https://www.orbolt.com/upgrade-houdini-files [www.orbolt.com]

Cinema 4d is not known for its rigging. Many users switched to using Cactus Dan’s plugins due to issues with the native system. It is true that xpresso works well with rigs and there are a lot of auto rigs available, but it has issues with joint bends, gimbal locking, tying morph deformation to bends, etc. I don’t know how Houdini tools compare, but Maya is far ahead.

Still, this is a big release for Maxon and will allow many to create complex motion graphics fairly easily. Nodal textures are a step forward, so long as you are using the physical renderer that comes with C4D.

I have found complex rigs in C4D to be pretty slow, and I don’t see that particular issue resolved in this update. There is supposed to be a fix on PSD morphs with the upcoming release.

Cinema 4D is impressive both for its ease of use and stability. In those two areas, it reigns supreme.

I would guess that this would not entice any Houdini users towards C4D, as most of the new features are in nodal materials and motion graphics - something that Houdini has had for years. The deficiencies that continue in C4D (inability to alter properties of polygons, points, vertices, and edges) at a low level, the lack of UV tools, lack of fluids and particles without plugins, etc. would make it a step backwards. C4D still benefits from a lot of third party software (for rendering, materials, particles, fluids, UV mapping, character rigging, etc) to be useful, unlike Houdini. It seems like the major benefit in C4D is motion graphics for people who don't want to do any coding and ease of use for people just starting in 3D. For people who are used to programming in Houdini, I don't see this getting any notice. Most likely, people new to 3D software and those who are dabbling in it for After Effects use, the new C4D would be an exciting release. Although people on the C4D forums seem to think Houdini is a good program for someone unwilling to learn VEX, I don't think that is true. As a relatively new user of Houdini myself, I am still faster modeling in other programs, but everytime I learn something in Houdini in a project, I can reuse this for other projects. I see a better path (and less expensive one) in Houdini indie.

Here is a printable version. I changed a few keystrokes, because on my iMac with the most recent OSX, a few commands using the CMD key in the pdf above are really assigned to the CTRL key.

Awesome!

I think the reason he frequently assigns a color channel (like the Cd.r) to $PT/$NPT is that it creates a unique value for each point that can be remapped with a ramp. That can then be used to move, scale, color, etc. along the points. The advantage is that Cd.r shows up when one creates an attribute VOP directly. If one creates a new attribute, one needs to add a “bind” node to show this attribute in the VOPs.

Personally, I don't like using color for something that is not a color, so I would create a variable (“NewAttribute” in the example below) with an attribute wrangle something like this:
float pt = @ptnum;
float npt = @numpt;
f@NewAttribute = chramp(“r”,pt/npt);

Just remember that if you want to add an attribute VOP, you will need to add a bind to import this attribute into the nodes.

//edited to change NewAttribute to public variable. Also, in Attribute Wrangle, don't forget to click that little box on the right to create spare parameters.

The Rockship tutorial from Mr. Dalvi is good, but he uses a lot of older nodes (from when it was created). I think this can cause a lot of confusion to people who are using more recent versions. He uses color a lot to just create an attribute he can use to ramp, and I think there are better ways to do that. His recent tutorials are excellent, and he uses modern nodes.

Does the file I uploaded give you zeros for the normals? The screen shot shows it should not.

Hmm. Maybe it is where you are placing the attribute create node. (it should be after a “normal” SOP) See screenshot and hip file:

Did you deselect “write values”? See my image above.

You can click the geometry tab to see what is actually exists as a point, vertex, or primitive attribute. Adding an old point SOP and clicking the “add normal” is equivalent to this AttributeCreate:

If you want to avoid deprecated nodes, you might use the attribute create node instead of the old Point node. However, in the tutorial of a rocketship, I would add a carve node instead (not use the old Point node with add Normal, as it will defeat the peak node) after the peak, and put first and second V to something like 0.01 and 0.99 to avoid the artifacts of using the peak node itself. I don't have the tutorial at hand, but the nodes would look something like this:

Those actually look quite clean, unlike my examples above where “p” and “b” are messed up in the bezier interpolation and “B” in the polygon one. In your example, connect the aiCleaner to the polyextrude and see how it looks. Don't try to export your extruded AI or text file as fbx or obj in Houdini (it creates a total mess). C4D must allow ngons with holes, but Houdini doesn't as far as I can tell, so you will always have those edge cuts on letters with central holes. I don't know if you right clicked the aiCleanerNH1 and looked at the nodes. Basically it adds a “hole” SOP, adds a “fuse” to correct very close points, and selects polygons with normals faced the wrong way and fixes (reverses) them.

Cinema 4D does illustrator and text extrudes much better but be aware that if you make these editable in C4D, you will have a lot of work to do (retopo or lots of edge cuts) to make it a proper 3D object with quad topology.

Here is a Houdini file that uses an Illustrator input to create a typical logo.

Here are defects both with bezier and polygon interpretation of the first font loaded. Whether the bezier or polygon interpretation work seems to be dependent on the font. I've tried several. Some work, some don't, some work for one interpretation but not the other. The same fonts work fine in C4D.

Houdini doesn't handle fonts very well. In your example above, Houdini is creating ngons without holes. The problem is it doesn't do it well at times, as shown in your letter “R”. As was pointed out on another forum, it can fall apart for double holes, as in the capital “B”. If you plan to do extrudes and bevels, I don't see any good solution in Houdini other than retopo of the fonts. C4D falls apart as well if you plan to make the font outlines editable and add any subD at a future time. It works fine if you are doing simple extrudes and using one of the premade caps.

Check you bit depth. Unless you change the default, you are probably rendering 32 bit color with alpha. Many viewers are 8 only and no alpha.

File exporting from Houdini is not intuitive. Traditionally, these are the four methods (that I am aware of):

1. file>export for fbx and abc
2. right click the terminal node and select “save” and export obj, lwo, etc.
3. add a file cache node to export geometry (but be careful with adding extension to file name and picking a directory that you can find).
4. In “out” area of network, add a geometry ROP node

In other programs, usually this is done as file>export or file>save as. Houdini has its own logic.

Note that different export options do slightly different things. For instance, right clicking the terminal node will obviously not allow you to save all objects in the scene as a single geometry. File>export is great if you want to preserve textures or animations. I wish there were a better help file that explained exactly which method to use, but my knowledge in this area is primarily from trial and error.

Have you tried right mouse click on the last node in the chain and select “save”?

Toadstorm solved it for me (it was a user error). The last line:
HOUDINI_OTLSCAN_PATH = $MOPS/otls;@otls

should have had an extra upslash before the final otls:
HOUDINI_OTLSCAN_PATH = $MOPS/otls;@/otls

Now it works. Still weird.

I found the culprit. This is 100% reproducible. It was the houdini.env line for the new MOPS:

MOPS = “/Users/island/Documents/Houdini/MOPS-Master”
HOUDINI_OTLSCAN_PATH = $MOPS/otls;@otls

When that is added, uv quickshade disappears as an option. I initially had a colon rather than semicolon in the second line, but was told by SideFx tech support that for OSX, I needed to change that to a semicolon. Either way, this was the line that lost me the UV quickshade node. Weird.