buy only 1,2 and 4
or people who want to output to another renderer ( until i release the
Render/Arnold procedurals) will not buy 4 and instead write their bgeo -> rib exporter f.ex in Python )
The “pre-built brains” ( vision, flocking, pathfinding etc) components are going to be free, i want this part to be free.
Price is not set yet.
What i can say already is that it will be cheaper than the other commercial solutions ( Massive/Golaem/Miarmy), even if it can do more ( mostly because it lives inside Houdini)
I need to see how big the demand isout there.
Also, it's been made in separate modules and will be also sold in modules ( so you don't have to buy everything):
The main components are:
1)The “action-prepping module” that converts Houdini skeletons into custom skeletons, build the actions file(s) out of mocap +it's where you build the action graph
2)The crowd solver
3)The dedicated ragdoll solver
4)The procedural
We can imagine that users that don't have Houdini 13 buy only 1,2 and 4
or people who want to output to another renderer ( until i release the
Render/Arnold procedurals) will not buy 4 and instead write their bgeo -> rib exporter f.ex in Python )
The “pre-built brains” ( vision, flocking, pathfinding etc) components are going to be free, i want this part to be free.
Houdini Lounge » CUSTOM HOUDINI CROWD PLUG-IN IS ANNOUNCED - ALPHA
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
“CROWDS ARE HERE… CROWDS ARE HERE…”
Hi all,
After a couple of projects involving crowds and flocks, it was clear to me that Houdini had everything to become the new crowd software, but besides just brains as sopsolvers, the whole pipeline/framework had to be built to be able to deal with characters in a fast way! ( SOP-speed that is), along with proper rendering tools (custom instancer). That's what i did over the last couple of months and am happy to announce it:
Fast, fully customizable crowds are available in Houdini with the upcoming release of the CROWDIGY 1.0 ( codename) plug-in/Framework
No CHOPs, no copy SOP… only current VEX/C++ speed ! Built upon more than 30+ otls.
Demo: http://vimeo.com/112054883 [vimeo.com]
( WATCH IN HD!!! or download - working on a better/richer version).
Currently Includes/Features:
- Crowd DSO (Mantra): character deformation happens DYNAMICALLY AT RENDERTIME (currently porting the code to Renderman and Arnold ) -
- Ragdoll module (made with Bullet) happening in sync with crowd solving
-Action editing module, action graph ( fully editable as geometry to handle action choosing, transitions, blends etc. processed at VEX speed of course),
-Works with arbitrary skeletons, actions are saved in a custom format ( no CHOPs i said ). Skeletons can be imported as .bvh and are converted into our own format
-Full Artficial Intelligence Module ( aka “brains”): Comes with a lot of predefined agent “inputs” ( Vision, Terrain adaptation, Flocking etc …).
A cool one is the Path Finding SOP (Djikstra/A*-like pathfinding), built upon the uber-awesome-and-remarkably-fast Shortest Path SOP),
Of course you can define your own brains using all the array of of VEX and SOPs tools
-Entirely integrated with the rest of Houdini : cloth, particle, any DOPs are accessible at each timestep…( see the coupling with particle sims at the beginning of the video)
( and much much more to come but hush!)
And of course:
DEPLOY YOUR CROWDS IN MAYA,3DSMAX, CINEMA4D, UNITY, etc.. through the Houdini Engine (populate, invade, spread or colonize ..)
The official commercial release is expected end of 2014, on Orbolt. The plan is to have it under closed beta at first.
Compatible with Houdini 11 to 13 ( only 13 for ragdoll module)
So much more i have to say, but i will keep it short to start with… ( currently putting together a 1hr overview video )
Any questions: shoot a mail at houdinicrowdsolutions@gmail.com
Not sure if SideFx has something cooking for Houdini 14, but i wanted to do it anyway, and couldn't wait ha ha . i had thought the infrastructure through in great lengths before i went ahead and actually implemented it - to make it the most versatile, algorithmically fast, conceptually simple, the most “houdini-esque”. I hope it is
Will be looking for nice mocap and rich rigs to make even more pictures…
(did i tell you i even made my own mocap with a Kinect sensor.. it's not entirely there but it's really really promising)
P.S
You asked about speed:
It includes a live speed test on a rather poor machine! 6GB Ram/Core Duo/512Mb Vram cough cough! Comparing it to Fabric Engine for instance is meaningless, Houdini hasn't got GPU acceleration yet. And i wonder how much time it would take for them to code everything.. Let's only compare what can be compared.
1/3 sec per frame for 1000 characters ( 50+ actions) for pure solving and display
2 sec/frame for 100 characters with Bullet solving
-d
Hi all,
After a couple of projects involving crowds and flocks, it was clear to me that Houdini had everything to become the new crowd software, but besides just brains as sopsolvers, the whole pipeline/framework had to be built to be able to deal with characters in a fast way! ( SOP-speed that is), along with proper rendering tools (custom instancer). That's what i did over the last couple of months and am happy to announce it:
Fast, fully customizable crowds are available in Houdini with the upcoming release of the CROWDIGY 1.0 ( codename) plug-in/Framework
No CHOPs, no copy SOP… only current VEX/C++ speed ! Built upon more than 30+ otls.
Demo: http://vimeo.com/112054883 [vimeo.com]
( WATCH IN HD!!! or download - working on a better/richer version).
Currently Includes/Features:
- Crowd DSO (Mantra): character deformation happens DYNAMICALLY AT RENDERTIME (currently porting the code to Renderman and Arnold ) -
- Ragdoll module (made with Bullet) happening in sync with crowd solving
-Action editing module, action graph ( fully editable as geometry to handle action choosing, transitions, blends etc. processed at VEX speed of course),
-Works with arbitrary skeletons, actions are saved in a custom format ( no CHOPs i said ). Skeletons can be imported as .bvh and are converted into our own format
-Full Artficial Intelligence Module ( aka “brains”): Comes with a lot of predefined agent “inputs” ( Vision, Terrain adaptation, Flocking etc …).
A cool one is the Path Finding SOP (Djikstra/A*-like pathfinding), built upon the uber-awesome-and-remarkably-fast Shortest Path SOP),
Of course you can define your own brains using all the array of of VEX and SOPs tools
-Entirely integrated with the rest of Houdini : cloth, particle, any DOPs are accessible at each timestep…( see the coupling with particle sims at the beginning of the video)
( and much much more to come but hush!)
And of course:
DEPLOY YOUR CROWDS IN MAYA,3DSMAX, CINEMA4D, UNITY, etc.. through the Houdini Engine (populate, invade, spread or colonize ..)
The official commercial release is expected end of 2014, on Orbolt. The plan is to have it under closed beta at first.
Compatible with Houdini 11 to 13 ( only 13 for ragdoll module)
So much more i have to say, but i will keep it short to start with… ( currently putting together a 1hr overview video )
Any questions: shoot a mail at houdinicrowdsolutions@gmail.com
Not sure if SideFx has something cooking for Houdini 14, but i wanted to do it anyway, and couldn't wait ha ha . i had thought the infrastructure through in great lengths before i went ahead and actually implemented it - to make it the most versatile, algorithmically fast, conceptually simple, the most “houdini-esque”. I hope it is
Will be looking for nice mocap and rich rigs to make even more pictures…
(did i tell you i even made my own mocap with a Kinect sensor.. it's not entirely there but it's really really promising)
P.S
You asked about speed:
It includes a live speed test on a rather poor machine! 6GB Ram/Core Duo/512Mb Vram cough cough! Comparing it to Fabric Engine for instance is meaningless, Houdini hasn't got GPU acceleration yet. And i wonder how much time it would take for them to code everything.. Let's only compare what can be compared.
1/3 sec per frame for 1000 characters ( 50+ actions) for pure solving and display
2 sec/frame for 100 characters with Bullet solving
-d
Edited by - Nov. 17, 2014 12:19:19
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Houdini Indie and HDK ?
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
That's great!
Thanks a lot Jeff.
I have to say the code examples are just a goldmine!!
-d
Thanks a lot Jeff.
I have to say the code examples are just a goldmine!!
-d
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Houdini Indie and HDK ?
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Hi all!
I'm about to buy a Houdini Indie license, but i couldn't find any information about whether or not this comes with the HDK ? I don't see why it wouldn't, since Apprentice does, but i just wanted to make sure.
What about if i load a plug-in compiled with Apprentice, inside Indie, will that work?
Thanks a lot!
David
I'm about to buy a Houdini Indie license, but i couldn't find any information about whether or not this comes with the HDK ? I don't see why it wouldn't, since Apprentice does, but i just wanted to make sure.
What about if i load a plug-in compiled with Apprentice, inside Indie, will that work?
Thanks a lot!
David
Houdini Lounge » CMIVFX Houdini Fundamentals
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
… and Chris sent me this i put here :
Hello everyone in houdini land:
We are upgrading our player over the next few weeks before NAB show.
We found an od in a matter of speaking. Some rare units will have performance issues. This is highly due to our custom code to detect hardware for playing back.
We have repaired this problem in a beta system. We will be offering some short beta testing before the show… but ultimately.. current users will notice the following changes one day:
- New UI Design (Based on user feedback and future expandability of features)
- Chapter Markers (that is correct, jump right to the chapter you want without needing to scrub the play head)
- User Book Marks (If you have section you would like to come back to… you can leave a marker at that spot now)
- Performance Enhancements (Major improvements with compatibility. )
All of our test units have always been working during player releases.. but some of our clients, including big studios, helped us design the system for internal uses on all sort of operating systems.
Some of you will get some free products for testing. its al based on bug tracking.
We all cant wait to see what you think about the new system.
-chris maynard
Hello everyone in houdini land:
We are upgrading our player over the next few weeks before NAB show.
We found an od in a matter of speaking. Some rare units will have performance issues. This is highly due to our custom code to detect hardware for playing back.
We have repaired this problem in a beta system. We will be offering some short beta testing before the show… but ultimately.. current users will notice the following changes one day:
- New UI Design (Based on user feedback and future expandability of features)
- Chapter Markers (that is correct, jump right to the chapter you want without needing to scrub the play head)
- User Book Marks (If you have section you would like to come back to… you can leave a marker at that spot now)
- Performance Enhancements (Major improvements with compatibility. )
All of our test units have always been working during player releases.. but some of our clients, including big studios, helped us design the system for internal uses on all sort of operating systems.
Some of you will get some free products for testing. its al based on bug tracking.
We all cant wait to see what you think about the new system.
-chris maynard
Houdini Lounge » CMIVFX Houdini Fundamentals
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
JR:
If you feel that there's some things unclear about groups, attributes, you can use it, but of course the Fundamentals video is more intended to bridge the gap there is before the advanced videos:
It all depends on how easily you feel you've already followed the advanced stuff. Since i don't know the other items ( DT or book) to compare, i cannot really say.
Whalerider/SYmek:
As i said at odforce, since i'm not the specialist of the player, if you have questions/pbs about the video streaming: please don't hesitate to contact Chris at Cmivfx: chris@cmivfx.com or chris@cmistudios.com.
( The player has been tested on crappy internet connections, if there are some issues, i don't think they're related to the bandwith.)
The player constantly improves, you indeed refer to two stages of its development.
A MAJOR upgrade of the player is coming within the month, with chapter markers, bookmarks and more.
-d
If you feel that there's some things unclear about groups, attributes, you can use it, but of course the Fundamentals video is more intended to bridge the gap there is before the advanced videos:
It all depends on how easily you feel you've already followed the advanced stuff. Since i don't know the other items ( DT or book) to compare, i cannot really say.
Whalerider/SYmek:
As i said at odforce, since i'm not the specialist of the player, if you have questions/pbs about the video streaming: please don't hesitate to contact Chris at Cmivfx: chris@cmivfx.com or chris@cmistudios.com.
( The player has been tested on crappy internet connections, if there are some issues, i don't think they're related to the bandwith.)
The player constantly improves, you indeed refer to two stages of its development.
A MAJOR upgrade of the player is coming within the month, with chapter markers, bookmarks and more.
-d
Houdini Lounge » CMIVFX Houdini Fundamentals
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Thanks for your feedback,
As for the way it's presented. Yep, my approach is teaching the “inside” first and then the “outside” which is actually its consequence.
For several reasons
-The “core” of Houdini is one of the most simple there is ( if you compare to maya's hypergraph), the internal structure is really clear, that's why you're already in it when you work ( i called that “the interface IS the Core” in the video)
-You'll have to know the inside anyway! Instead of having a 2/3-passes approach ( which imply to destroy and rebuild your neural connections, lol) let's just have 1 big pass.
- This way people feel then that's there's nothing hidden ( that is psychologically important to “feel the ground underneath” when you apprehend something new), you get more confident. Less surprises, you know what to expect.
and yeah, for instance, once you've understood how you can use the viewport as a network navigator, you understand why there is a Ghost Other Objects button, that's why the buttons comes after, shelves included!
As for the way it's presented. Yep, my approach is teaching the “inside” first and then the “outside” which is actually its consequence.
For several reasons
-The “core” of Houdini is one of the most simple there is ( if you compare to maya's hypergraph), the internal structure is really clear, that's why you're already in it when you work ( i called that “the interface IS the Core” in the video)
-You'll have to know the inside anyway! Instead of having a 2/3-passes approach ( which imply to destroy and rebuild your neural connections, lol) let's just have 1 big pass.
- This way people feel then that's there's nothing hidden ( that is psychologically important to “feel the ground underneath” when you apprehend something new), you get more confident. Less surprises, you know what to expect.
and yeah, for instance, once you've understood how you can use the viewport as a network navigator, you understand why there is a Ghost Other Objects button, that's why the buttons comes after, shelves included!
Houdini Lounge » CMIVFX Intro To Procedural Modeling
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Hi everybody!
We're very happy to release the sequel and first application of our Fundamentals video, entitled “Introduction to Procedural Modeling”
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_procedural_modeling.asp [cmivfx.com]
Aimed to work together with the Fundamentals video and to be a large and thorough deepening, this is also en entire project-based video, since Houdini is not just for theory but also for practice.
It has procedural challenges like rigging caterpillars so that they adapt to any terrain, but also all kinds of modeling approachs, cause real-world scenarios are not 100% procedural or 100% art, they're always a blend.
Plus The challenge at CmiVFX was to find which effect/scene could combine the maximum diversity of training content, while keeping the consistency and the realism/reality of a project-based approach.
We ended up with the idea of the tank cos it had everything:
1) In terms of procedural modeling and applying the concepts of the Fundamentals, it has everything as i mentioned and procedural modeling here even fuses with rigging!
Hearing the change and the ongoing demand, we wanted to show that Houdini is not just for big studios and/or for computer science PhDs and/or impossible-looking shots, but for EVERY artist who just want to do things FASTER, NICER on ANY project. People often used to say: “ i've been told it's possible with Houdini, that can be done, it's possible in theory”, if we can, let's not just say that we can, let's DO it.
2) Then, in terms of the base for possible future content: let's suppose we want to create a procedural camouflage pattern, rendered with global illumlintaion, motion blur, this allow us to show a lot of things about rendering, let's suppose we want some tanks to follow a parade, or to move in synchronicty with cannons animation, or interacting with their enemies, this allow us to teach CHOPs and/or particles and behavioural animation.
Let's suppose we want planes to drop bombs/missiles onto a tank that will explode, this allow us to show all the dynamics, the rigid-bodies, the partice-based or fluid-based explosion, the particles for volume rendering etc.
I'm not particularly into war stuff, quite the contrary but i got to say that creating a battlefield scene with tanks allow us to show an incredible number of things with the consistency of a project-based approach where you have to do EVERYTHING with Houdini. Don't do war, simulate it! lol
Enjoy!
David
Houdini Lounge » CMIVFX Houdini Fundamentals
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Hey Josh3light,
Your point is interesting for two things.
It's true that users who are advanced enough are also advanced enough not to mind at all the cosmetic differences, which are really unimportant!
Cosmetic matters are just for the very beginning.
Actually our idea has been to create a h8->h9 video patch free for the owners of the dvd and the new buyers. I think we'll do that.
It's good to know that, as a beginner, you followed the advanced video, and even if you didn't remember everything the first time, it made it something you regularly came back to.
It's the same thing with books that i buy for CG, they are here to be read over and over again, and not just one time, like the Advanced Renderman when i started or now the Matt Pharr's PBR ( even if i know that i will probably never have to write a renderer myself, the book is a goldmine to understand what's going on under the hood when you hit the render button, so i guess that, in many ways, it's nopb to have some material ahead of your current level, that keeps you motivated to go always further).
About Lsystem 2, you're right, it was maybe the DVD the most about that: about this thing where you've got a pb, you've got a toolset and you have to find some tools to solve the pb which can come from virtually everywhere in Houdini ( which is what Houdini's mainly about when you use it). Actually, as i was doing it, i felt “oh, but this is not just about l-systems, it's about device-driven CHOPs, sprites, non-photorealistic rendering, it's not going to be a classic DVD anymore on just one topic - cos pure l-systems were already covered in Lsys1” - but that's also very good like that i guess
Once you know the bricks very well, there's still this biggest part ahead of you, and the most interesting IMO, where you have to combine them, and the possibilities there are endless. Seeing that is what keeps us all excited everyday i think!
-d
Your point is interesting for two things.
It's true that users who are advanced enough are also advanced enough not to mind at all the cosmetic differences, which are really unimportant!
Cosmetic matters are just for the very beginning.
Actually our idea has been to create a h8->h9 video patch free for the owners of the dvd and the new buyers. I think we'll do that.
It's good to know that, as a beginner, you followed the advanced video, and even if you didn't remember everything the first time, it made it something you regularly came back to.
It's the same thing with books that i buy for CG, they are here to be read over and over again, and not just one time, like the Advanced Renderman when i started or now the Matt Pharr's PBR ( even if i know that i will probably never have to write a renderer myself, the book is a goldmine to understand what's going on under the hood when you hit the render button, so i guess that, in many ways, it's nopb to have some material ahead of your current level, that keeps you motivated to go always further).
About Lsystem 2, you're right, it was maybe the DVD the most about that: about this thing where you've got a pb, you've got a toolset and you have to find some tools to solve the pb which can come from virtually everywhere in Houdini ( which is what Houdini's mainly about when you use it). Actually, as i was doing it, i felt “oh, but this is not just about l-systems, it's about device-driven CHOPs, sprites, non-photorealistic rendering, it's not going to be a classic DVD anymore on just one topic - cos pure l-systems were already covered in Lsys1” - but that's also very good like that i guess
Once you know the bricks very well, there's still this biggest part ahead of you, and the most interesting IMO, where you have to combine them, and the possibilities there are endless. Seeing that is what keeps us all excited everyday i think!
-d
Houdini Lounge » CMIVFX Houdini Fundamentals
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Salut La Buzz,
Juste pour ne pas ennuyer trop les lecteurs, je te réponds en français par mail ou private message, d'ac?
a+
-d
Juste pour ne pas ennuyer trop les lecteurs, je te réponds en français par mail ou private message, d'ac?
a+
-d
Houdini Lounge » CMIVFX Houdini Fundamentals
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
( as before, the dvd came out on our sever before i could prepare a little speech. lol.. thanks
Hi everybody.
We bridged the gap!
A warm hello to all the new users of Houdini. This video is for them!
The old users know us already, i know they always want more of advanced stuff…
But with the H9 boom, everybody wants to learn Houdini! We couldn't leave the growing community of beginners on the side. We have to please everybody!
Everybody has to discover this wonderful, marvellous, mind-blowing, brillant, killer, ahead-of-its-time-since-the-beginning… application
And beginners won't always stay beginners anyway: so we had to bridge the gap left before our advanced dvd AND set the first stone of a comprehensive and unified Houdini training.
That's finally done with the release of our new DVD called : Houdini Fundamentals ( AND the sequel will be released in 1-2 weeks!
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_fundamentals.asp [cmivfx.com]
That's it! Learn Houdini from the ground up, setting some solid foundations and leaving no holes usually left by manual discovery, with no questions unanswered.
So that now ALL users will be able to follow our DVDs about Procedural Modeling of Cities, VEX and l-systems. A great learning experience in perspective.
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_cities.asp [cmivfx.com]
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_lsystems1.asp [cmivfx.com]
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_lsystems2.asp [cmivfx.com]
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_vex1.asp [cmivfx.com]
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_vex2.asp [cmivfx.com]
Since the workflow between h8 and h9 hasn't changed on Cities and L-system topics ( with the only thing that now we can write shader overrides differently), do you think it's worth upgrading the video, just “cosmetically”? Do you, users, really want that? It would maybe take some unnecessary time that should be put on something else? It depends. We're all ears on that.
David
Hi everybody.
We bridged the gap!
A warm hello to all the new users of Houdini. This video is for them!
The old users know us already, i know they always want more of advanced stuff…
But with the H9 boom, everybody wants to learn Houdini! We couldn't leave the growing community of beginners on the side. We have to please everybody!
Everybody has to discover this wonderful, marvellous, mind-blowing, brillant, killer, ahead-of-its-time-since-the-beginning… application
And beginners won't always stay beginners anyway: so we had to bridge the gap left before our advanced dvd AND set the first stone of a comprehensive and unified Houdini training.
That's finally done with the release of our new DVD called : Houdini Fundamentals ( AND the sequel will be released in 1-2 weeks!
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_fundamentals.asp [cmivfx.com]
That's it! Learn Houdini from the ground up, setting some solid foundations and leaving no holes usually left by manual discovery, with no questions unanswered.
So that now ALL users will be able to follow our DVDs about Procedural Modeling of Cities, VEX and l-systems. A great learning experience in perspective.
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_cities.asp [cmivfx.com]
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_lsystems1.asp [cmivfx.com]
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_lsystems2.asp [cmivfx.com]
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_vex1.asp [cmivfx.com]
http://cmivfx.com/product_houdini_vex2.asp [cmivfx.com]
Since the workflow between h8 and h9 hasn't changed on Cities and L-system topics ( with the only thing that now we can write shader overrides differently), do you think it's worth upgrading the video, just “cosmetically”? Do you, users, really want that? It would maybe take some unnecessary time that should be put on something else? It depends. We're all ears on that.
David
Technical Discussion » "Volume attributes" and fluid fields
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Last question: is it possible, and if not, wouldn't it be extremely useful to be able to color the volumes NON-uniformly in the viewport to preview textures/gradients on volumes?
I saw that with the primitive SOP volumes have a “Rainbow” display mode that make it look technically possible.
( i ask that cos I'm setting up some visualisation tools to pre-visualize textured volumes through isosurfaces/sprites ( with the ability to use multiple input fields) but it's not the same…
I saw that with the primitive SOP volumes have a “Rainbow” display mode that make it look technically possible.
( i ask that cos I'm setting up some visualisation tools to pre-visualize textured volumes through isosurfaces/sprites ( with the ability to use multiple input fields) but it's not the same…
Technical Discussion » "Volume attributes" and fluid fields
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
It works like a charm. Thanks again!
But i'm very surprised about the volume motion blur.
I thought first that it wasn't implemented yet ( but it turns out it is now, i didn't finish reading this post oops!)
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=9363 [sidefx.com]
This doesn't seem to be the same technique that the one described in this post. I may be wrong.
So the workflow is just importing a velocity field ( i guess it has to be turned into smoke for visualisation) with a Dop Import, merge it with the other and this is automatically read by Mantra ( vel.x, vel.y and vel.z), right?
( of course turning on geometry blur and motion blur)
-d
But i'm very surprised about the volume motion blur.
I thought first that it wasn't implemented yet ( but it turns out it is now, i didn't finish reading this post oops!)
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=9363 [sidefx.com]
This doesn't seem to be the same technique that the one described in this post. I may be wrong.
So the workflow is just importing a velocity field ( i guess it has to be turned into smoke for visualisation) with a Dop Import, merge it with the other and this is automatically read by Mantra ( vel.x, vel.y and vel.z), right?
( of course turning on geometry blur and motion blur)
-d
Houdini Lounge » fxphd.com students are interested in Houdini training
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Hey all!
I understand Chris' anger. People live out of training, and we try to deliver the maximum info in our DVDs so that they're worth their price.
I don't know if it applies here but, to anyone:
PLEASE don't copy and paste our training content if you're doing courses! Or we will do the same.
That's all there is to say about it.
(and about Procedural Modeling of Cities, yep we chose it beacuse it was the best example of proceduralism, we already had it in mind before the thread, and the ideas were based on concepts explained in our own free tuts).
-d
I understand Chris' anger. People live out of training, and we try to deliver the maximum info in our DVDs so that they're worth their price.
I don't know if it applies here but, to anyone:
PLEASE don't copy and paste our training content if you're doing courses! Or we will do the same.
That's all there is to say about it.
(and about Procedural Modeling of Cities, yep we chose it beacuse it was the best example of proceduralism, we already had it in mind before the thread, and the ideas were based on concepts explained in our own free tuts).
-d
Technical Discussion » "Volume attributes" and fluid fields
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Thanks.
That's a little bit what i had in mind but i thought the two volumes would overlap, so i didn't even try.
Very clear explanation, thanks.
I will try it.
when you say “the way to do it now”, you're refering to a certain release?
-d
That's a little bit what i had in mind but i thought the two volumes would overlap, so i didn't even try.
Very clear explanation, thanks.
I will try it.
when you say “the way to do it now”, you're refering to a certain release?
-d
Technical Discussion » "Volume attributes" and fluid fields
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Hi everybody.
Correct me if i'm wrong but there seems to be no voxel attribute or something which would play the role of a primitive attribute and which would allow us to define “volume attributes” on a per-voxel or rather per-voxel-center basis ( except of course density, which, so to speak “defines” the volume) like color or anything else and which would be interpolated on the whole volume.
Of course I can play with the color if i render my metaballs as volumes but this is because each metaball is considered like a separate volume.
Right?
For the moment, it's not that big of a problem: when i write “simple” volume shaders, i can use either world/object coordinates or metaballs to mimic this kind of attributes interpolation if i want to “texture” my volume.
But with fluid simulations, you have a lot of fields interacting , i may be wrong but there seems to be no other option but to render only one of this fields ( either just density or just fuel) or to make them overlap.
( but i don't think overlapping would solve the pb). What i would like to be able to do ( not because it's me but because it's more than useful and that other apps seem to do so), is to use for example the temperature field ( connected to a color ramp) to change the color of my density field in rendering or even in the viewport ( like Maya fluids). I can do that by transfering attributes from volumes to particles which i could turn into metaball but it's not the same…
Is it possible?
That would be really cool. If this doesn't exist already: what do you guys think of the idea?
-d
Correct me if i'm wrong but there seems to be no voxel attribute or something which would play the role of a primitive attribute and which would allow us to define “volume attributes” on a per-voxel or rather per-voxel-center basis ( except of course density, which, so to speak “defines” the volume) like color or anything else and which would be interpolated on the whole volume.
Of course I can play with the color if i render my metaballs as volumes but this is because each metaball is considered like a separate volume.
Right?
For the moment, it's not that big of a problem: when i write “simple” volume shaders, i can use either world/object coordinates or metaballs to mimic this kind of attributes interpolation if i want to “texture” my volume.
But with fluid simulations, you have a lot of fields interacting , i may be wrong but there seems to be no other option but to render only one of this fields ( either just density or just fuel) or to make them overlap.
( but i don't think overlapping would solve the pb). What i would like to be able to do ( not because it's me but because it's more than useful and that other apps seem to do so), is to use for example the temperature field ( connected to a color ramp) to change the color of my density field in rendering or even in the viewport ( like Maya fluids). I can do that by transfering attributes from volumes to particles which i could turn into metaball but it's not the same…
Is it possible?
That would be really cool. If this doesn't exist already: what do you guys think of the idea?
-d
Technical Discussion » Jedit !
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Hey guys.
it's maybe a java pb: have you got the latest version of Java installed on your PCs? ( you can dl it at java.com)
(i guess you have this problem while attempting to do the tuts of the vex dvd 1, right ?: i didn't mentioned that JEdit required Java environment, i remember saying it was Java-based, but i didn't spend time on this cos i didn't want to go too far from Houdini itself- sorry)
-d
it's maybe a java pb: have you got the latest version of Java installed on your PCs? ( you can dl it at java.com)
(i guess you have this problem while attempting to do the tuts of the vex dvd 1, right ?: i didn't mentioned that JEdit required Java environment, i remember saying it was Java-based, but i didn't spend time on this cos i didn't want to go too far from Houdini itself- sorry)
-d
Houdini Lounge » the 2 new dvds about VEX/Vops from CmiVFX are here
- David Gary
- 74 posts
- Offline
Hi everybody! Great news for all of you that have been waiting. The first two new Videos about VEX/VOPs are here!
And with our new highend VOD system, no more shipping costs and you can begin to watch your videos immediately!
Here is the official announce:
cmiVFX Launches New Houdini VEX SOPs Videos Volumes 1 and 2
Watch High Definition Training Videos For The Visual Effects Industry Instantly From Anywhere In The World.
Princeton, NJ., September 20, 2007 — cmiVFX | cmiStudios. launches it dual VEX training video for the SideFX Houdini 3D application. The product series has been in development for several months, and is fine tuned to work with intermediate and experienced users of Houdini The first 2 Videos are available today at the cmiVFX store. http://www.cmivfx.com/store/Browse.aspx?Category=11 [cmivfx.com]
Product Announcements — Houdini VEX SOPs VOLUME 1
http://www.cmivfx.com/product_houdini_vex1.asp [cmivfx.com]
Upon general request, CmiVFX is proud announce its two first volumes of new series of Houdini videos about VEX and VOPs. VEX is one of these things that makes Houdini really unique. Initially designed to be a powerful shading language, its paradigm has been extended to enable users to create new custom operators (like new SOPs, POPs, CHOPs). With the Houdini visual programming philosophy, VEX comes as a new dedicated context: VOPS where the data flow of your program is represented by custom nodes that wrap mathematical functions. VEX programming is so immense of a field that you could recreate almost half of the nodes of Houdini in all context combined ! So we had to start somewhere. These first two videos are an introduction to VEX/VOPs in the SOP context, maybe the easiest one to master: this means you'll learn how to create new surface operators, new modeling tools, new deformers with VEX/VOPs. It is at the same time an introduction to VEX concepts that are shared among all the various contexts, that we will reuse in our videos about rendering and shader development, or in videos about particle animation .Seashells, global deformers, water ripples… while being a language reference, these videos are intended to be a great cookbook for useful mathematical formulas.
DVD 1
Emphasis on Operator creation and customizability. Getting much farther than just scribbling one equation to link two parameters, like in a basic expression language, learn how to create elaborate formulas and create rich and detailed User Interfaces.
Creating New Nodes
The ultimate purpose of VEX is to create new operators, and depending on the context you're working on, new surface operators, new shaders, new compositing filters, new particle operators etc.
VEX development is analogous to C++ plug-in development ( with almost the same speed of execution) and is often used to prototype HDK nodes.
Interfaces
Not only are you creating the brains of the node, with implementing advanced algorithm into its core, but you also create visual interfaces for these pieces of functionalities. Some of these UI creation concepts are shared with the digital assets, so this video is also a thorough introduction to Houdini's incredible customizability.
Handles
Sliders, axis, circles: Handles are interactive controls that allow you to visually manipulate your geometry in the viewport. Learn how to create handle and associate them with the different parameters that control your objects.
Slide shows / WhiteBoards
Traditional slide shows are back to recapitulate your knowledge. They're now available as additional pdf files for you to print. You loved the whiteboard in Lsystem videos Well, it's back. Come with engineers to the development room where they draw schematics and formulas to prototype their plug-ins. Because that's how it happens in real life.
Algorithms
The algorithms we show you can be reused in a variety of other contexts, and in a variety of different applications. As often with Houdini, we teach you more than Houdini. We teach you all the real algorithms, that you can Translate in Renderman SL, in Maya expressions and more generally in any package that have expression languages. Don't buy your 3d manuals, just watch them!
Product Announcements — Houdini VEX SOPs VOLUME 2
http://www.cmivfx.com/product_houdini_vex2.asp [cmivfx.com]
DVD 2
You'll go further in customization, learning sophisticated formuals for seashell creation as well as creating animated ripples at the surface of water interactively connected to a rain particle system.
The Beauty of Nature
Seashells: Discover what is behind the algorithmic beauty of seashells, how nature is doing math, producing out of the same mathematical model an immense diversity of beautiful seashell silhouettes. Water Ripples: Learn how to simulate water ripples due to raindrops collision on the surface of a lake. Connect your VEX operator to a particle system and let it rain!
Multiple Inputs
In the same spirit as Renderman's DSO ( dynamic shared object), learn how to use several inputs in a VEX SOP, so that you can have helper geometries. The possibilities are endless, and you can now see Houdini's SOPs and CHOPs as an abstract extension of VEX data types and VEX functions.
VEX and VOP workflow
Learn how you can create new VEX functions as well as new custom VOPs. This means that you're building operators whose purpose is to build operators… Add this to Digital Assets and Python meta-commands, and you get an unprecedented level of hierarchical customization. Learn how to integrate VEX and VOP in the same network.
Math
Matrices, polar coordinates, trigonometry, waves and later, noise octave summation, fourier transform, barycentric coordinates. Sound scary? Well it's not. Your new mathematician / personal trainer takes you by the hand in this world to spark your nostalgia about all that. You will be surprised to find all this math enjoyable again.
Rich as a book, Easy as video
This set of videos is the most comprehensive documentation you will find about VEX and VOPs. You will effortlessly progress through concrete examples, All the examples have been carefully chosen to leave no gaps in your education. The result is something which is as dense as a book, that you regularly come back to watch when your stuck on a project.
About cmiVFX
cmiVFX is the leader in High Definition Video Training for the Visual Effects Community. To test drive the new cmiVFX TVOD © system, visit http://www.cmivfx.com/cmi_window.html [cmivfx.com] For additional information about cmiVFX, visit www.cmivfx.com.
© 2007 cmiVFX | cmiStudios. All rights reserved.
David
And with our new highend VOD system, no more shipping costs and you can begin to watch your videos immediately!
Here is the official announce:
cmiVFX Launches New Houdini VEX SOPs Videos Volumes 1 and 2
Watch High Definition Training Videos For The Visual Effects Industry Instantly From Anywhere In The World.
Princeton, NJ., September 20, 2007 — cmiVFX | cmiStudios. launches it dual VEX training video for the SideFX Houdini 3D application. The product series has been in development for several months, and is fine tuned to work with intermediate and experienced users of Houdini The first 2 Videos are available today at the cmiVFX store. http://www.cmivfx.com/store/Browse.aspx?Category=11 [cmivfx.com]
Product Announcements — Houdini VEX SOPs VOLUME 1
http://www.cmivfx.com/product_houdini_vex1.asp [cmivfx.com]
Upon general request, CmiVFX is proud announce its two first volumes of new series of Houdini videos about VEX and VOPs. VEX is one of these things that makes Houdini really unique. Initially designed to be a powerful shading language, its paradigm has been extended to enable users to create new custom operators (like new SOPs, POPs, CHOPs). With the Houdini visual programming philosophy, VEX comes as a new dedicated context: VOPS where the data flow of your program is represented by custom nodes that wrap mathematical functions. VEX programming is so immense of a field that you could recreate almost half of the nodes of Houdini in all context combined ! So we had to start somewhere. These first two videos are an introduction to VEX/VOPs in the SOP context, maybe the easiest one to master: this means you'll learn how to create new surface operators, new modeling tools, new deformers with VEX/VOPs. It is at the same time an introduction to VEX concepts that are shared among all the various contexts, that we will reuse in our videos about rendering and shader development, or in videos about particle animation .Seashells, global deformers, water ripples… while being a language reference, these videos are intended to be a great cookbook for useful mathematical formulas.
DVD 1
Emphasis on Operator creation and customizability. Getting much farther than just scribbling one equation to link two parameters, like in a basic expression language, learn how to create elaborate formulas and create rich and detailed User Interfaces.
Creating New Nodes
The ultimate purpose of VEX is to create new operators, and depending on the context you're working on, new surface operators, new shaders, new compositing filters, new particle operators etc.
VEX development is analogous to C++ plug-in development ( with almost the same speed of execution) and is often used to prototype HDK nodes.
Interfaces
Not only are you creating the brains of the node, with implementing advanced algorithm into its core, but you also create visual interfaces for these pieces of functionalities. Some of these UI creation concepts are shared with the digital assets, so this video is also a thorough introduction to Houdini's incredible customizability.
Handles
Sliders, axis, circles: Handles are interactive controls that allow you to visually manipulate your geometry in the viewport. Learn how to create handle and associate them with the different parameters that control your objects.
Slide shows / WhiteBoards
Traditional slide shows are back to recapitulate your knowledge. They're now available as additional pdf files for you to print. You loved the whiteboard in Lsystem videos Well, it's back. Come with engineers to the development room where they draw schematics and formulas to prototype their plug-ins. Because that's how it happens in real life.
Algorithms
The algorithms we show you can be reused in a variety of other contexts, and in a variety of different applications. As often with Houdini, we teach you more than Houdini. We teach you all the real algorithms, that you can Translate in Renderman SL, in Maya expressions and more generally in any package that have expression languages. Don't buy your 3d manuals, just watch them!
Product Announcements — Houdini VEX SOPs VOLUME 2
http://www.cmivfx.com/product_houdini_vex2.asp [cmivfx.com]
DVD 2
You'll go further in customization, learning sophisticated formuals for seashell creation as well as creating animated ripples at the surface of water interactively connected to a rain particle system.
The Beauty of Nature
Seashells: Discover what is behind the algorithmic beauty of seashells, how nature is doing math, producing out of the same mathematical model an immense diversity of beautiful seashell silhouettes. Water Ripples: Learn how to simulate water ripples due to raindrops collision on the surface of a lake. Connect your VEX operator to a particle system and let it rain!
Multiple Inputs
In the same spirit as Renderman's DSO ( dynamic shared object), learn how to use several inputs in a VEX SOP, so that you can have helper geometries. The possibilities are endless, and you can now see Houdini's SOPs and CHOPs as an abstract extension of VEX data types and VEX functions.
VEX and VOP workflow
Learn how you can create new VEX functions as well as new custom VOPs. This means that you're building operators whose purpose is to build operators… Add this to Digital Assets and Python meta-commands, and you get an unprecedented level of hierarchical customization. Learn how to integrate VEX and VOP in the same network.
Math
Matrices, polar coordinates, trigonometry, waves and later, noise octave summation, fourier transform, barycentric coordinates. Sound scary? Well it's not. Your new mathematician / personal trainer takes you by the hand in this world to spark your nostalgia about all that. You will be surprised to find all this math enjoyable again.
Rich as a book, Easy as video
This set of videos is the most comprehensive documentation you will find about VEX and VOPs. You will effortlessly progress through concrete examples, All the examples have been carefully chosen to leave no gaps in your education. The result is something which is as dense as a book, that you regularly come back to watch when your stuck on a project.
About cmiVFX
cmiVFX is the leader in High Definition Video Training for the Visual Effects Community. To test drive the new cmiVFX TVOD © system, visit http://www.cmivfx.com/cmi_window.html [cmivfx.com] For additional information about cmiVFX, visit www.cmivfx.com.
© 2007 cmiVFX | cmiStudios. All rights reserved.
David
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