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Houdini Lounge » NOTICE - Side Effects Website down over weekend
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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The Side Effects website will be down from 7:00pm on Saturday evening until early Sunday afternoon due to scheduled voltage testing in our facility. Sorry in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Apprentice HD FAQ?
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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The link has been updated on the Apprentice page. Thanks a lot for pointing this out varomix!
Houdini Lounge » Tool Building Masterclass Online
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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The last Masterclass of the Toronto series of classes has been posted in our tutorials section. Visit the link below to watch “Advanced Tool Building”. Developer Graham Thompson will teach you how to implement custom tools that are fully featured and artist-friendly using the Houdini Object Model and Houdini's Digital Asset technology.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1434&Itemid=132 [sidefx.com]
Keith Acheson
Production Specialist
Side Effects Software
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1434&Itemid=132 [sidefx.com]
Keith Acheson
Production Specialist
Side Effects Software
Houdini Lounge » "On Fire" Masterclass Online
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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Another Masterclass has been posted in our tutorials section. Visit the link below to watch “On Fire”. Senior Mathematician Jeff Lait introduces you to the basic building blocks for generating fluids and low level tools that make it easier to control the simulations.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1422&Itemid=305 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1422&Itemid=305 [sidefx.com]
Houdini Lounge » Mantra Masterclass Online
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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Another Houdini Masterclass has now been posted in the Tutorials section. Developer Mark Elendt shows some of the latest features of Mantra including PBR (Physically Based Rendering) and the new volume rendering architecture. He also reviews the process of rendering with different rendering engines in Mantra.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1414&Itemid=132 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1414&Itemid=132 [sidefx.com]
Houdini Lounge » In-Depth Look at Fur
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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Robert Vinluan's Masterclass on Python in Houdini has now been posted in the Tutorials section. Others will follow in days ahead.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1412&Itemid=305 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1412&Itemid=305 [sidefx.com]
Houdini Lounge » In-Depth Look at Fur
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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Derrick Moser's Masterclass “In-Depth Look At Fur” has now been posted in the Tutorials section. Keep an eye out for other Masterclass presentations in this section over the next little while.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1409&Itemid=132 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1409&Itemid=132 [sidefx.com]
Houdini Lounge » In-Depth Look at Fur
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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These will be showing up soon on the site. Thanks for your patience guys. I will be sure to advertise their location once posted.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Using Houdini for human modeling and skinning
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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Houdini's modeling tools have been greatly improved since version 8. The addition of shelf tools has made common modeling operations much faster. The UV mapping tools in Houdini are also pretty good with quick pelting and UV stitching operations.
Though the tools are familiar you will find the modeling workflow a little different than other common packages. You will spend as much time in the network view as in the viewport at times, but having the procedural workflow and access to your modeling history at all times can get addictive.
Houdini was and still is a great FX package but great improvements have been made in other areas and things are only getting better.
Though the tools are familiar you will find the modeling workflow a little different than other common packages. You will spend as much time in the network view as in the viewport at times, but having the procedural workflow and access to your modeling history at all times can get addictive.
Houdini was and still is a great FX package but great improvements have been made in other areas and things are only getting better.
Houdini Lounge » In-Depth Look at Fur
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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We will be recording each of the upcoming Free Toronto Master Classes as they happen. Our hope is to post these online at some point afterward. Using BitTorrent for large files has been helpful in the past and we will consider offering the recordings this way. See the link below for the list of upcoming master classes taking place in Toronto.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1379&Itemid=226 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1379&Itemid=226 [sidefx.com]
Houdini Lounge » Shadows & cleaning up geometry question
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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Use two instances of the geometry (fractured and not fractured). Plug them into a switch node and at the point of impact/shattering or whatever you can swap them. Use an expression the in Select Input field of the switch node. $F == whatever frame you want the shatter to occur. e.g. $F == 20
Houdini Lounge » Houdini Reviewers Needed
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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We have been receiving requests for reviews of Houdini 9.5 from various CG magazines and websites. They are looking for product reviews written by those in the VFX industry who have used Houdini and can provide an informed opinion of the software. There is a special need for artists who can review Houdini on the Mac. If you have some writing chops (no pun intended) and are a intermediate or advanced Houdini user we would appreciate your help. Please send an email to Keith Acheson: kacheson@sidefx.com if you are interested in participating.
PS - In some cases the media outlet will pay for the article which could mean extra cash!
PS - In some cases the media outlet will pay for the article which could mean extra cash!
Technical Discussion » Where is "DOP Transform"?
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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Houdini Lounge » Shadows & cleaning up geometry question
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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A few things you can try:
1. Make sure that your light casting depth map shadows is framing your object well so it fills the frame. In other words when you look through the light make sure there is not a lot of empty space around the subject.
2. Increase your map's resolution. Try a 1k (1024x1024) resolution to start. I wouldn't go above 2048x2048 unless you are rendering some seriously high res images.
3. Increase your pixel samples. I find 3x3 is usually enough.
4. Increase your shadow quality.
5. Increasing shadow softness will feather the shadows edges.
Adjusting these parameters should fix any chunky edges and flickering with shadow maps. Don't adjust everything all at once, making a few small adjustments usually works wonders and there is no point adding unnecessary render time by using very high values when they are not needed.
It should also be noted that Houdini uses deep shadow maps by default which are different than depth map shadows because they consider transparency. You can turn this off using the “Transparent Shadows” toggle in the parameters.
1. Make sure that your light casting depth map shadows is framing your object well so it fills the frame. In other words when you look through the light make sure there is not a lot of empty space around the subject.
2. Increase your map's resolution. Try a 1k (1024x1024) resolution to start. I wouldn't go above 2048x2048 unless you are rendering some seriously high res images.
3. Increase your pixel samples. I find 3x3 is usually enough.
4. Increase your shadow quality.
5. Increasing shadow softness will feather the shadows edges.
Adjusting these parameters should fix any chunky edges and flickering with shadow maps. Don't adjust everything all at once, making a few small adjustments usually works wonders and there is no point adding unnecessary render time by using very high values when they are not needed.
It should also be noted that Houdini uses deep shadow maps by default which are different than depth map shadows because they consider transparency. You can turn this off using the “Transparent Shadows” toggle in the parameters.
Technical Discussion » Dynamic fur collision
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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Keep in mind this will really slow your simulation time. Depending on how detailed your collision geometry is (and how many frames you want to simulate) you may want to parent a simple sphere to your horse rig and collide with that.
Technical Discussion » Looking like a water
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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If you're just looking for a simple default Houdini material for your surface, the Glass material works well. I believe it was used for both the glass and water in the animation below:
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1093&Itemid=279 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1093&Itemid=279 [sidefx.com]
Technical Discussion » Looking like a water
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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If you're just looking for a simple default Houdini material for your surface, the Glass material works well. I believe it was used for both the glass and water in the animation below:
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1093&Itemid=279 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1093&Itemid=279 [sidefx.com]
Houdini Lounge » Implementing Spectral Colors in Mantra Now Posted
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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The whole video is definitely up and I have tested it. It is 137MB total. I realize this is a fairly large size (the presentation was an hour long). Have you tried saving the file rather than playing it in your browser?
Houdini Lounge » Implementing Spectral Colors in Mantra Now Posted
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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Advanced shader writer, Mario Marengo's Technical Evening on spectral colour in Mantra is now posted in the Side Effects Tutorials section. The location can be found below. There is a Quicktime Video and PowerPoint file from this class available for download.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1240&Itemid=132 [sidefx.com]
Thanks Mario!
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1240&Itemid=132 [sidefx.com]
Thanks Mario!
Technical Discussion » Download Error in Transferring Color With Dynamics
- kacheson
- 46 posts
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I can't seem to replicate this problem. It works fine on the few computers I tested it with here. Can you try it again?
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