This was a bit of a tough one for me, but I think I figure out how to do world space displacement in MaterialX without using anything outside of the spec.
Trick is to use dot products instead of matrix.
Take your world space vector (Wind Direction in my case) and then do a dot with tangent, bitangent and normal and combine into a vector. This seems to work well so far.
Hope this helps someone else because this too me way too long to figure out! Thanks!
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Solaris and Karma » World Space Displacement with MaterialX?
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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Technical Discussion » MaterialX displacement not updating based on time?
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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Technical Discussion » MaterialX displacement not updating based on time?
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
- Offline
I'm probably missing something, I can't seem to get my materialX material displacement to update based on time.
I used the same time setup to pan the UV coordinates for the flame texture but can't seem to get it to update the displacement. Seems to always evaluate displacement as if the frame / time = 0
Any ideas? This is in LOPS / Stage area using USD. Really want to be able to use materialX to make things like a simple water shader etc.
Thanks so much!
I used the same time setup to pan the UV coordinates for the flame texture but can't seem to get it to update the displacement. Seems to always evaluate displacement as if the frame / time = 0
Any ideas? This is in LOPS / Stage area using USD. Really want to be able to use materialX to make things like a simple water shader etc.
Thanks so much!
3rd Party » Dune Solver
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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Scientifically accurate Dune Solver that models the way dunes naturally form. Written in OpenCL this solver runs extremely fast. Clients include NASA for Mars & Climate change research. Tutorial videos on my youtube, and feel free to request more.
Now available on Orbolt
https://www.orbolt.com/asset/LuckyPause::dunesolver
Thank you!
Now available on Orbolt
https://www.orbolt.com/asset/LuckyPause::dunesolver
Thank you!
The Orbolt Smart 3D Asset Store » Time to dump Orbolt?
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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+1 Bumping this.
Orbolt is a great idea, but a dated implementation.
I'd love to see SideFX give it love in several ways:
Update the website so it doesn't feel so dated, I know this seems purely cosmetic but unfortunately I think it makes a difference when users are comparing buying assets from Gumroad or Artstation then you see Orbolt... and it just comes across as almost abandoned. Please look at other modern digital stores, I like artstation & gumroad a lot, epic marketplace as well.
Needs a way for sellers to easily refund users (maybe I missed it?)
I also find it harder to prepare & sell an asset on orbolt than gumroad, even an HDA. If I sell on gumroad I can package a zip file with anything, multiple hip files, hda's, pdf documentation etc. With Orbolt I have to do things like stip the HDA version number because Orbolt gets confused and will think a different asset version is a different asset. I couldn't get the orbolt tools built into houdini to even work.
Maybe I'm missing it but it also doesn't seem like there is an easy way to edit an orbolt listing. I had listed three videos on my Orbolt page and it ordered them last to first on the asset page. I wanted to change the order so edited the page and it acts like you are uploading a new asset version.
----------------------
All that said, I think it would really be best if SideFX takes an approach like valve does with steam - let us upload & sell assets with orbolt, handle the licence conversions and licensing.... but also give us asset keys like steam does to allow us to sell orbolt managed & hosted assets though other asset stores such as artstation & gumroad.
Steam does this and it has only helped them because it ensures that even if you can do all your own promotion, hosting etc. you still might as well put it on steam and sell steam keys because valve doesn't even get a cut from a steam key.
I think sidefx / houdini & orbolt are a perfect use case for this steam / steam key type approach.
Thank you for reading!
Orbolt is a great idea, but a dated implementation.
I'd love to see SideFX give it love in several ways:
Update the website so it doesn't feel so dated, I know this seems purely cosmetic but unfortunately I think it makes a difference when users are comparing buying assets from Gumroad or Artstation then you see Orbolt... and it just comes across as almost abandoned. Please look at other modern digital stores, I like artstation & gumroad a lot, epic marketplace as well.
Needs a way for sellers to easily refund users (maybe I missed it?)
I also find it harder to prepare & sell an asset on orbolt than gumroad, even an HDA. If I sell on gumroad I can package a zip file with anything, multiple hip files, hda's, pdf documentation etc. With Orbolt I have to do things like stip the HDA version number because Orbolt gets confused and will think a different asset version is a different asset. I couldn't get the orbolt tools built into houdini to even work.
Maybe I'm missing it but it also doesn't seem like there is an easy way to edit an orbolt listing. I had listed three videos on my Orbolt page and it ordered them last to first on the asset page. I wanted to change the order so edited the page and it acts like you are uploading a new asset version.
----------------------
All that said, I think it would really be best if SideFX takes an approach like valve does with steam - let us upload & sell assets with orbolt, handle the licence conversions and licensing.... but also give us asset keys like steam does to allow us to sell orbolt managed & hosted assets though other asset stores such as artstation & gumroad.
Steam does this and it has only helped them because it ensures that even if you can do all your own promotion, hosting etc. you still might as well put it on steam and sell steam keys because valve doesn't even get a cut from a steam key.
I think sidefx / houdini & orbolt are a perfect use case for this steam / steam key type approach.
Thank you for reading!
Technical Discussion » Getting lots of crashes with the Labs Map Baker
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
- Offline
Crashing on me half the time when I make the node visible and half the time when I try to render with it.
I'm kind of at a loss. Usually it says it's a segmentation fault.
updated graphics card drivers and increased the TdrDelay and TdrDdiDelay to 240 each.
I filed a bug report but I hoping to find a solution asap so posting here as well incase anyone has other suggestions to try.
Any one have other ideas please? Thanks!
I'm kind of at a loss. Usually it says it's a segmentation fault.
updated graphics card drivers and increased the TdrDelay and TdrDdiDelay to 240 each.
I filed a bug report but I hoping to find a solution asap so posting here as well incase anyone has other suggestions to try.
Any one have other ideas please? Thanks!
Technical Discussion » HSITE not loading hda assets
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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Phew! Answering my own question here in case anyone else runs into this problem.
Problem was I had "Use OPlibraries Files to Find OTLs" checked under the Asset Manager configuration tab.
The documentation doesn't seem very clear to me but apparently houdini won't scan $HSITE/houdini18.5 etc. for *.hda files if you have this OPlibraries checked. I don't ever remember changing this setting before though so I'm not sure if sidefx changed the default state of this checkbox or the function changed.
Hopefully I won't run into a problem where this conflicts with plugins or something down the line.
Problem was I had "Use OPlibraries Files to Find OTLs" checked under the Asset Manager configuration tab.
The documentation doesn't seem very clear to me but apparently houdini won't scan $HSITE/houdini18.5 etc. for *.hda files if you have this OPlibraries checked. I don't ever remember changing this setting before though so I'm not sure if sidefx changed the default state of this checkbox or the function changed.
Hopefully I won't run into a problem where this conflicts with plugins or something down the line.
Technical Discussion » HSITE not loading hda assets
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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I used to have this working but had to reinstall windows. I can't seem to get this working now.
I have a directory where I have all my hda files:
L:\LuckyPause\HoudiniLuckyPause\houdini18.5\otls
Using the windows 10 environment variable editor thing I have set
HSITE = L:\LuckyPause\HoudiniLuckyPause
I've used the texporter in houdini to echo $HSITE and it comes back correctly.
Yet none of my hda assets are being loaded. Do I need to make a package json? I though houdini would already look in $HSITE?
Any help is super appreciated! Thank you!
I have a directory where I have all my hda files:
L:\LuckyPause\HoudiniLuckyPause\houdini18.5\otls
Using the windows 10 environment variable editor thing I have set
HSITE = L:\LuckyPause\HoudiniLuckyPause
I've used the texporter in houdini to echo $HSITE and it comes back correctly.
Yet none of my hda assets are being loaded. Do I need to make a package json? I though houdini would already look in $HSITE?
Any help is super appreciated! Thank you!
Houdini Lounge » Which license to prepare a tool to be sold?
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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toadstorm
If you're distributing your tool via Orbolt, SideFX will upgrade the license from Indie to FX for you. Otherwise, you would need an FX license to create and distribute FX tools yourself. Big studios can't do the license upgrade for you, so they'd be pretty unlikely to license your tool if it was .HDALC.
Is there anyway to use orbolt to distribute a paid tool though?
Can it be blackboxed?
Thanks!
Technical Discussion » 'Unable to create backup directory'
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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polygosh
For posterity's sake:
I had the same issue preventing me from submitting to Gridmarkets. The hip file was huge (>2GB) and I solved the error by doing some housekeeping and getting the file size down to less than 1GB.
Thanks! This solved it for me as well. My hip file was also just over 2GB. Seems to be the limit, might be a windows thing or something idk?
I just unfroze enough nodes and used cache bgeo files where needed.
Technical Discussion » OpenCL nodes freeze for 10+ seconds after computer upgrade
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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I think I solved the issue. Posting a follow up here incase it helps someone else.
I did a bunch of things, they probably aren't all necessary. I had upgraded my cpu, motherboard and ram.
1. did a 'upgrade in place' for windows 10.
2. re-installed all drivers, as well as Houdini and redshift
3. set TDR delay in the registry to 240, probably not needed.
At this point it was actually worse - Houdini would crash about 20 seconds after opening it each time. I'd open Houdini, place a sphere go to move the sphere and crash.
Searching around I discovered some people have an issue with a Nahimic service which is part of the audio drivers that are installed with some motherboards like my Asus / AMD board. As soon as I disabled this service Houdini worked again and the freezing delay that seemed to be happening with OpenCL nodes is gone!
Hope that helps someone!
I did a bunch of things, they probably aren't all necessary. I had upgraded my cpu, motherboard and ram.
1. did a 'upgrade in place' for windows 10.
2. re-installed all drivers, as well as Houdini and redshift
3. set TDR delay in the registry to 240, probably not needed.
At this point it was actually worse - Houdini would crash about 20 seconds after opening it each time. I'd open Houdini, place a sphere go to move the sphere and crash.
Searching around I discovered some people have an issue with a Nahimic service which is part of the audio drivers that are installed with some motherboards like my Asus / AMD board. As soon as I disabled this service Houdini worked again and the freezing delay that seemed to be happening with OpenCL nodes is gone!
Hope that helps someone!
Technical Discussion » OpenCL nodes freeze for 10+ seconds after computer upgrade
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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Having a strange problem. I recently upgraded my motherboard, cpu and ram. Houdini steams to work well normally but when I open some scenes I had been working on that loop over some black-box OpenCL nodes it freezes every frame update for ~11 seconds. It doesn't even show anything in the status bar and becomes unresponsive during this time. These same scenes took maybe 1 second before and wouldn't have this sort of blank no-status freeze issue.
If I make new opencl nodes they seem to work ok, maybe a little more freezing than before.
I'm at a loss as the computer seems to be working well otherwise. Checking my openCL settings it's set to use my gpu as it should be.
I tried updating drivers etc.
Any tips on how to track this issue down? Thanks!
If I make new opencl nodes they seem to work ok, maybe a little more freezing than before.
I'm at a loss as the computer seems to be working well otherwise. Checking my openCL settings it's set to use my gpu as it should be.
I tried updating drivers etc.
Any tips on how to track this issue down? Thanks!
Houdini Engine for Unreal » Selling HDA on UE4 Marketplace
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
- Offline
Hope this thread isn't too
Robert Magee, I've made a sand dune simulator I'm looking to sell through gumroad. I have a Houdini Indie license and when save out the dune simulator HDA's they save in a .hda library. I'm wondering if I sell these hda setup will FX license holders be able to use them? Does making them black box assets affect this? How can I tell what license a hda file has?
Thanks!
rmagee1manarmyworkshop
If I use HDA Asset in the Starter kit for unreal, and all changes are make in unreal. Do I still need to purchase commercial license if I am making a commercial game?
In case I misunderstood your question. The free Houdini Engine for Unreal license is a commercial license and can be used to make a commercial game. I was referencing the assets themselves which are made available for use in your projects.
The place where you might need to buy a Houdini license is if you want to make your own custom assets. Then Houdini Core or FX would be needed.
Robert Magee, I've made a sand dune simulator I'm looking to sell through gumroad. I have a Houdini Indie license and when save out the dune simulator HDA's they save in a .hda library. I'm wondering if I sell these hda setup will FX license holders be able to use them? Does making them black box assets affect this? How can I tell what license a hda file has?
Thanks!
Technical Discussion » How to reference the iteration number in OpenCL?
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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Oh awesome! Thanks, I saw that video too but I think I kinda flipped through some parts. Nice!
Technical Discussion » How to reference the iteration number in OpenCL?
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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Thanks for those examples!
I was under the impression though it would be good to use the built in opencl iteration vs a compile block because using the iterations on the opencl node means the data stays on the graphics card rather than the card having to get all the data each iteration if using a solver or compile block. That was just my understanding though, not sure if that is correct.
I thought of one other way that I haven't tried but I think might work - use the writeback to check if the work id is 0, if it is then iterate a global int *
I think that will work? I might try it. I have some opencl nodes inside a solver and I'd kind of like to try sub-stepping them internally if that makes sense...
I was under the impression though it would be good to use the built in opencl iteration vs a compile block because using the iterations on the opencl node means the data stays on the graphics card rather than the card having to get all the data each iteration if using a solver or compile block. That was just my understanding though, not sure if that is correct.
I thought of one other way that I haven't tried but I think might work - use the writeback to check if the work id is 0, if it is then iterate a global int *
I think that will work? I might try it. I have some opencl nodes inside a solver and I'd kind of like to try sub-stepping them internally if that makes sense...
Technical Discussion » How to reference the iteration number in OpenCL?
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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in the opencl node there is the built-in iterations.
How can I reference that in the opencl code though? such as for modifying a seed value with the iteration?
Thanks for any help!
How can I reference that in the opencl code though? such as for modifying a seed value with the iteration?
Thanks for any help!
Technical Discussion » RBD how to each island a single rigid body
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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Group them with the name attribute using the connectivity node.
Check out some example files of the RBD Solver to see more specifics.
Check out some example files of the RBD Solver to see more specifics.
Work in Progress » Sand Dune Simulator WIP
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
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deviner
Very nice, HeightFields and Opencl combo is just amazing to work with.
I just played with the Abelian sandpile model, and it's pretty noisy in animation even inside a solver in certain cases.
Would be cool to see your setup.
Did you combine the openCL nodes eventually? Do you use "Write Back Kernel"?
Also, attaching another interesting test just in case somebody finds it interesting.
https://vimeo.com/232272410 [vimeo.com]
Yea I saw that on vimeo before I started mine, it's all vex but it runs pretty fast still. My approach is similar I based mine on a lot of the same papers he did. Big difference is his, and all the approaches I've seen in papers aren't multi-thread friendly they simulate one grain at a time. I just do them all at once, which probably creates more noise but works well enough
I still have it in a few node steps inside the solver. Could be optimized a bit more for sure but having more nodes makes it easier to use switches to adjust the solve etc.
I'm doing it in three main steps:
compute wind vector strength / wind shadows (opencl)
compute sand transport and save the transport as a _newsand delta (I should change this to use a writeback to add in the sand)
slump the sand
I've gone back and forth a lot on the best way to slump it. I've been using the sidefx slump node which has it's main routine in opencl as well. It has two modes though one 'smooth' mode and one grain mode which is slower and does it's own iteration loop. I stripped out the smooth mode to make it a little faster (cut out making temp planes etc.) but I think the grain mode actually works a little better so I use it some. I have it setup so I can use a combination of the two slump modes since the smooth mode is very fast anyway.
It would be fun from an interactive perspective if it was faster but it's running about 5 iterations / second for me so actually plenty fast for production. I plan to use it to generate terrain and textures for an unreal game.
I get noise too I've found a few things that can help:
- I lower the per iteration sand delta - aka how much it adds and subtracts each iteration. For fast sims I use 0.35f change in height but for getting rid of noise I'll go down to 0.1 or 0.05. What you can do it run the sim for awhile at 0.35 then animate the delta down to smooth it out.
- Adding a blur of 0.5 one or two places can sometimes help. I think 0.5 is based on the heightfield voxel size so it's sort of like poor man's anti-aliasing. I find adding it to my wind shadow calculation helps sometimes.
- Blending sim frames together can help. I tried using a timeshift and blending in the previous frame or two, kinda works.
- Upres blur + resim. Good way to get the base shapes down then add refinement on top.
- Smooth Slump on top with a shallow repose angle 10-15, ~100 iterations and a small spread rate 0.1 - not part of the feedback loop but as a processing step before rendering each frame.
Edited by Barrett Meeker - Jan. 26, 2021 13:51:07
Work in Progress » Sand Dune Simulator WIP
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
- Offline
Another sequence. Almost done with this I think. Needs a tiny bit more adjusting and finding the perfect parameters.
Right now I'm picking a random wind direction from the windrose, thinking about making that driven more by a noise function, or at least separating out the windrose direction update frequency from the steps so you could have it simulate with the same wind direction for x steps then change, might make for nicer sequences.
Also thinking about using some 3d noise to limit how much of the sand updates each step - right now every step updates moves every 'grain' which I think makes it a little noisier than necessary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3vBGfWCZX0&feature=youtu.be [www.youtube.com]
Right now I'm picking a random wind direction from the windrose, thinking about making that driven more by a noise function, or at least separating out the windrose direction update frequency from the steps so you could have it simulate with the same wind direction for x steps then change, might make for nicer sequences.
Also thinking about using some 3d noise to limit how much of the sand updates each step - right now every step updates moves every 'grain' which I think makes it a little noisier than necessary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3vBGfWCZX0&feature=youtu.be [www.youtube.com]
Work in Progress » Sand Dune Simulator WIP
- Barrett Meeker
- 54 posts
- Offline
Thanks! Working on it a bit more to speed it up. Running about 1 second a frame with 5 substeps on 1000x1000 grid now.
Few things I added
- Tiling option where it generates tiling sand patterns by keeping the edges in sync
- flow around collision objects where the 'wind' bends around them
- Wind Rose support where you can feed it a wind rose (used by meteorologists) to define wind direction probabilities over time.
Few things I added
- Tiling option where it generates tiling sand patterns by keeping the edges in sync
- flow around collision objects where the 'wind' bends around them
- Wind Rose support where you can feed it a wind rose (used by meteorologists) to define wind direction probabilities over time.
Edited by Barrett Meeker - Jan. 22, 2021 21:23:10
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