True, this is really bugging me every single time.
Not only that, there are some inconsistencies on display and selectability also on the various “modules” arms, spine, etc…
Plus I miss on the interface some character key framing tools…
I will report this of course in the bug reporting.
I would suggest SESI to do some serious documentation on the character rigging side of it, it is really navigating in the dark
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Houdini Lounge » Trouble with autorig?
- jordibares
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Houdini Lounge » Powerful engine but very poor interface design
- jordibares
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I must confess I am surprised, being very critical myself about UI/UX houdini does not strike me as a bad design or bad UX…
My only big issue is that custom UI and advanced authoring is simply not there, something I am aware they know and surely enough will be addressed.
My only big issue is that custom UI and advanced authoring is simply not there, something I am aware they know and surely enough will be addressed.
Houdini Lounge » Is there a full GPU renderer avaiable for Houdini ?
- jordibares
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I may explore how to fine tune the settings to get similar performance but so far it has been very very far from the video I posted.
Sure I can mimic the workflow, I was already doing it a few years ago with Mental Ray and now with Mantra but the speed is critical, there is a line that once is crossed you just can't go back without asking… politely of course
Sure I can mimic the workflow, I was already doing it a few years ago with Mental Ray and now with Mantra but the speed is critical, there is a line that once is crossed you just can't go back without asking… politely of course
Houdini Lounge » Is there a full GPU renderer avaiable for Houdini ?
- jordibares
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I would love to be able to have a look dev environment inside houdini that allowed me to define the materials at least as fast as this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7r69634fVM [youtube.com]
Then build a gallery of materials for the shot and from then on is paint by numbers kind of thing for the assets.
I am willing to sacrifice lots of thing in this environment (displacement mapping, etc) but I would like the parameters of my shader (like the PBR layered material) to be carried across to the main renderer.
I am not inventing nothing new, this is the VrayRT vs Vray approach.
I have been using this system in the past inside XSI with mental ray although the shader development phase was super-slow as the render engine was quite slow too.
Hope it makes sense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7r69634fVM [youtube.com]
Then build a gallery of materials for the shot and from then on is paint by numbers kind of thing for the assets.
I am willing to sacrifice lots of thing in this environment (displacement mapping, etc) but I would like the parameters of my shader (like the PBR layered material) to be carried across to the main renderer.
I am not inventing nothing new, this is the VrayRT vs Vray approach.
I have been using this system in the past inside XSI with mental ray although the shader development phase was super-slow as the render engine was quite slow too.
Hope it makes sense.
Houdini Lounge » Is there a full GPU renderer avaiable for Houdini ?
- jordibares
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Check out Thea or octane for materials dev and sure you will see the potential.
MartybNz
I'd be interested to hear how much more productive GPU renders are in real-world productions, say for look dev, or is it only really good for demos?
Houdini Lounge » Shader lirary
- jordibares
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I guess is a evolution on the already existing toolset and making sure there is a one-stop solution available where to build from. Something you can edit (great) but that provides all the basic functionality we need on almost every single job.
The best example would be Arnold's Standard shader, from then you can build on top, you can do almost anything you need with it making it an army swiss knife and making the shading a truly fun process.
Multi-layering? well, give me 4 layers and I will be happy.. ;-)
Hope it makes sense
The best example would be Arnold's Standard shader, from then you can build on top, you can do almost anything you need with it making it an army swiss knife and making the shading a truly fun process.
Multi-layering? well, give me 4 layers and I will be happy.. ;-)
Hope it makes sense
SYmek
I think this is pure technical limitation issue, not philosophical or - God forbid - negligence. You really can't make decent Material Editor* (this is how I understand Jordi's request) in context of how currently Mantra and Houdini interface.
I'm pretty sure SESI is aware of it. Best they could do was the mantra material, which considered as a static entity, is technologically advanced beyond a level most people could achieve - it's simple not a material you can artistically direct.
The whole Vops business needs revamp, something that hopefully will come with co-shaders. The challenge I see in GUI though. I really don't see a room for artist friendly material editing with current Houdini's widgets.
* - Vop networks are in contrast material definitions
Houdini Lounge » Shader lirary
- jordibares
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The render scene description is the only place where all packages get together, therefore becoming the perfect place to edit the scene and abstract as much as possible.
Isn't this the whole point of RIB files? a unified scene description?
If that is what someone calls “pipeline” is ok although I would call it something else.
jb
Isn't this the whole point of RIB files? a unified scene description?
If that is what someone calls “pipeline” is ok although I would call it something else.
jb
MartybNzNetvudu
Nobody is basing that decision “solely” on shaders, but I think you´ll agree with me your final output is the key point when delivering. I once met a TD who told me an interesting thing : “your pipeline is your render engine”. The key decision when deciding what to use is many times how to render that out.
Can you expand on that concept - “your pipeline is your render engine”? It seams simplistic, apparently loaded with meaning but it really a hollow statement. aka corporate speak
Houdini Lounge » Shader lirary
- jordibares
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From the point of view of FX I understand your point, you need the flexibility to bend it backwards.
But the important argument and the reason I am putting a bit of time writing this is because;
I should be able to, I should not be forced to
which is the kind of thing I feel Sidefx are embracing (thanks) and the kind of thing all the new users come to expect and demand.
It is not I want anyone to remove the possibility of getting your hands dirty, is that I really feel I should not battle away little tiny things any simple 3rd rate 3D package does out of the box and Houdini does not.
We have a great tool, great render engine, sub-standard material/shader set, not much to ask I think to improve that by providing, like Arnold, a solid standard shader and utility shader that get us to produce much faster and better, something that I am sure the community will appreciate as suddenly the user base will grow and flourish.
If SideFX does not, a lot of people will take the “foolish” decision that makes economic and practical sense at the expense of everything else and you know what? it won't be the end of the world as for the last 20 years has been constantly proved.
Let's never forget VHS won against BETACAM please
jb
But the important argument and the reason I am putting a bit of time writing this is because;
I should be able to, I should not be forced to
which is the kind of thing I feel Sidefx are embracing (thanks) and the kind of thing all the new users come to expect and demand.
It is not I want anyone to remove the possibility of getting your hands dirty, is that I really feel I should not battle away little tiny things any simple 3rd rate 3D package does out of the box and Houdini does not.
We have a great tool, great render engine, sub-standard material/shader set, not much to ask I think to improve that by providing, like Arnold, a solid standard shader and utility shader that get us to produce much faster and better, something that I am sure the community will appreciate as suddenly the user base will grow and flourish.
If SideFX does not, a lot of people will take the “foolish” decision that makes economic and practical sense at the expense of everything else and you know what? it won't be the end of the world as for the last 20 years has been constantly proved.
Let's never forget VHS won against BETACAM please
jb
circusmonkeyNetvudu
I concur.
The default Mantra surface material is nice but still lacks a lot of common options such as layering.
This is an ongoing weak point, and for some reason it keeps being put down on SESI´s priority list. It would be a major factor for many people trying to decide whether to have a Houdini-based pipeline.
I am not sure how you come to that conclusion, sure its lacking but there's nothing stopping you making your own “simple”shaders to get the job done. When you consider the mess that is Maya and the requirement of 3rd party mel scripts just to do basic operations. Basing a decision to opt for a application solely on “shaders” would be extremely foolish.
Rob
Houdini Lounge » Is there a full GPU renderer avaiable for Houdini ?
- jordibares
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It is not about render speed, but setup speed.
In my case (may be different from everybody) I want to spend as little time as possible doing the most amount of iterations and I am willing to sacrifice displacement for the tests, motion blur and quite a bit more PROVIDED when I hit the render button at night with Mantra the next day I can see it with all the bells and wisttles.
It is development time vs render time, right now I feel development time is the bottleneck and engines like VRay and VRayRT address exactly this area.
Specially considering the comiditization of rendering on the cloud which is around the corner and the possibility of sending your render to a limitless renderfarm I think this is going to be even more acute.
Regarding CPU vs GPU, sure enough there has been lots of limitations but they are falling like dominoes by the day so I would not assume the limits of a year ago still remain. For example, the texture limits have been improved massively.
Again, this may not be everybody's view but the potential is too big to ignore. Just have a look at the GDC 2013 demos for nvidia VCA with OctaneCloud and you will instantly see what i am after when I ask for GPU rendering.
:-)
jb
In my case (may be different from everybody) I want to spend as little time as possible doing the most amount of iterations and I am willing to sacrifice displacement for the tests, motion blur and quite a bit more PROVIDED when I hit the render button at night with Mantra the next day I can see it with all the bells and wisttles.
It is development time vs render time, right now I feel development time is the bottleneck and engines like VRay and VRayRT address exactly this area.
Specially considering the comiditization of rendering on the cloud which is around the corner and the possibility of sending your render to a limitless renderfarm I think this is going to be even more acute.
Regarding CPU vs GPU, sure enough there has been lots of limitations but they are falling like dominoes by the day so I would not assume the limits of a year ago still remain. For example, the texture limits have been improved massively.
Again, this may not be everybody's view but the potential is too big to ignore. Just have a look at the GDC 2013 demos for nvidia VCA with OctaneCloud and you will instantly see what i am after when I ask for GPU rendering.
:-)
jb
pberto
Robert,
I would rather prefer if resources are spent on making Mantra faster. For that example, which of course is not globally representative, of 3 min Vs 17 seconds IMO does not justify the speed gain. No real displacement, no real transformation and deformation motion blur, no volumes, no shading language, no subdivision surfaces …)
Sorry but IMO GPU renderers have still a long way to reach the quality and reliability (cross-platform & hw-agnostic) of a good offline renderer. If the GPU can assist the CPU render in a reliable way this would be already a big success (and you will still hit driver and cross-platform issues).
P
Houdini Lounge » Is there a full GPU renderer avaiable for Houdini ?
- jordibares
- 655 posts
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+1
houdiniWannabe
I recently purchased Octane Renderer - and am very impressed.
One of the advantages of an unbiased renderer is that it takes far less time to setup lighting. You don't have to move this parameter up because you moved that one down. It's far simpler.
With 2 Titans in my box, and the ability to add 4-8 more using an external chassis - the speed improvement is really massive.
I'm looking at Houdini now as a possible alternative to 3ds/Maya and Lightwave (love those daily Houdini builds and the almost immediate fixes I've read about - an alternate universe from the reality at AutoDesk or Newtek).
Not having a plug-in for Octane is one thing holding me back, so I'd like to add a +1 to any effort to get this implemented.
Houdini Lounge » Shader lirary
- jordibares
- 655 posts
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They better tackle this fast because it is becoming a really difficult thing to justify.
They don't even need to invent anything, just follow the steps of both Arnold and Vray and everything will be fine in no time.
They don't even need to invent anything, just follow the steps of both Arnold and Vray and everything will be fine in no time.
Houdini Lounge » Carlsberg "The Ride"
- jordibares
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Well, I think we at Realise we are right now putting together a very nice job worth keeping an eye… only thing is that it will be released by the end of December so a bit of patience.
;-)
;-)
ivarFX
Your website is also very good with many memorable spots and shots. Will be looking forward to some new stuff from you.
Good luck!
Houdini Lounge » Carlsberg "The Ride"
- jordibares
- 655 posts
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Thank you so much IvarFX, feel very lucky to have the opportunity to be part of it.
Check out my website for more info, i have expanded a few things
jordibares.com
Check out my website for more info, i have expanded a few things
jordibares.com
ivarFX
Congratulations, Jordi!
That is a realy impressive job!
Houdini Lounge » Shader lirary
- jordibares
- 655 posts
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IMHO this is one of the major issues I find with Houdini, it forces you in the material development to go down to build your own pretty much every time and the current implementation does not really bring a simple shader library like the one you are used to use, let alone a more advanced one like the one in Softimage, Maxwell or Modo.
Furthermore, the lack of a general purpose shader that tackles 99% of the work required is horrible, a true annoying approach.
BUT MAY BE THIS CAN HELP
http://www.orbolt.com/asset/_danylyon::PBR_layered_material [orbolt.com]
at least looks serious enough.
hope it helps
Furthermore, the lack of a general purpose shader that tackles 99% of the work required is horrible, a true annoying approach.
BUT MAY BE THIS CAN HELP
http://www.orbolt.com/asset/_danylyon::PBR_layered_material [orbolt.com]
at least looks serious enough.
hope it helps
huschi
Hi,
before I changed to Houdini I was over 14 Years a Mayauser and was used to download different shader librarys as a starting point for own development.
I dont find anything similliar in the web for Houdini. Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance.
Cheers
Houdini Lounge » Carlsberg "The Ride"
Houdini Lounge » Carlsberg "The Ride"
- jordibares
- 655 posts
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After quite a few weeks waiting to be released finally Carlsberg “The Ride” is online and hope you find it interesting.
We are preparing a bit of a making of as there were some major challenges to put it all together, as you imagine lots of 3D (all houdini), but most importantly the fact that we feel the director was liberated by not shooting on a studio.
Anyway, here it is
http://www.youtube.com/embed/P47eLknD0qo [youtube.com]
Hope you like it and please don't hesitate to ask.
The team and credit you can check out in our website tomorrow or so.
We are preparing a bit of a making of as there were some major challenges to put it all together, as you imagine lots of 3D (all houdini), but most importantly the fact that we feel the director was liberated by not shooting on a studio.
Anyway, here it is
http://www.youtube.com/embed/P47eLknD0qo [youtube.com]
Hope you like it and please don't hesitate to ask.
The team and credit you can check out in our website tomorrow or so.
Houdini Lounge » GStar "Destroy to construct"
- jordibares
- 655 posts
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Oh man it was tough but thanks to the team led by Louis it was perfectly doable.
The most complex part and most painful to choreograph was the final transtiion from a guitar to a running dog… We will have to do a conference or something about it.
;-)
The most complex part and most painful to choreograph was the final transtiion from a guitar to a running dog… We will have to do a conference or something about it.
;-)
Houdini Lounge » GStar "Destroy to construct"
- jordibares
- 655 posts
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I have added an entry on my website on the job we did for GStar, hope it is interesting.
http://www.jordibares.com/2013_08_28/gstar-destroy-to-construct/ [jordibares.com]
http://www.jordibares.com/2013_08_28/gstar-destroy-to-construct/ [jordibares.com]
Houdini Lounge » Transform Tool
- jordibares
- 655 posts
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One thing Jeff that I would love to see is a flag to keep the transform icon in the viewport so no matter how far the object is from the frustrum i still can manipulate it…
Houdini Lounge » Houdini 13 Wishlist.
- jordibares
- 655 posts
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And for OBJs, and for textures, etc… With OBJ files that have their MTL file associated it would be great to have it all setup automatically for you… I wish it was as easy as Keyshot for these things..
PradeepBarua
I wonder why Houdini doesn't have this feature.
I wish that Houdini 13 will have drag and drop feature to open .hip file. And it would be nice if SESI added this feature to load .bgeo and other Houdini cache formats.
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