Hi there,
I'm trying to create a toggle parameter that would enable me to switch on the display flag for various nodes. For example, I use the paint node a great deal. So in the custom param, it would be useful to just tick the box for this node and use it.
Thank you
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Technical Discussion » Display Flag custom param - is it possible to use a toggle?
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
Hi, thank you for the reply.
Up until one month ago I didn't have a computer that could handle Houdini. I bought Andrew's PDF early on and am waiting till 3dBuzz competition is over to dive into it properly.
I understand the idea that an application can be developed in many different ways. There is, after all ‘more than one way to skin a cat’ they say. And that's ok.
I have no problem with something being complex. The idea of ‘emergence’ says that a complex system comes about naturally out of a ‘soup’ of quite simple conditions.
When it comes to ‘Attribute Create’, and this is just a random example, I'm still looking to understand the absolute basic of this cat. My attitude towards ths attribute is that I need know what its basic purpose is. And I'm well aware of the relevant help pages on this. I'm really trying to ask someone to make some more cool videos about this and other nodes.
Once I know the principles of the matter I can then start doing little applications. But I'm still not 100% with what this thing does and how its connected, in principle, to other nodes.
I really am at the start of all this, as I'm sure, are quite a few others. Although, with the little understanding I do have, thanks to the video tutorial currently available, I've already succeeded in developing and emergent system.
I think there is a fear that if something is explained easily and simply then its power suddenly disappears and it becomes a kid's toy perhaps.
I do believe that each of the nodes can be explained simply in a good video tutorial which gives it that human touch. Such tutorials, which are usually more engaging than written text, can also provide enough of the background and possible usages to allow a student to start making their own experiments.
If you take a look at the principle behind ‘Piano Wizard’, a child is taken from playing a musical game to reading proper sheet music, seamlessly. That's what I'm talking about. Sure, get them to study theory and learning Rach.3 sitting at the piano, but get them started in a more interesting, sustainable and natural way. Its in the very beginning that our defining impressions are formed. Some are put off learning learning right at the start because its too difficult. Many students would benefit from a gentler learning curve.
This truly accommodating, procedural approach to learning would in no way compromise Houdini's status, any more more than Bach is compromised by someone learning to play chopsticks, so long as the student is infused by the potential.
I'm really here as a student, a relative beginner (I've gone from Bryce to Amorphium, Carrara, 3dMax , Maya, Scratch, Starlogo, Alice and tiny glimpses of Virtools and Max/Msp), and someone very curious about how this all works. I know for sure that Houdini will be my software of choice and I'm trying to build a very solid foundation. Ideas like procedural way of working, the use of various data types, graphical representation of channels are all very interesting indeed.
It would be nice, as I said before, to have something on the lines of Digital Tutors ICE audio-visual node reference for Houdini. I don't know if that is too much to wish for from a budding Houdini apprentice. I suppose I should be grateful for what I have, and I'll always have enough.
peace and blessings.
Up until one month ago I didn't have a computer that could handle Houdini. I bought Andrew's PDF early on and am waiting till 3dBuzz competition is over to dive into it properly.
I understand the idea that an application can be developed in many different ways. There is, after all ‘more than one way to skin a cat’ they say. And that's ok.
I have no problem with something being complex. The idea of ‘emergence’ says that a complex system comes about naturally out of a ‘soup’ of quite simple conditions.
When it comes to ‘Attribute Create’, and this is just a random example, I'm still looking to understand the absolute basic of this cat. My attitude towards ths attribute is that I need know what its basic purpose is. And I'm well aware of the relevant help pages on this. I'm really trying to ask someone to make some more cool videos about this and other nodes.
Once I know the principles of the matter I can then start doing little applications. But I'm still not 100% with what this thing does and how its connected, in principle, to other nodes.
I really am at the start of all this, as I'm sure, are quite a few others. Although, with the little understanding I do have, thanks to the video tutorial currently available, I've already succeeded in developing and emergent system.
I think there is a fear that if something is explained easily and simply then its power suddenly disappears and it becomes a kid's toy perhaps.
I do believe that each of the nodes can be explained simply in a good video tutorial which gives it that human touch. Such tutorials, which are usually more engaging than written text, can also provide enough of the background and possible usages to allow a student to start making their own experiments.
If you take a look at the principle behind ‘Piano Wizard’, a child is taken from playing a musical game to reading proper sheet music, seamlessly. That's what I'm talking about. Sure, get them to study theory and learning Rach.3 sitting at the piano, but get them started in a more interesting, sustainable and natural way. Its in the very beginning that our defining impressions are formed. Some are put off learning learning right at the start because its too difficult. Many students would benefit from a gentler learning curve.
This truly accommodating, procedural approach to learning would in no way compromise Houdini's status, any more more than Bach is compromised by someone learning to play chopsticks, so long as the student is infused by the potential.
I'm really here as a student, a relative beginner (I've gone from Bryce to Amorphium, Carrara, 3dMax , Maya, Scratch, Starlogo, Alice and tiny glimpses of Virtools and Max/Msp), and someone very curious about how this all works. I know for sure that Houdini will be my software of choice and I'm trying to build a very solid foundation. Ideas like procedural way of working, the use of various data types, graphical representation of channels are all very interesting indeed.
It would be nice, as I said before, to have something on the lines of Digital Tutors ICE audio-visual node reference for Houdini. I don't know if that is too much to wish for from a budding Houdini apprentice. I suppose I should be grateful for what I have, and I'll always have enough.
peace and blessings.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Combine/Merge intersecting geometry into one surface mesh?
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
Hi,
Thank you for the reply. I've done as you suggested and I think everything works ok now.
I'm also really happy with myself as I was able to create my one ‘make surface’ OP simply by using group paint to paint the outside faces of the geometry. The resulting group was the very same surface I was looking for.
In fact I just down the number of polys 15 times!
I was wondering though if there is a dedicated tool for this task. It must be a pretty standard technique when doing a lot of heavy modelling.
Thank you once again.
Thank you for the reply. I've done as you suggested and I think everything works ok now.
I'm also really happy with myself as I was able to create my one ‘make surface’ OP simply by using group paint to paint the outside faces of the geometry. The resulting group was the very same surface I was looking for.
In fact I just down the number of polys 15 times!
I was wondering though if there is a dedicated tool for this task. It must be a pretty standard technique when doing a lot of heavy modelling.
Thank you once again.
Technical Discussion » How to make one Surface out of intersecting prims?
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
Hi I'm stuck on this problem.
Houdini keeps blinking out on me due to the number of polys in the scene I think.
I've got large structure made from hundereds of intersecting cubes. I'm trying to free up memory and speed up render by removing the internal intersecting faces/prims/pints and just keep the ‘external’ surface. It a very irregular shape so bounding box delete hasn't worked.
There must be a way to collapse all the outside faces into a unified mesh. I just don't have the knowlege yet.
Very stuck on this, any help much appreciate as I am close to 3dBuzz ‘Battlecuiser’ deadline.
thanks ahead of time
http://s706.photobucket.com/albums/ww64/Houdinski/ [s706.photobucket.com]
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=173006 [3dbuzz.com]
Houdini keeps blinking out on me due to the number of polys in the scene I think.
I've got large structure made from hundereds of intersecting cubes. I'm trying to free up memory and speed up render by removing the internal intersecting faces/prims/pints and just keep the ‘external’ surface. It a very irregular shape so bounding box delete hasn't worked.
There must be a way to collapse all the outside faces into a unified mesh. I just don't have the knowlege yet.
Very stuck on this, any help much appreciate as I am close to 3dBuzz ‘Battlecuiser’ deadline.
thanks ahead of time
http://s706.photobucket.com/albums/ww64/Houdinski/ [s706.photobucket.com]
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=173006 [3dbuzz.com]
Technical Discussion » Wii/Gamecube Render
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
I don't know if thats poss but even cooler would be to use the wii remote to control animations and parameters in Houdini.. ! which is what i'm going to do soon. You can find info on net it pretty popular subject.
Basically its Wii to Midi to Houdini, different progs can translate wii info into midi depending on pc/mac.
good luck
Basically its Wii to Midi to Houdini, different progs can translate wii info into midi depending on pc/mac.
good luck
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
andrewlowell
A better question would be “what would you like to do with it;” and start from there.
If Houdini is like a programming language (which I really don't think it is but). than learn it like a programming language.
I'm actually remixing the tutorials at the moment, trying different variations and looking at all available matterial on and offline. With time I'm sure that I'll start to get more comfortable with the software.
You mention learning Houdini like a programming language. I've tried learning languages before, and one good thing about this is the structured logical progression from one level of complexity to the next. Pick up a Python or C# and you basically know where you're coming from and where you are going.
With Houdini the relationship between nodes are mentioned in a brisk, compacted way which implies prior knowledge of programatical structures and information flows. It more closely resembles a techinical manual than a genuine guide to learning for those who are new to this process. Pith instuctions are great for a zen student but I lack the wisdom or the knowledge to make much sense of it.
Having said that, I will not give up and will understand the software because I totally resonate with its core methodology.
I'm going throught the Audio Synchronization downloads by the way. This is where most of my interest lies. Check out my Youtube page for music visualization, i'm ‘funkyjedi’ there.
I don't mind the challenge, I know a great thing when I see it, and I hope that Houdini learning experience can be resampled and smoothed out a likle bit.
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
phrenzy84
This isn't figure drawing, or some other observational skill. Practice wont make things perfect if you dont know how things work in the first place.
Its an unreasonable expectation for the majority of people.
The analogy “Houdini is like a language you can only learn by doing it” is false. The term “doing it” implies that you already know where to go and what to do. If that is so then you don't need any help in the first place.
Superb!
One cannot open the airlock in space without a space suit on and expect to survive!
I would so love to be able to just make the visuals I want in Houdini. But most tutorials out there (i can only really recommend 3dbuzz for a thorough introduction to Houdini with their free online classroom) just don't
seem to undertand that most beginners, or even intemediate people don't know and have rarely used an inherently logical, process-based, procedural, programatical and detailed method to achieve their goal.
Taking Attribute Create for example. This is very powerful and rightly so but I have never needed to create one anywhere else. (Actually MITs ‘Sratch’ helped me understand the use of variables.) That's not to say I shouldn't want to learn how to. In fact, I really want to learn! But the closest I ever get to doing so is through a few quick reference in a tutorial which is usually bringing together several other things.
Glimpses of water don't quench thirst. I'm not complaining that there is absolutely no information out there. What I am suggesting is that the information that is out there makes more sense to someone who has already aquired the knowledge the hard way, or through devine TD intervention.
eg. There are a lot of nodes in Houdini help that don't have any examples. Others do, but I dare a beginner to figure out how the ‘For Each’ node works… i've tried i promiss.
I know that I'm also trying to learn some intermediate material, but the point remains - the coherent ‘roadmap’ is not available, so I can only travel the territory by virtually bumping into things.
When I've learned enough I swear I'll make the kinds of tutorials I would like to have seen myself when starting out on this voyage.
I wish my self luck. It's not Houdini that's difficult - for it is very ellegant and ass kicking at the same time - but finding someone who is willing to share in a natural way, and in a form which also takes into account the differences in experience.
Still I thoroughly enjoy the spirit of creativity and intellectual enquiry.
peace and blessings …
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Combine/Merge intersecting geometry into one surface mesh?
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
Hi I'm stuck on this problem. Houdini keeps blinking out on me due to the number of polys in the scene. I've got large structure made from hundereds of intersecting cubes. I'm trying to free up memory and speed up render by removing the ‘interna’ intersecting faces/prims and just keep the ‘external’ surface.
Very stuck on this, any help much appreciate as am close to deadline.
thanks ahead of time
Very stuck on this, any help much appreciate as am close to deadline.
thanks ahead of time
Technical Discussion » On Mouse 'Click' Event - Fetch sees others but not 'click'.
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
Just wandering if it possible to get the click event out of the paint sop.
I see all teh other values through Fetch Chop but nothing happens on ‘Click’
thank you
I see all teh other values through Fetch Chop but nothing happens on ‘Click’
thank you
Technical Discussion » Display Flag custom param - is it possible to use a toggle?
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
Hello,
I'm trying to build a custom parameter node.
I use a transform node a lot but the ‘Operator Path’ type in the Edit Parameter Interface takes me out of the custom node when i click on the link to the transform node.
Is there anyway to enable a node selection, or any of the flags throught he use of toggle types?
thank you
I'm trying to build a custom parameter node.
I use a transform node a lot but the ‘Operator Path’ type in the Edit Parameter Interface takes me out of the custom node when i click on the link to the transform node.
Is there anyway to enable a node selection, or any of the flags throught he use of toggle types?
thank you
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » How to access the 'Click' Event in Paint SOP?
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
hi, i've there are 4 events being seen in Chops but there are 5 in the Events list. No change is registered at all on the when I click the mouse.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » How to access the 'Click' Event in Paint SOP?
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
I've used a Fetch Chop to see the Paint sop parameters.
I then deleted all the unwanted params leaving just the events ones.
In the Paint Sop - Stroke - Event there is a little menue that has a Click value.
Unfortunately, while I can see the changes in Chop for all other events, nothing seems to happen on click.
Any ideas? or is this a bug?
Thanks
I then deleted all the unwanted params leaving just the events ones.
In the Paint Sop - Stroke - Event there is a little menue that has a Click value.
Unfortunately, while I can see the changes in Chop for all other events, nothing seems to happen on click.
Any ideas? or is this a bug?
Thanks
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
..its ok, i just need a few more thousand years of forum searches and i'll write like Shakespear and sculpt like Rodin! :wink:
I like ‘phrenzy84’ points and once the 3dbuzz competition is over i'll post some animation tutorials - chops are very cool.
I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I would love the likes of DigitalTutors XSI ICE dvd, which details 160 nodes, to be made avaible for Houdini.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Apprentice Blues - understanding Beginners Mind + tutorials
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
Hi, just started a thread that may be interesting to other beginners. Here is the recent letter I wrote:
“More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE ”
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=14133 [sidefx.com]
A glimpse into the beginners' mind who has to learn new syntax, new paradigm, new abstract concepts, self-discipline and self-determination.. and handle information scarcity divided by information overload, sit-ups and finding clarity.
Lets, for few brief moments, pretend that there exists, a Monkey who is strapped to the hull of a Quantum Space-cruiser.. called ‘Self-employment’
The Space Monkey.
Monkey - mind you is not your average monkey, but a creature of above average curiosity and below average discipline is strapped (his own choice) to a space ship whose power he could not possibly fathom. Half of an anti-empty cup of chi is accidentally dropped on the control centres' touch-table. Another, nicer, monkey while wiping the liquid of the bio-luminescent display, accidentally touches the launch button… and boom.. the Monkey is propelled at unreal speeds to a mysterious and engaging universe of potential possibilities….
.. now I am .. sorry, the monkey is.. drifting through the depth of interstitial deepness of utterly spacious space. All around are the jewel encrusted 3d networks of stars and galaxies = clusters of churning info nodes and juicy Yata! experiences.
The Monkey has very little chance of getting his bearings in all this vastness so he propels himself to the stars clusters to see if there is anyone there who can help him. Eventually, after learning to talk the talk a little, he finds advice he seeks and realises that scattered disparately throughout the vastness of deep space are countless being who can help him. If only he had the energy and time to see them all.
With the protective spacesuit of self-control, support and guidance from his new friends, and shimmering fragmented space-map our clueless hero gravitates towards new constellations of learning. But a feeling of sadness suddenly befalls Monkey – he is overwhelmed by information and starved of quality and wishes someone would break things down for him, so he could take responsibility for his own adventure by getting to grips with some raw, fundamental basic laws of the universe he now finds himself in.
While taking a small, and much need break from all the floating around, Monkey remembers a story his grand grand father told him on the photonic disc about a old, actually ancient, timeless .. basically not very new at all, kung fu legend called ‘The One who knew he did not know’.
The One who knew he did not know…
Once upon a never time, an esoteric warrior squintillions of universes ago searched for incalculable aeons, battled dragons and subdued all sorts of energies just to have the chance meet the Dude. After being bruised and battered from all the trials and tribulations, having learned trillions of languages, dialects and modes of expression; having gone astray, been misled, been given incomplete information, the esoteric warrior collapsed at the foot of astronomically high mountain.
Scraping himself onto the first step of the stone-hot ladder he could at long last breathe a sigh of relief. At the end of that non-linear morphing ladder lies the Throne which the Dude affectionately referred to as that which can ‘actualize anything you visualize’. Thus, laying there.. worn out clothes..unshaven, but happy, he finally realized that his epic journey was, in fact, quite worth it in the end, even if he was obviously still far from reaching his aim of manifesting his dreams.
No one really knows how far he went up that ladder, or even if at all. It is told, however, that he called for help, asking to be shown the super secret technique of the Efficient Way of Learning. For its is only when he has mastered this most special technique could he hope to achieve his ultimate goal – Freestyle technique-less thingy of moving with ease through the 3 dimensions of the Dudes' ever-changing, complex formations of the mysterious mountain of interconnected whole, and then at last finally reaching the wish fulfilling throne. He also understood that his real journey had only just began. Oh, if only he knew how to proceed in small steady steps onwards and upwards, while taking time to see the stunning view of glowing opalescent hues in the vastly minute and impermaning Iz-ness…init. Smile
…as an after-taste:
In days of old, knowledge of mathematics was the privileged domain of select few. Insurmountable odds had to be overcome to learn maths and be able to apply it. Now, any book store or library has books detailing the A-Z of mathematics, giving the road map of logical progression from one level simplicity to another, which when combined, becomes an evolving emergent system of natural complexity. I salute human creativity and desire for self-betterment.
It would be rather nice to have a procedural road map of learning that is clear organized and devided into enough steps to get a thorough grasp of the mechanism involved and the implications of these tools.
“More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE ”
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=14133 [sidefx.com]
A glimpse into the beginners' mind who has to learn new syntax, new paradigm, new abstract concepts, self-discipline and self-determination.. and handle information scarcity divided by information overload, sit-ups and finding clarity.
Lets, for few brief moments, pretend that there exists, a Monkey who is strapped to the hull of a Quantum Space-cruiser.. called ‘Self-employment’
The Space Monkey.
Monkey - mind you is not your average monkey, but a creature of above average curiosity and below average discipline is strapped (his own choice) to a space ship whose power he could not possibly fathom. Half of an anti-empty cup of chi is accidentally dropped on the control centres' touch-table. Another, nicer, monkey while wiping the liquid of the bio-luminescent display, accidentally touches the launch button… and boom.. the Monkey is propelled at unreal speeds to a mysterious and engaging universe of potential possibilities….
.. now I am .. sorry, the monkey is.. drifting through the depth of interstitial deepness of utterly spacious space. All around are the jewel encrusted 3d networks of stars and galaxies = clusters of churning info nodes and juicy Yata! experiences.
The Monkey has very little chance of getting his bearings in all this vastness so he propels himself to the stars clusters to see if there is anyone there who can help him. Eventually, after learning to talk the talk a little, he finds advice he seeks and realises that scattered disparately throughout the vastness of deep space are countless being who can help him. If only he had the energy and time to see them all.
With the protective spacesuit of self-control, support and guidance from his new friends, and shimmering fragmented space-map our clueless hero gravitates towards new constellations of learning. But a feeling of sadness suddenly befalls Monkey – he is overwhelmed by information and starved of quality and wishes someone would break things down for him, so he could take responsibility for his own adventure by getting to grips with some raw, fundamental basic laws of the universe he now finds himself in.
While taking a small, and much need break from all the floating around, Monkey remembers a story his grand grand father told him on the photonic disc about a old, actually ancient, timeless .. basically not very new at all, kung fu legend called ‘The One who knew he did not know’.
The One who knew he did not know…
Once upon a never time, an esoteric warrior squintillions of universes ago searched for incalculable aeons, battled dragons and subdued all sorts of energies just to have the chance meet the Dude. After being bruised and battered from all the trials and tribulations, having learned trillions of languages, dialects and modes of expression; having gone astray, been misled, been given incomplete information, the esoteric warrior collapsed at the foot of astronomically high mountain.
Scraping himself onto the first step of the stone-hot ladder he could at long last breathe a sigh of relief. At the end of that non-linear morphing ladder lies the Throne which the Dude affectionately referred to as that which can ‘actualize anything you visualize’. Thus, laying there.. worn out clothes..unshaven, but happy, he finally realized that his epic journey was, in fact, quite worth it in the end, even if he was obviously still far from reaching his aim of manifesting his dreams.
No one really knows how far he went up that ladder, or even if at all. It is told, however, that he called for help, asking to be shown the super secret technique of the Efficient Way of Learning. For its is only when he has mastered this most special technique could he hope to achieve his ultimate goal – Freestyle technique-less thingy of moving with ease through the 3 dimensions of the Dudes' ever-changing, complex formations of the mysterious mountain of interconnected whole, and then at last finally reaching the wish fulfilling throne. He also understood that his real journey had only just began. Oh, if only he knew how to proceed in small steady steps onwards and upwards, while taking time to see the stunning view of glowing opalescent hues in the vastly minute and impermaning Iz-ness…init. Smile
…as an after-taste:
In days of old, knowledge of mathematics was the privileged domain of select few. Insurmountable odds had to be overcome to learn maths and be able to apply it. Now, any book store or library has books detailing the A-Z of mathematics, giving the road map of logical progression from one level simplicity to another, which when combined, becomes an evolving emergent system of natural complexity. I salute human creativity and desire for self-betterment.
It would be rather nice to have a procedural road map of learning that is clear organized and devided into enough steps to get a thorough grasp of the mechanism involved and the implications of these tools.
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
- Offline
A glimpse into the beginners' mind who has to learn new syntax, new paradigm, new abstract concepts, self-discipline and self-determination.. and handle information scarcity divided by information overload, sit-ups and finding clarity.
Lets, for few brief moments, pretend that there exists, a Monkey who is strapped to the hull of a Quantum Space-cruiser.. called ‘Self-employment’
The Space Monkey.
Monkey - mind you is not your average monkey, but a creature of above average curiosity and below average discipline is strapped (his own choice) to a space ship whose power he could not possibly fathom. Half of an anti-empty cup of chi is accidentally dropped on the control centres' touch-table. Another, nicer, monkey while wiping the liquid of the bio-luminescent display, accidentally touches the launch button… and boom.. the Monkey is propelled at unreal speeds to a mysterious and engaging universe of potential possibilities….
.. now I am .. sorry, the monkey is.. drifting through the depth of interstitial deepness of utterly spacious space. All around are the jewel encrusted 3d networks of stars and galaxies = clusters of churning info nodes and juicy Yata! experiences.
The Monkey has very little chance of getting his bearings in all this vastness so he propels himself to the stars clusters to see if there is anyone there who can help him. Eventually, after learning to talk the talk a little, he finds advice he seeks and realises that scattered disparately throughout the vastness of deep space are countless being who can help him. If only he had the energy and time to see them all.
With the protective spacesuit of self-control, support and guidance from his new friends, and shimmering fragmented space-map our clueless hero gravitates towards new constellations of learning. But a feeling of sadness suddenly befalls Monkey – he is overwhelmed by information and starved of quality and wishes someone would break things down for him, so he could take responsibility for his own adventure by getting to grips with some raw, fundamental basic laws of the universe he now finds himself in.
While taking a small, and much need break from all the floating around, Monkey remembers a story his grand grand father told him on the photonic disc about a old, actually ancient, timeless .. basically not very new at all, kung fu legend called ‘The One who knew he did not know’.
The One who knew he did not know…
Once upon a never time, an esoteric warrior squintillions of universes ago searched for incalculable aeons, battled dragons and subdued all sorts of energies just to have the chance meet the Dude. After being bruised and battered from all the trials and tribulations, having learned trillions of languages, dialects and modes of expression; having gone astray, been misled, been given incomplete information, the esoteric warrior collapsed at the foot of astronomically high mountain.
Scraping himself onto the first step of the stone-hot ladder he could at long last breathe a sigh of relief. At the end of that non-linear morphing ladder lies the Throne which the Dude affectionately referred to as that which can ‘actualize anything you visualize’. Thus, laying there.. worn out clothes..unshaven, but happy, he finally realized that his epic journey was, in fact, quite worth it in the end, even if he was obviously still far from reaching his aim of manifesting his dreams.
No one really knows how far he went up that ladder, or even if at all. It is told, however, that he called for help, asking to be shown the super secret technique of the Efficient Way of Learning. For its is only when he has mastered this most special technique could he hope to achieve his ultimate goal – Freestyle technique-less thingy of moving with ease through the 3 dimensions of the Dudes' ever-changing, complex formations of the mysterious mountain of interconnected whole, and then at last finally reaching the wish fulfilling throne. He also understood that his real journey had only just began. Oh, if only he knew how to proceed in small steady steps onwards and upwards, while taking time to see the stunning view of glowing opalescent hues in the vastly minute and impermaning Iz-ness…init.
…as an after-taste:
In days of old, knowledge of mathematics was the privileged domain of select few. Insurmountable odds had to be overcome to learn maths and be able to apply it. Now, any book store or library has books detailing the A-Z of mathematics, giving the road map of logical progression from one level simplicity to another, which when combined, becomes an evolving emergent system of natural complexity. I salute human creativity and desire for self-betterment.
Lets, for few brief moments, pretend that there exists, a Monkey who is strapped to the hull of a Quantum Space-cruiser.. called ‘Self-employment’
The Space Monkey.
Monkey - mind you is not your average monkey, but a creature of above average curiosity and below average discipline is strapped (his own choice) to a space ship whose power he could not possibly fathom. Half of an anti-empty cup of chi is accidentally dropped on the control centres' touch-table. Another, nicer, monkey while wiping the liquid of the bio-luminescent display, accidentally touches the launch button… and boom.. the Monkey is propelled at unreal speeds to a mysterious and engaging universe of potential possibilities….
.. now I am .. sorry, the monkey is.. drifting through the depth of interstitial deepness of utterly spacious space. All around are the jewel encrusted 3d networks of stars and galaxies = clusters of churning info nodes and juicy Yata! experiences.
The Monkey has very little chance of getting his bearings in all this vastness so he propels himself to the stars clusters to see if there is anyone there who can help him. Eventually, after learning to talk the talk a little, he finds advice he seeks and realises that scattered disparately throughout the vastness of deep space are countless being who can help him. If only he had the energy and time to see them all.
With the protective spacesuit of self-control, support and guidance from his new friends, and shimmering fragmented space-map our clueless hero gravitates towards new constellations of learning. But a feeling of sadness suddenly befalls Monkey – he is overwhelmed by information and starved of quality and wishes someone would break things down for him, so he could take responsibility for his own adventure by getting to grips with some raw, fundamental basic laws of the universe he now finds himself in.
While taking a small, and much need break from all the floating around, Monkey remembers a story his grand grand father told him on the photonic disc about a old, actually ancient, timeless .. basically not very new at all, kung fu legend called ‘The One who knew he did not know’.
The One who knew he did not know…
Once upon a never time, an esoteric warrior squintillions of universes ago searched for incalculable aeons, battled dragons and subdued all sorts of energies just to have the chance meet the Dude. After being bruised and battered from all the trials and tribulations, having learned trillions of languages, dialects and modes of expression; having gone astray, been misled, been given incomplete information, the esoteric warrior collapsed at the foot of astronomically high mountain.
Scraping himself onto the first step of the stone-hot ladder he could at long last breathe a sigh of relief. At the end of that non-linear morphing ladder lies the Throne which the Dude affectionately referred to as that which can ‘actualize anything you visualize’. Thus, laying there.. worn out clothes..unshaven, but happy, he finally realized that his epic journey was, in fact, quite worth it in the end, even if he was obviously still far from reaching his aim of manifesting his dreams.
No one really knows how far he went up that ladder, or even if at all. It is told, however, that he called for help, asking to be shown the super secret technique of the Efficient Way of Learning. For its is only when he has mastered this most special technique could he hope to achieve his ultimate goal – Freestyle technique-less thingy of moving with ease through the 3 dimensions of the Dudes' ever-changing, complex formations of the mysterious mountain of interconnected whole, and then at last finally reaching the wish fulfilling throne. He also understood that his real journey had only just began. Oh, if only he knew how to proceed in small steady steps onwards and upwards, while taking time to see the stunning view of glowing opalescent hues in the vastly minute and impermaning Iz-ness…init.
…as an after-taste:
In days of old, knowledge of mathematics was the privileged domain of select few. Insurmountable odds had to be overcome to learn maths and be able to apply it. Now, any book store or library has books detailing the A-Z of mathematics, giving the road map of logical progression from one level simplicity to another, which when combined, becomes an evolving emergent system of natural complexity. I salute human creativity and desire for self-betterment.
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
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I really enjoyed the procedural forest tutorial where the attribute create was used.
But it would be nice to have dedicated ‘attribute’ tutorial, instead of a few moments of description or example files that are hard to deconstruct as a beginner.. its about the human touch.
Just a thought.
But it would be nice to have dedicated ‘attribute’ tutorial, instead of a few moments of description or example files that are hard to deconstruct as a beginner.. its about the human touch.
Just a thought.
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
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Allegro
Feel free to add some specific items to this thread that you'd like to see covered in a tutorial. I can't guarantee ETA on any tutorials, but I like making them.
Thank you very much for the offer, perhapst:
Sphere
Attribute
Copy
Point
simply.. here's a sphere, a point, an attribute.. and here is a copy op, and here is how many things you can do with them without going anywhere.
such starting point would be absolutely fantastic. These OPs have been very important in my own learning (please check out the links above) and although i got the desired results, i'm still not quite sure how. The procedural forest tutorial was a real inspiration.
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
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keyframe
There is no question that more tutorials are needed – there is also no question that there are now more tutorials and high quality learning
Truth be told, ‘easy’ is often synonymous with ‘old’ – a dangerous word in the world of visual effects. Try to think of it in these terms: if something is ‘easy’ to do then everyone can do it. If everyone can do it, it's no longer a ‘special’ effect.
I whole heartedly concure that there are indeed more tutorial now. I've known about Houdini for about 7 years now. And its only very recently that tutorials have become more easily accessable and organized.
However, when one sees a genius peace of software not being given a chance to make a joyful, yes joyful (the sense of wonder of learning), and lasting impression on future minds, i cannot help but feel that its potential has yet to be fulfilled.
If I had the resources I would definately put together small but dedicated tutoral OPs team to bring out the zing and illumine the depth, electrify the streaming media and reach critical mass neccesary for inspirational creations to be born. It is most definately, infinately worth it!
I understand the ‘easy’ = ‘old’ paradigm, implying ‘hard’ = ‘new’. But what i'm trying to suggest is that if information is built in logical sequences, slowly slowly, the person builds a foundation for being able to hand enormous complexity. This is because they feel at ease with each part of the job.
'the balance' .. oh.. connect a shiny multi-threaded metalic object operation to ‘da balance’ i hear some digital echoes sing.
The reality based, balance, incremental approach doesn't standardise the way many would work, making their creation lack in inspiration. No more than learning how to drive makes everyone drive to the same destination.
'Easier' tutorials would help me undertand the governing dynamics of nodal universes more thoroughly, which is my personal goal - grounded, clear, fresh and open creativity.
I think one of the best ways to learn is for absolute beginners - in houdini's terms - to share their learning experience, which is what i'm going to do by putting some of my own remixed-houdinema tutorials online. That way i get to learn, and some one else may 2.
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
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Ok, I'm going to keep it to few lines cos i need to delete the presence of an absence of sleep.
I'll take some time to think things over and tomorrow will write a juicy reply.
All I can think of is - Scratch meets Houdini meets StarLogoTNG meets Bryce meets Amorphium meets Zbrush meets Painter.. and then sum.
Information Visualization is my favourate subject cos i can't understand things unless i see or feel them and i'm working on the idea of synaesthesia. All around us are synchrnized images, adverts, phone backlights etc.. we want to be in synch.. its natural.
Thats why I love Houdini. It makes sense to me that i can copy a pot of tea, millions of times, when I hit the middle C. I like that sort of thing.
Intuitive interfaces should litterally hide all the power underneath. They don't reduce the amount of potiential but increase it exponantially. A great teacher should be able to come down to the level of the pupil and reveal the natural philosphy of life.
Not unlike what Richard P. Feynman and his father did http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk8TVopOBGE [uk.youtube.com]
“Natural Philosophy” was the original term for Physics.
Trouble is that most software is writen by and for programmers - and i'm rappidly becoming one as I learn Houdini.. and i want to record my transformation, from being an artist to being a node-weaving organic chop-tastik multi-tasking dude, in all its supermaterial rgb detail.
..i'll sleep on it.. but in the mean while here are some of my extrusions into the non-linear get-to-the-point attribute land.
http://s706.photobucket.com/albums/ww64/Houdinski/ [s706.photobucket.com]
and on 3dBuzz
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=173006&page=6 [3dbuzz.com]
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vrlztz5WCus [uk.youtube.com] my youtube experiments
p.s i'm rather enjoying the strangly stafisfying mental pingpong existance of being caught betwix being vexed, choped and painted balled by post-converted meta squishies.
Houdinski
I'll take some time to think things over and tomorrow will write a juicy reply.
All I can think of is - Scratch meets Houdini meets StarLogoTNG meets Bryce meets Amorphium meets Zbrush meets Painter.. and then sum.
Information Visualization is my favourate subject cos i can't understand things unless i see or feel them and i'm working on the idea of synaesthesia. All around us are synchrnized images, adverts, phone backlights etc.. we want to be in synch.. its natural.
Thats why I love Houdini. It makes sense to me that i can copy a pot of tea, millions of times, when I hit the middle C. I like that sort of thing.
Intuitive interfaces should litterally hide all the power underneath. They don't reduce the amount of potiential but increase it exponantially. A great teacher should be able to come down to the level of the pupil and reveal the natural philosphy of life.
Not unlike what Richard P. Feynman and his father did http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk8TVopOBGE [uk.youtube.com]
“Natural Philosophy” was the original term for Physics.
Trouble is that most software is writen by and for programmers - and i'm rappidly becoming one as I learn Houdini.. and i want to record my transformation, from being an artist to being a node-weaving organic chop-tastik multi-tasking dude, in all its supermaterial rgb detail.
..i'll sleep on it.. but in the mean while here are some of my extrusions into the non-linear get-to-the-point attribute land.
http://s706.photobucket.com/albums/ww64/Houdinski/ [s706.photobucket.com]
and on 3dBuzz
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=173006&page=6 [3dbuzz.com]
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vrlztz5WCus [uk.youtube.com] my youtube experiments
p.s i'm rather enjoying the strangly stafisfying mental pingpong existance of being caught betwix being vexed, choped and painted balled by post-converted meta squishies.
Houdinski
Houdini Lounge » More Step-by-Step user friendly Tutorials PLEASE :)
- Houdinski
- 34 posts
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Having just had look at Softimage ICE i can see that it uses the simliar and most excellent and powerful way of working as Houdini. I don't know how deep ICEs power goes but you can see that a great deal can be achieve already.
But one major difference is that XSI is almost tailor made to be learned, drunk, absorbed by the students. It makes a conserted effort to let non-astronaughts know what it can do.
You can just see crowds of excited Icers building a really healthy vibrant comunity, bringing the nodal approach to the masses. And this is bound to happen given the power of customisation and stylization inherent in this method.
On the other hand it strikes me that unless Houdini makes very serious effort to produce user friendly, easily accessable and fun tutorials then it will continue to have another 20 years worth of ‘ahead of time’ technology behind the times. Oh, the irony.But I'm still astounded by the ease of Midi and Audio inegration and motion editing with Chops.
I'm two weeks into taking Houdini learning curve seriously. I'm learning the software and doing the 3dBuzz Battle Cruiser competion. But its trial by fire most of the way. Yes, this approach is very benifitial for me at the moment, as it slows me down and forces me to think clearly. But once past the initial stages of enthusiasm and owe, the jungle of trying to find info on bits of networks, and nodes, and expressions and codes and tantilizing glimpses of amazing things to come gets frankly a little frustrating.
There is no coherent learning road map.
It is is such a pitty that Houdini's techinical brilliance is not match by the down to earth, step by step, clear, simple (as opposed to simplistic or complex), heart-full and fun learning adventure!
ok… back to the drawing board…..
But one major difference is that XSI is almost tailor made to be learned, drunk, absorbed by the students. It makes a conserted effort to let non-astronaughts know what it can do.
You can just see crowds of excited Icers building a really healthy vibrant comunity, bringing the nodal approach to the masses. And this is bound to happen given the power of customisation and stylization inherent in this method.
On the other hand it strikes me that unless Houdini makes very serious effort to produce user friendly, easily accessable and fun tutorials then it will continue to have another 20 years worth of ‘ahead of time’ technology behind the times. Oh, the irony.But I'm still astounded by the ease of Midi and Audio inegration and motion editing with Chops.
I'm two weeks into taking Houdini learning curve seriously. I'm learning the software and doing the 3dBuzz Battle Cruiser competion. But its trial by fire most of the way. Yes, this approach is very benifitial for me at the moment, as it slows me down and forces me to think clearly. But once past the initial stages of enthusiasm and owe, the jungle of trying to find info on bits of networks, and nodes, and expressions and codes and tantilizing glimpses of amazing things to come gets frankly a little frustrating.
There is no coherent learning road map.
It is is such a pitty that Houdini's techinical brilliance is not match by the down to earth, step by step, clear, simple (as opposed to simplistic or complex), heart-full and fun learning adventure!
ok… back to the drawing board…..
Edited by - Dec. 20, 2008 15:25:42
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