Sorry for what I suspect is total noob question/issue.
I've managed to get my lopnet exporting to USD files for rendering with Husk via Deadline.
However...
Somewhere along the way an extra directory or two are added to my output path- these don't exist so then Deadline fails the job. If I add said missing directories, it works just fine.
The path "render/3D_render" gets added.
So, if I set Output Picture to "$HIP/test_render" the workers end up looking for "$HIP/test_render/render/3D_render"
I can't figure out where this is coming from, any suggestions or ideas?
I know the easy fix is to just add those directories my file structure or figure out how to let the worker nodes write missing directories (that seemed to work with Mantra?) but I'd like to better understand what's going on and what I'm doing wrong.
Thanks!
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Technical Discussion » Karma adds extra folder to output?
- The3DStig
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Technical Discussion » Pin KineFX Ragdoll?
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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Playing with the KineFX setup.
Using an FBX character import node.
I'd like to pin a joint to an animated external point/geo while running a ragdoll simulation.
Essentially a character with a guide wire the lifts it up/down while passed out.
I see the "external constraints" in the ragdoll constraints node, but it doesn't seem to do anything when I pass external (packed) geometry into it.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Using an FBX character import node.
I'd like to pin a joint to an animated external point/geo while running a ragdoll simulation.
Essentially a character with a guide wire the lifts it up/down while passed out.
I see the "external constraints" in the ragdoll constraints node, but it doesn't seem to do anything when I pass external (packed) geometry into it.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Technical Discussion » No Density from ConvertVDB Node?
- The3DStig
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Rendering in Houdini with an engine that needs VDBs to render pyro sims.
I seem to recall this just meant passing the bgeo sequence into a convertVDB node and then another filecache node to save it?
However, when I inspect my convertVDB node I see my density field is 0,0,0 (as opposed to having density values when inspecting the file node loading my bgeo sequence!). So, nothing gets rendered.
I've tried using *, @name=density, and just leaving the group field empty.
My other fields are getting there (temperature, flame, etc) just not density!
Am I missing something? Using Houdini 19.0.531
Thanks!
I seem to recall this just meant passing the bgeo sequence into a convertVDB node and then another filecache node to save it?
However, when I inspect my convertVDB node I see my density field is 0,0,0 (as opposed to having density values when inspecting the file node loading my bgeo sequence!). So, nothing gets rendered.
I've tried using *, @name=density, and just leaving the group field empty.
My other fields are getting there (temperature, flame, etc) just not density!
Am I missing something? Using Houdini 19.0.531
Thanks!
Technical Discussion » Trying to Follow Tim's "Trendy Transitions" Tutorial...
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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Still no luck!
Essentially, here's what I'm trying to do...
1. Use a voronoi fracture node to... well fracture geometry.
2. Assemble node to pack the pieces.
3. Create another piece of geo with a pscale of "0"
4. Attribute Transfer to shift pscale from 1 to 0 based on distance
5. Transform pieces node to actually transform the packed pieces.
Am I completely off base here?! Is there a better way?
Essentially, here's what I'm trying to do...
1. Use a voronoi fracture node to... well fracture geometry.
2. Assemble node to pack the pieces.
3. Create another piece of geo with a pscale of "0"
4. Attribute Transfer to shift pscale from 1 to 0 based on distance
5. Transform pieces node to actually transform the packed pieces.
Am I completely off base here?! Is there a better way?
Technical Discussion » Trying to Follow Tim's "Trendy Transitions" Tutorial...
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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Glad it's not just me! I've tried it on my personal machine with my Indie seat using 18.5 and still no luck!
Technical Discussion » Trying to Follow Tim's "Trendy Transitions" Tutorial...
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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well, I've had some luck. The geo spreadsheet shows pscale is being copied over but that attribute isn't doing anything to the pieces in the "transformpieces" node!
Technical Discussion » Trying to Follow Tim's "Trendy Transitions" Tutorial...
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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It's great (as Tim's stuff always is!) but for some reason I'm stuck at about the 12 minute mark on this video:
https://vimeo.com/186278009 [vimeo.com]
When I add the transformpieces node... nothing happens!
I see this is an older video and I'm using 18.0.597 (company doesn't want to update just yet)
Attaching my file just in case anyone wants to point out what I'm sure is a simple error/mistep.
Much appreciate any feedback!
https://vimeo.com/186278009 [vimeo.com]
When I add the transformpieces node... nothing happens!
I see this is an older video and I'm using 18.0.597 (company doesn't want to update just yet)
Attaching my file just in case anyone wants to point out what I'm sure is a simple error/mistep.
Much appreciate any feedback!
Edited by The3DStig - Oct. 5, 2021 11:07:03
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Hqueue rewrites entries in hqnode.ini
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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Really for the life of me I can't remember. Once I just told Hqueue to use to use the current network file I had open in Houdini it just worked. That was a few generations of Houdini ago however!
Are you using Indie? If not I highly recommend using either ifds or usds (Mantra/Karma/Renderman)
If you happen to be using a 3rd party renderer like Vray or Redshift it's even easier to use their proprietary render files and just batch execute them in Deadline. Even if it's just on your local machine, network rendering (in my experience) are MUCH more efficient and easier to manage when using render files as opposed to executing from a work file.
Are you using Indie? If not I highly recommend using either ifds or usds (Mantra/Karma/Renderman)
If you happen to be using a 3rd party renderer like Vray or Redshift it's even easier to use their proprietary render files and just batch execute them in Deadline. Even if it's just on your local machine, network rendering (in my experience) are MUCH more efficient and easier to manage when using render files as opposed to executing from a work file.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Hqueue rewrites entries in hqnode.ini
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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Okay, so I think I got around it entirely by not even bothering with the shared network name stuff.
I just started loading my file in Houdini via a network path.
So instead of "A:\jobs\job01\job.001.hiplc"
I copied the file (and all the required files) to a network location and then opened that network file in Houdini. From there I just submitted the job. Just make sure the you have "render current file" selected in the Hqueue rop.
I just started loading my file in Houdini via a network path.
So instead of "A:\jobs\job01\job.001.hiplc"
I copied the file (and all the required files) to a network location and then opened that network file in Houdini. From there I just submitted the job. Just make sure the you have "render current file" selected in the Hqueue rop.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Hqueue rewrites entries in hqnode.ini
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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Hey there!
I'll have a look and let you know in a bit! I haven't used hqueue in ages. I'll dig around once I'm at the office.
BTW I used deadline for the most part these days. Much easier and I think it's free if you're just using a few machines. If you've got something critical that you need asap I wouldn't recommend switching now-just something to think about in the future. Also if you're rendering something big you might try a service like Grid Market.
Anyway, I'll provide some more details when I can!
I'll have a look and let you know in a bit! I haven't used hqueue in ages. I'll dig around once I'm at the office.
BTW I used deadline for the most part these days. Much easier and I think it's free if you're just using a few machines. If you've got something critical that you need asap I wouldn't recommend switching now-just something to think about in the future. Also if you're rendering something big you might try a service like Grid Market.
Anyway, I'll provide some more details when I can!
Solaris and Karma » Solaris rendering on the cloud
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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This is fantastic! (jumped here from the link you placed into my question)
I need to wrap my head around Karma before doing this (or I could just run it in Mantra...)
For most of the work I do I get reimbursed for ChaosCloud or whatever service but it would be really nice to have more control and not have to shell out the initial cash to render (and possibly charge a small fee myself and just pocket that... everyone would save some money!)
I've setup a Deadline/AWS pipeline for my day job studio but am always on the hunt for something more manageable for my personal/freelance work.
Thank you so much for sharing this!!
I need to wrap my head around Karma before doing this (or I could just run it in Mantra...)
For most of the work I do I get reimbursed for ChaosCloud or whatever service but it would be really nice to have more control and not have to shell out the initial cash to render (and possibly charge a small fee myself and just pocket that... everyone would save some money!)
I've setup a Deadline/AWS pipeline for my day job studio but am always on the hunt for something more manageable for my personal/freelance work.
Thank you so much for sharing this!!
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Renderer w/ Best Cloud Service?
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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For my most recent project I have to admit Chaos Cloud did GREAT!
However, the idea of setting up my own virtual farm using Mantra/Karma is pretty darn tempting.
For my day job I developed a render farm in AWS for our Max/Vray pipeline and it works pretty well.
I do like the automated part of ChaosCloud and the speed is really hard to beat but you do pay for that premium.
How are you submitting your render jobs? Do you upload everything to Azure and manage it from there? Or is your local machine the render manager?
Looking into pricing now... appreciate the suggestion!
However, the idea of setting up my own virtual farm using Mantra/Karma is pretty darn tempting.
For my day job I developed a render farm in AWS for our Max/Vray pipeline and it works pretty well.
I do like the automated part of ChaosCloud and the speed is really hard to beat but you do pay for that premium.
How are you submitting your render jobs? Do you upload everything to Azure and manage it from there? Or is your local machine the render manager?
Looking into pricing now... appreciate the suggestion!
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Renderer w/ Best Cloud Service?
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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Hello all!
I've been jumping around from engine to engine lately. I like to stay fluent in and play in a few different engines.
I was using 3Delight ALOT and absolutely love it. However, when it came time to render a project I found their cloud service to be a giant pain and really expensive. Upload times are terrible AND I can't seem to render more than 80 frames per session using the built in 3Delight Cloud ROP. I can use the command line but again the upload times are awful and it's pretty darn expensive.
For my current project, I've switched to Vray. I'm not a huge Vray anymore fan but I've got about a decade of experience with it. Seems good, but now at the cloud service stage it falters. Upload times are decent but I'm getting lots of errors that seem like bugs. (One example, "Multiple render elements with the same name are not supported." However I only have ONE render element. Seems to be an issue with the Chaos Cloud)
TLDR: What engine out there has the best cloud service? Just need something stable and fast!
Thanks!
I've been jumping around from engine to engine lately. I like to stay fluent in and play in a few different engines.
I was using 3Delight ALOT and absolutely love it. However, when it came time to render a project I found their cloud service to be a giant pain and really expensive. Upload times are terrible AND I can't seem to render more than 80 frames per session using the built in 3Delight Cloud ROP. I can use the command line but again the upload times are awful and it's pretty darn expensive.
For my current project, I've switched to Vray. I'm not a huge Vray anymore fan but I've got about a decade of experience with it. Seems good, but now at the cloud service stage it falters. Upload times are decent but I'm getting lots of errors that seem like bugs. (One example, "Multiple render elements with the same name are not supported." However I only have ONE render element. Seems to be an issue with the Chaos Cloud)
TLDR: What engine out there has the best cloud service? Just need something stable and fast!
Thanks!
Technical Discussion » New Computer Time! Thoughts on MainGear?
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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My beastly laptop is just about ready for retirement! Time for a new PC.
I'm coming from a 4 Xeon (well, 8 with hyperthreading) with 64GB of ram and a Quadro M2200 in my laptop.
Any thoughts on MainGear's VYBE rig [maingear.com]? I've got a budget of about $2,500 USD
Their markup seems reasonable and the hassle of not putting it together myself is worth it. Self assembly sounds like fun but...
"Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and screaming" (Taking the advice from the guys at Entagma)
Here's what my budget gets me at MainGear:
AMD RYZEN 7 5800X - 8-Core - 3.8 GHz (Boosts to 4.7 GHz)
64GB HyperX Predator DDR4 3600MHz (2x32GB)*
M.2 NVMe SSD**
4TB Seagate Barracuda Desktop HDD*
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI - MATX
MAINGEAR EPIC - 240mm Liquid Cooling
EVGA 750W SuperNOVA B2
*I have the option to add in two more 32GB sticks which I'll probably do later
**Not a lot of storage but I've got my own drives I'll be bringing from my laptop to supplement this.
In short:
1. Anyone have any experience purchasing or using anything from MainGear?
2. How does the Ryzen 5800X do with Houdini?
Any thoughts appreciated!
I'm coming from a 4 Xeon (well, 8 with hyperthreading) with 64GB of ram and a Quadro M2200 in my laptop.
Any thoughts on MainGear's VYBE rig [maingear.com]? I've got a budget of about $2,500 USD
Their markup seems reasonable and the hassle of not putting it together myself is worth it. Self assembly sounds like fun but...
"Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and screaming" (Taking the advice from the guys at Entagma)
Here's what my budget gets me at MainGear:
AMD RYZEN 7 5800X - 8-Core - 3.8 GHz (Boosts to 4.7 GHz)
64GB HyperX Predator DDR4 3600MHz (2x32GB)*
M.2 NVMe SSD**
4TB Seagate Barracuda Desktop HDD*
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI - MATX
MAINGEAR EPIC - 240mm Liquid Cooling
EVGA 750W SuperNOVA B2
*I have the option to add in two more 32GB sticks which I'll probably do later
**Not a lot of storage but I've got my own drives I'll be bringing from my laptop to supplement this.
In short:
1. Anyone have any experience purchasing or using anything from MainGear?
2. How does the Ryzen 5800X do with Houdini?
Any thoughts appreciated!
Technical Discussion » scaling rbds over time (once condition is met)?
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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Oh geez, I didn't even think of scaling before the solver.
I'll check out the link, thanks!
I'll check out the link, thanks!
Technical Discussion » scaling rbds over time (once condition is met)?
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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Hello,
I'm trying to figure out how to scale my rbd's down once they've been activated.
Current setup is nothing that interesting. Just tiny boxes copied to points generated from a larger box.
Using some simple vex to activate based on volume.
Any tips/ideas on how to scale them down over time once they're active?
Thanks!
I'm trying to figure out how to scale my rbd's down once they've been activated.
Current setup is nothing that interesting. Just tiny boxes copied to points generated from a larger box.
Using some simple vex to activate based on volume.
Any tips/ideas on how to scale them down over time once they're active?
Thanks!
PDG/TOPs » TOPs/Wedging simple pyro sim is slower...
- The3DStig
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Seriously, why is that every time I post a question I inevitably find the solution like 20 minutes later?
For anyone interested there IS just an option in the ropgeo node.
ROPGEO–>Rop Fetch tab –> “all frames in one batch”
Works as expected- actually faster than running one after another, which is what I was hoping for!
For anyone interested there IS just an option in the ropgeo node.
ROPGEO–>Rop Fetch tab –> “all frames in one batch”
Works as expected- actually faster than running one after another, which is what I was hoping for!
PDG/TOPs » TOPs/Wedging simple pyro sim is slower...
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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TOPs/Wedging simple pyro sim is slower than running each simulation manually (one after another).
I've got a very simple setup in TOPs. A single wedge controls a few different settings for a pyro simulation.
It's connected to a ropgeo output node.
Everything works as it should! I get three simulations with the different settings. The trouble is that it takes significantly longer to run than it would just executing them one after another. Manual execution takes about 30 minutes each so about 1.5 hours to do all of them if I babysit my workstation and start one after another. Using TOPS is takes about 6 hours!
I suspect this is because a new instance of hbatch or something is starting up for each frame in the process.
Is there a way to force it into a single process or one per variation? I know in the hq_render node there's a ‘batch all frames into one job’ option. Is there something like that in TOPs?
Thanks!
I've got a very simple setup in TOPs. A single wedge controls a few different settings for a pyro simulation.
It's connected to a ropgeo output node.
Everything works as it should! I get three simulations with the different settings. The trouble is that it takes significantly longer to run than it would just executing them one after another. Manual execution takes about 30 minutes each so about 1.5 hours to do all of them if I babysit my workstation and start one after another. Using TOPS is takes about 6 hours!
I suspect this is because a new instance of hbatch or something is starting up for each frame in the process.
Is there a way to force it into a single process or one per variation? I know in the hq_render node there's a ‘batch all frames into one job’ option. Is there something like that in TOPs?
Thanks!
Technical Discussion » Offset Cache by Particle Age
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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I'm trying to instance a cached sequence onto particles as they are generated. Specifically I've got an explosion VDB that I'd like to instance onto particles after they hit the ground.
Generating said particles is easy! Now it's just a matter of offsetting the VDB sequence according to particle age. The answer is likely starring me in the face but I can't seem to figure out today.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Generating said particles is easy! Now it's just a matter of offsetting the VDB sequence according to particle age. The answer is likely starring me in the face but I can't seem to figure out today.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Houdini Lounge » Karma ROP?
- The3DStig
- 126 posts
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