Hi,
I'm trying to start a personal render farm using Houdini Indie and 2 Windows 10 computers. However, I am having a difficult time with getting the two computers to communicate with each other. I have been trying to follow this tutorial on setting up a render farm using Hqueue, but I got stuck around the 7:05 minute mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8xT-0febk8 [www.youtube.com] .
Due to my low level of experience with Houdini and network rendering in general, I have been struggling to accomplish this goal for several months now. So any suggestions on how I can get the render farm up-and-running while making it suitable enough to add additional devices in the future would be greatly appreciated.
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Technical Discussion » Houdini Render Farm Setup
- WaterBirdx2
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Technical Discussion » Confused about Setting up Hqueue for Windows
- WaterBirdx2
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Hello everyone.
Last Friday I decided to try and get my edition of Houdini set up in order to start using Hqueue by following the tutorial that was posted onto this website: http://kunani.com/how-to-setup-hqueue-for-sidefx-houdini-indie-on-your-windows-10-local-network/ [kunani.com] . I got close to completing it but I am not sure how to finish working through the last couple of steps called “SHARED DIRECTORY SETUP” and “HQUEUE CLIENT SERVICE LOGON PERMISSIONS.”
I am very much a beginner when it comes to network rendering, so any guidance on completing the setup and pointers for using Hqueue in conjunction with the RenderMan RIS nodes would be greatly appreciated.
Last Friday I decided to try and get my edition of Houdini set up in order to start using Hqueue by following the tutorial that was posted onto this website: http://kunani.com/how-to-setup-hqueue-for-sidefx-houdini-indie-on-your-windows-10-local-network/ [kunani.com] . I got close to completing it but I am not sure how to finish working through the last couple of steps called “SHARED DIRECTORY SETUP” and “HQUEUE CLIENT SERVICE LOGON PERMISSIONS.”
I am very much a beginner when it comes to network rendering, so any guidance on completing the setup and pointers for using Hqueue in conjunction with the RenderMan RIS nodes would be greatly appreciated.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Customizing the New Auto Face Rigger
- WaterBirdx2
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arctor
right now (I mean actually right now) I'm recording a series of rigging tutorials for a standard Biped, very much in the style that would be familiar to a rigger coming from a Maya background, but no facial rigging (apart from a jaw and simple eyes). After that I'll be doing a series on capture and deform and theeeeen some facial rigging…so it'll be a while before I can get to them. But I'd say jump in and see what you can do - and ask any questions here, I'll try to help where I can and there are plenty of others willing to offer advice as you've already seen.
Hey arctor. Hope you're doing well today. May I ask you a couple of questions real quickly? The first question is this - where do you usually post the tutorials that you make online? I forgot to ask you that the last time that I was logged in at this forum . The second is this - how does the license renewal process work for Houdini Indie? I am about to do so for the first time and I heard that it can be quite the stumbling block for users. That is why I would like to renew my edition of the program to a multi-year license if it is possible.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Customizing the New Auto Face Rigger
- WaterBirdx2
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arctor
oh, haha, sorry - I was going to make a quick example file - then I got called away and forgot all about it…
I'll post one later today
ok - here is a quick file:
there is a bunch of stuff going on here so have a good look through it, I only cover some of the uses of ‘sopcreateedit’
if you have any questions just ask…
Wow, thank you for sharing this with me arctor! This is quite enlightening . I hope you will be able to post your video tutorial soon, especially if the ‘zipper’ or ‘sticky lips’ setup will be mentioned. I would enjoy exploring concepts like that inside of Houdini.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Customizing the New Auto Face Rigger
- WaterBirdx2
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arctor
you can add/extend the rigs produced by the Autorigs as much as you want - think of them just as a base starting point.WaterBirdx2
Duplicating the head geometry to make the various blend shapes isn't a problem for me, but I do admit that I am rather intimidated by the idea that I might have to break apart the original geometry for the body
you DO NOT have to make duplicates of your mesh to create Blendshapes in Houdini.
see the attached file.
you can use a copy, or just make a series of changes to the mesh to produce the shape you want - then use the ‘sopcreateedit’ command - open a Textport and type: help sopcreateedit
this will make an Edit SOP that contains just the delta of your original mesh and the edited mesh - now you can get rid of any duplicate meshes and edits you might have made.
I'll be doing a full tutorial on this at some point - busy doing another tutorial series right now
That sounds excellent arctor. I am a big fan of visual aids, but I do not see an attached file to your post though. Do you post your tutorials to just this website, or are they available at other websites too? Is it also possible to create a preset out of a custom rig so that it could be applied to similar characters inside of Houdini? I know that the program has some functionality like that in regards to applying a pose that was created with one character onto a different character by using the pose library, so I think that getting a better understanding of parameters like this will make it easier for me to manage the development time for my characters.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Customizing the New Auto Face Rigger
- WaterBirdx2
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friedasparagus
Hi,
Thanks for the link, that's a really nice looking rig Very comprehensive.
Did you check out some other pages discussing it? www.olivier-ladeuix.com [www.olivier-ladeuix.com]
There's some ongoing links from there to where Spiel Kind was running through their working process.
Lots of blendshape work here, apparently 27 shapes which were then split up and masked out to create 90 separate shapes. This then combined with ‘joints’ (bones) to control broader deformations.
The connecting of control objects to blendshapes is likely to be done with ‘set driven keys’ as they are called in maya, with the houdini equivalent being ‘blend poses’ which uses the blendpose chop [www.sidefx.com] which in turn is created by the corresponding shelf tool [www.sidefx.com].
The rig for the lips seems to be a classic ‘zipper’ or ‘sticky lips’ setup, which you can google to find out more about, but there's a starting point here [vimeo.com] or here [www.kimonmatara.com]. The eyelids look like they contain very similar techniques, and have the really nice feature of being able to pose the gesture of the closed eyelid. Of course both of the resources I linked to there are aimed at rigging in maya, so there is some translation work to be done, but they should give you an idea of how the solution is structured.
There's a lot of ground to cover in a rig like this (facial rigging in particular tends to see riggers flexing every technique in their toolbox! ), so personally I would pick one of the above mentioned techniques and really get a handle on that before tackling the whole shebang. You will learn HUGE amounts from this. The ‘sticky lips’ setup for example will have you working through things like:
- understanding point/parent constraints
- averaging point positions in SOPs between the upper and lower lips curves combined with:
- understanding ‘layered’ deformations, and the use of ‘drive’ geometry (the underlying curves)
i.e. ctrl obj -> drive geo -> capturing bones -> character mesh- and blending of attributes along the length of the curve (being able to make one part of the curve sticky whilst leaving the rest open), as driven by a parameter - you can pick your poison from chops or expressions here
I don't know how much of this stuff you are already comfortable with, so I do apologise if I'm preaching to the choir
On the other hand, if you are starting out, try to break things down and make yourself comfortable with each part of the process. Check out videos demoing rigs you really like and try to find any resources that refer to the techniques used, you can learn shed-loads from seeing approaches in all different software packages, it is this that will help you ask the ‘right questions’ to yourself when sitting down to rig in H… it's a fair amount of detective work, but (I strongly believe) you will be a better rigger as a result!
Oops, that was long… not sure how useful it was, but I do hope that helps in some way.
Cheers,
Henry
Thank you very much for this detailed response Henry! Although I am comfortable with using Maya for my rigging needs and I am familiar with some of the systems you mentioned in that program like point/parent constraints, I am still feeling my way through Houdini as time allows me to as a rookie. In Maya I used to create set driven keys for vertex groups that I could manipulate with custom curve controllers, so I think “chops” and “blend poses” is what I need to focus on with my research at the moment since translating what I have learned from Maya into Houdini is my current goal with the program. Since the “Auto Face Rigger” can handle the rigging the jaw and connecting the eyes to the body right now, I am now wondering if it would be hard to do something similar for the teeth and tongue. I have also seen some video tutorials where the body for the character rig was split up into various parts while the blend shapes are made, like for the hands and for the head. Duplicating the head geometry to make the various blend shapes isn't a problem for me, but I do admit that I am rather intimidated by the idea that I might have to break apart the original geometry for the body. Is this a valid concern for me to have?
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Customizing the New Auto Face Rigger
- WaterBirdx2
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This is a question for those of you who has had experience with rigging characters inside of Houdini Indie. Suppose I wanted to create some new custom facial controllers that can work with the ones that come with using the new “Automatic Face Rigging” feature inside of Houdini Indie. What would be the tools that I need to use and the steps that I need to take to accomplish this task? Would it be possible to achieve results that are similar to what is being seen in the video that I have included a link for with this post?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGG9TGJ9tWc [www.youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGG9TGJ9tWc [www.youtube.com]
Houdini Lounge » Coming Up Next
- WaterBirdx2
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arctorWaterBirdx2
Would specific tips on how to customize the basic face rigger be something appropriate for you guys to consider including with the video tutorials for the new feature?
The rigging tutorials will cover building a basic biped (rigging and capture)
A tutorial on building a basic face rig is on the list - but given the wide range of face rigs and needs I can't see a single tutorial or series being able to cover everything. I expect the face rigging tutorial to cover the basics with bones and blendshapes, but not much more than that at first.
That sounds reasonable. Using blendshapes and null objects to customize the basic face rig would be my first preference anyway. Thanks again for clearing that up!
Houdini Lounge » Coming Up Next
- WaterBirdx2
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arctorWaterBirdx2
Hey guys. Congratulations on completing Houdini 16.5! It looks incredible and I can't wait to upgrade my edition of Houdini Indie to it next week. Only now I am rather curious as to how customizable the new face rigger can be. At this point in time, can it do things like:
1) Animate various parts of the face like the mouth, nose, and eyebrows?
2) Connect geometry besides eyeballs to the head like teeth and a tongue?
3) Create lip-sync animation if I import an audio file into the program and connect the audio file's wave data to some facial blend-shapes?
The Basic Face module added to the Autorigs in H16.5 is just that - Basic.
It will allow you to rig the Jaw - with options for rotation in xyz and well as translation in xyz.
It will also enable you to rig the eyes - lids, upper and lower, and a lookat control.
It should be fairly easy to expand on that for more features yourself, but the creation of a face rig of the kind you're asking for is a very large project and while we have some initial plans in this area I can't say when this would happen.
If you're wanting to build a face rig like this most tutorials on face rigging will be applicable to Houdini - so give it a try and ask any questions you might have here.
I see. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions arctor. Customizing the face rig myself now sounds like it could be pretty fun to do. The men from the 16.5 unveiling video also mentioned that new video tutorials were being made to go with all of the program's new features. Would specific tips on how to customize the basic face rigger be something appropriate for you guys to consider including with the video tutorials for the new feature?
Houdini Lounge » Coming Up Next
- WaterBirdx2
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quote=cb]
Hey guys. Congratulations on completing Houdini 16.5! It looks incredible and I can't wait to upgrade my edition of Houdini Indie to it next week. Only now I am rather curious as to how customizable the new face rigger can be. At this point in time, can it do things like:
1) Animate various parts of the face like the mouth, nose, and eyebrows?
2) Connect geometry besides eyeballs to the head like teeth and a tongue?
3) Create lip-sync animation if I import an audio file into the program and connect the audio file's wave data to some facial blend-shapes?
WaterBirdx2
Hi. A staff member mentioned back in July that a face rigger was in the works to go with the auto rigger that was introduced with Houdini 16. Should users like me expect to see the feature be released later this year? If so, then will the auto rigger's capabilities be expanded as well to allow users to create complex animal rigs?cb
We will be looking into providing facial rigs in the future, yes.
Cristin
My quote says that we're looking at providing a facial rig in the future, not that one is in the works
Ideally, one would be in the works already – there's obvious demand for it and we intended to add one from the very start. Unfortunately, polishing the existing auto-rigs has kept us too busy to seriously tackle facial rigging. Between adding quadruped support to the auto-rigging system and pushing hard on the muscle and flesh project, I doubt that we will have the cycles to release an official facial rig by the end of this year. We have started researching various approaches to it, and the ideal solution is not as straightforward as one might hope. The most we can hope for at this point is to share with you some facial rigging examples by year-end, then see in what direction to take them in 2018.
Cristinarctor
'flesh' refers to the FEM muscle/fat/skin workflows…
Face rigging is, as Cristin mentioned, something that we're looking into, but as there are a number of approaches/techniques used and users that have different needs we need to do the proper RnD.
If you have needs/suggestions/ideas please submit them as RFEs!
Hey guys. Congratulations on completing Houdini 16.5! It looks incredible and I can't wait to upgrade my edition of Houdini Indie to it next week. Only now I am rather curious as to how customizable the new face rigger can be. At this point in time, can it do things like:
1) Animate various parts of the face like the mouth, nose, and eyebrows?
2) Connect geometry besides eyeballs to the head like teeth and a tongue?
3) Create lip-sync animation if I import an audio file into the program and connect the audio file's wave data to some facial blend-shapes?
Edited by WaterBirdx2 - Nov. 4, 2017 13:22:33
Houdini Lounge » Animation in Houdini viable?
- WaterBirdx2
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I have asked similar questions in threads I have made here in the past. According to the replies I got on this particular thread from the staff members, https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/51388/ [www.sidefx.com] , they are currently prioritizing the refinement of the current auto-rig tools over the development of auto-rig tools for facial controls.
Houdini Lounge » Coming Up Next
- WaterBirdx2
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arctor
'flesh' refers to the FEM muscle/fat/skin workflows…
Face rigging is, as Cristin mentioned, something that we're looking into, but as there are a number of approaches/techniques used and users that have different needs we need to do the proper RnD.
If you have needs/suggestions/ideas please submit them as RFEs!
I see. Considering how fine-tuned the rigging systems that the major film studios have developed appear to be in BRoll videos, that definitely makes sense. Thanks for the suggestion about RFEs, and I will be looking forward to your future software updates, whenever they may be!
Edited by WaterBirdx2 - Aug. 28, 2017 15:10:48
Houdini Lounge » Coming Up Next
- WaterBirdx2
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cbWaterBirdx2
Hi. A staff member mentioned back in July that a face rigger was in the works to go with the auto rigger that was introduced with Houdini 16. Should users like me expect to see the feature be released later this year? If so, then will the auto rigger's capabilities be expanded as well to allow users to create complex animal rigs?cb
We will be looking into providing facial rigs in the future, yes.
Cristin
My quote says that we're looking at providing a facial rig in the future, not that one is in the works
Ideally, one would be in the works already – there's obvious demand for it and we intended to add one from the very start. Unfortunately, polishing the existing auto-rigs has kept us too busy to seriously tackle facial rigging. Between adding quadruped support to the auto-rigging system and pushing hard on the muscle and flesh project, I doubt that we will have the cycles to release an official facial rig by the end of this year. We have started researching various approaches to it, and the ideal solution is not as straightforward as one might hope. The most we can hope for at this point is to share with you some facial rigging examples by year-end, then see in what direction to take them in 2018.
Cristin
My apologizes for the misunderstanding.
But I really appreciate the fact that you replied to my question in such detail. This info will go a long way in helping me to stay organized while waiting for these developments to come into fruition. Although I'm not quite sure what the “flesh project” that you mentioned could be used for. Would you say that this “flesh” feature may be applicable to the creation of creature rigs with “fleshy” wings, such as dragons, once it's functional? Or that the auto-rigger could handle doing winged rigs once it is more polished, as you said?
In any case, thank you very much for the heads up, and keep up the good work!
Houdini Lounge » Coming Up Next
- WaterBirdx2
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Hi. A staff member mentioned back in July that a face rigger was in the works to go with the auto rigger that was introduced with Houdini 16. Should users like me expect to see the feature be released later this year? If so, then will the auto rigger's capabilities be expanded as well to allow users to create complex animal rigs?
cb
We will be looking into providing facial rigs in the future, yes.
Cristin
Houdini Learning Materials » How to Create 2D Style 3D Animation in Houdini
- WaterBirdx2
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cbWaterBirdx2
I have been giving it a good deal of thought lately, and I have come to the conclusion that recreating my characters inside of Houdini might not be a bad move to make after all. The Auto Rig system that Houdini has included with the latest system updates doesn't appear to be too dissimilar to what I created inside of Maya. The main difference is that the Auto Rig system doesn't appear to provide facial rig controls. Would the system developers consider incorporating such a function the next time that area of Houdini gets updated?
We will be looking into providing facial rigs in the future, yes.
Cristin
That's terrific! Thank you very much for answering my question, Cristin. I will be looking forward to it.
Houdini Learning Materials » How to Create 2D Style 3D Animation in Houdini
- WaterBirdx2
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I have been giving it a good deal of thought lately, and I have come to the conclusion that recreating my characters inside of Houdini might not be a bad move to make after all. The Auto Rig system that Houdini has included with the latest system updates doesn't appear to be too dissimilar to what I created inside of Maya. The main difference is that the Auto Rig system doesn't appear to provide facial rig controls. Would the system developers consider incorporating such a function the next time that area of Houdini gets updated?
Houdini Learning Materials » How to Create 2D Style 3D Animation in Houdini
- WaterBirdx2
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arctor
import the FBX, then use the nulls to define the positions of new bones, then re-rig
Understood. Thank you very much for the quick reply.
Houdini Learning Materials » How to Create 2D Style 3D Animation in Houdini
- WaterBirdx2
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arctorWaterBirdx2
When I purchased Houdini Indie earlier this year, though, the program wasn't capable of bringing rigged Maya content into the newer workstation. Does anyone know if the latest system updates have addressed this compatibility problem?
you'll not find this ability in any DDC app.
FBX import has improved in H16.xxx but you wont get IK etc.
Thanks for the reply. I had a feeling that was the case, especially since I used the Anzovin “Setup Machine 2” and “Face Machine” plugins to set up the characters' rigs, but I'm still glad that the FBX import has seen some improvement. With this in mind, what would be your approach to working through this problem if you were in my position?
Houdini Learning Materials » How to Create 2D Style 3D Animation in Houdini
- WaterBirdx2
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Oh, by the way, I have already created a bunch of rigged/textured Pixar-styled characters inside of an old edition of Maya that I have. Bringing them all into Houdini Indie would be wonderful because I could directly animate them interacting with the special effects that I would like to create inside of Houdini Indie, like snow and water. When I purchased Houdini Indie earlier this year, though, the program wasn't capable of bringing rigged Maya content into the newer workstation. Does anyone know if the latest system updates have addressed this compatibility problem?
Houdini Learning Materials » How to Create 2D Style 3D Animation in Houdini
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KaiStavginski
Just to clarify - Renderman is supported by houdini out of the box, but it is not included with houdini.
If you intend to render with houdini's own renderer mantra, you can try the Toon Color Shader and Toon Outline Shader houdini comes with. The approach is very similar to the Guilty Gear video you posted.
I'm not sure about the best approaches to do this in comp, but I assume you would need a few rendering passes like a normal pass etc. Do you have a tutorial for another 3d software that discribes how to output the correct passes, or the passes you may need and then does it in comp?
That would help with pointing you in the right direction.
KaiStavginski
Apart from rendering, you can of course do the whole process in houdini.
16's auto-rigging tools are great for cartoon characters.
At the moment, I don't think I have a tutorial like the one your describing for doing render passes, KaiStavginski. But if I could do the whole process inside of Houdini and achieve results like the ones seen in the links I included with my first post, then that would be my first preference. Could you show us how to do so, please?
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