Is it possible to make a separate Depth map
for every light used in Point instancing mode?
If you wright $OS.pic as a name,
then Shadow map will be generated for every point
though every next map will rewrite it 's predecessor.
As a result we have Depth map generated from the last point

I've been trying to figure out the correct settings for 3DLabs' Wildcat VP560 graphics card, without much success.

If anyone here has a Wildcat VP card, any tips would be appreciated.

Going through all the presets is not a viable solution. :wink:

I'm more interested in the specific OpenGL settings.

Can we render at lower quality for the animation. I ask this because my environment model takes 13 - 14 minutes to render per frame with no shadding the model is not finished yet and there is no surface displacement SOPs added yet. :shock: I am fearful that the final result will take around 2 hours per frame on my computer, and I do not have a render farm to handle this. My computer is only a Month old AMD and I have the max amount of ram 1.5 that my computer board will hold. So would that be allowed and would points be counted against us if we rendered at lower quality, not resolution? :cry: Not that I really want to just may have too.

Cheers,
Nate Nesler

Hi,

Is there any way to find the discussions that were going on in the beta forum regarding the Oren-Nayar lighting model and H6's implementation of global illumination?

I've done searchs through the mailing list archives but that only finds old material, not from the beta forum.

Specifically to GI, how do you generate a “direct photon” map? It's clear how to create a caustic and global map, but not the direct map.

Anyone else know how to do this?

Thanks!

–Mark

Will sidefx be offering any specials on Houdini at Siggraph this year? I am assuming that you will have a both this year too.

Cheers,
Nate Nesler 8)

I have to particle systems setup and like to trigger a birthing event when at least 30% of the particles have collided from the two different sources.

I was thinking of some ‘if - then’ statment or via a VEX network, but not quite sure.

Any ideas to create this procedural would help.

Cheers

Andre

Greetings everybody
I just started 3d buzz online Houdini Apprentice class and would like to know about Houdini as character tool.
From web,forums,studios and artciles I know that Houdini is definitely the most powerfull 3d package on planet.
Many speak about VFX and mdeling,composing…
But I didn't experiance something about chracter animation
some 5-10 years ago,Jurassic Park age,Soft Image rulled in that area …
Than A/W merging brought MAYA,rulls for tha last 5 years(and due to SI was developing XSI and a fell behind a bit)
We have now Motion Builder from Kaydara
But,still I 'm curious about Houdini.
It still remains “nirvana” for me
Any characater animators out there?
I mean using Houdini
_________________
Best regards,
Ben

Is there a shadow bias control for built-in shadow options in the light node? (i mean not using vex shadow or shadowmap() funtion)

How should i connect the Vop shadowmatte so that my shadow appears in the alpha channel of the rendered pic?

Whenever i connect the output of the vop shadowmatte to the corresponding output of a vop surface shader, it just gives me the alpha of my objects, not the shadow.

Thanks in advance.

Wesley

Hello users!

As part of our strategy planning process, we are conducting a short survey to better understand how our users perceive our company and its products. We would greatly appreciate it if you would take a few minutes today (should not take more than 5) to complete an anonymous online survey that we have set up on this topic.

The survey is available at either of the following addresses:

http://service.sidefx.com/strategy_canvas_survey.php [service.sidefx.com]
or
http://license.sidefx.com/strategy_canvas_survey.php [license.sidefx.com]

Your participation will help us focus our energies on ensuring the best possible set of products to meet your needs.

Sincerely,

Paul Salvini

—————-

Dr. Paul Salvini
CTO & VP Canadian Operations
Side Effects Software

pas@sidefx.com
(416) 504-9876

5.5.305 is latest distribution version.
Yet the camera roto display bug, on Win2K , is there. THis is where any kind of action by the camera causes Houdini to completely mess up the roto backround display. Making camera matching nearly impossible.
So what is the workaround, and how did such a basic bug been around for so long?

DaveR

Greetings everybody
I just started 3d buzz online Houdini Apprentice class and would like to know about Houdini as character tool.
From web,forums,studios and artciles I know that Houdini is definitely the most powerfull 3d package on planet.
Many speak about VFX and mdeling,composing…
But I didn't experiance something about chracter animation
some 5-10 years ago,Jurassic Park time Soft Image rulled in that area
Than A/W merging brought MAYA,rulls for tha last 5 years(and due to SI was developing XSI and a little bit fell behind)
We have now Motion Builder from Kaydara
But,still I 'm curious about Houdini.
It still remains “nirvana” for me
Any characater animators out there?
I mean using Houdini

I would like to use file midi signals to triger an animated sprite …

there seem to be no MIDI Chop tutorial on the net …

thanks…

Hi everyone,
I`m learning houdini and need to ask you something about VEX builder.
Simply, my question is how do I create a volume shader (in VEX Builder)similiar to VEX 3dTexture Fog?
The reason I`m trying to do this is that when I create predefined VEX 3dTexFog shader, I can not fine tune colors, textures etc. so I was thinking about creating a similiar one from scratch so I can have more control. I`ll need to use texture3d in the shader but couldn`t figure out how….
Thanks a lot for your help!…

Does anyine here use Shaderman to write shaders to use with Houdini and PRMAN. If so, can you desctibe how to properly config Shaderman, PRMAN, and Houdini, and where to put shaders.
I want to know the proccess.

DR

the forum seems to think I'm in the past…?….
does the forum obey DST?…no big deal but I got really confused for a few seconds…

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone would have any tips for rendering and compositing in HD resolutions for DVD. Having worked entirely in NTSC/VHS/DV, I've often been disappointed between the image quality on video vs. computer monitor.

A few questios:

1) Should I render in 1920X1080 or is 1280X720 “good” enough“?

2) Are there the same issues of ”hot" colors like in VHS/NTSC that have to be corrected? Or is there a different color model considering it's all digital?

3) Has anyone had success with COPS2 at HD resolutions? If not, what app would you recommend for compositing?

I really want to sinking my teeth into compositing and HD, any advice will be most appreciated!

Thanks!


–Mark

Does anyone know how to do influence objects to deform a skin? You can do this in maya so I assume you can do this in Houdini also. The idea is basically that as the influence object, say a muscle, collides with the skin the skin deforms around the object. Does anyone know how to do this? Also if anyone knows how to do cloth and fur in Houdini I would be interested in knowing how or where I can get information in these areas for Houdini.

Cheers,
Nate Nesler 8)

Hmm, I tried to run on a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop computer:
winXP, ati radeon mobility 9000 64MB, 1GB RAM, 1.8Mhz P4, latest dell ati drivers…

Its running quite well relative its a laptop, but there are some annoying issue:

In the parameter window if its not fit to it, (the scrollbar visible), it doesn't refresh when I switch to an other category (e.g from transformation to shading), if all the parameter fits to the window pane then its working fine.

It should be some double buffer issue, when I switch off the double buffering its working well, but then the 3D viewport looks awful during any interaction.

Xray function has no effect at all. (in Maya xray working well on the same machine)

any idea?

sip

Houdini particles are killin' me. Everytime I think I got things under control, Houdini throws me a curve ball. It is so confusing and frustrating.
This time is POP SOP.
In my popnet I have particles finally doing what I want them to do. The popnet terminates on RENDER POP, which is called Render1.

In Geometry I have a POP SOP which reads popnet1/render1.
But the displayed particle state is tottally different then whats displayed.
In my popnet I have a repulsion field (Attractor with negative setting) and its working fine. At Render1 POP (which is active) the particle state displayes the repulsed particles. But in POP SOP the repulsion is not shown, as if particles are not being affected by repulsion. I hope this is not some bug, I stumbled on. Whats odd, what it was working before, then just stopped.
Another problem.
I have my project set from 0-690, with 90-690 being the actual project, the preceeding 90 frames I am using as pre-roll for particles.
The animation of objects start at frame 90. The popnets start at 0.
For some reason, the particle dynamics quit after frame 450! After 450, all the forces I have acting on the popnet emmitter no longer affect it, and I am unable to find the reason.
I feel like I am fighting the application.

Read above post…..Ahhhhhhh.DOH!