Thanks! The tutorial gave me some good ideas. I had a specific purpose in mind for using vdb, but now I am thinking I should work that out in a different way.
- I am still interested in a method of going directly from cops to vdb (without going via vops and grid), though.
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Technical Discussion » Heightmaps to geometry in Houdini
- DASD
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Houdini Engine for Unreal » Do Engine-baked blueprints need Houdini Engine to work?
- DASD
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I tried to save and then copy the baked out files in the explorer, to get them into a scene on a different computer (without Houdini Engine). It did not work. Is that not supposed to work? Could I be missing something? Would would be the right way to do a transfer between scenes?
Houdini Engine for Unreal » Do Engine-baked blueprints need Houdini Engine to work?
- DASD
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I bake some instances into a blueprint via Houdini Engine. Is it supposed to only work on an Unreal Engine with installed Houdini Engine?
- If not, what is the proper workflow for transferring the blueprint so it doesn't break?
- It is supposed to work without Houdini Engine in a compiled game, right?
- If not, what is the proper workflow for transferring the blueprint so it doesn't break?
- It is supposed to work without Houdini Engine in a compiled game, right?
Technical Discussion » Heightmaps to geometry in Houdini
- DASD
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As far as I can tell, there are two big issues with converting Heightmaps to geometry in Houdini. I was wondering whether there are any new solution for these.
The way I do it now: I load a picture into cops (and manipulate it). I create a grid, uv it and assign height via a pointVOP. Next I polyExtrude the geometry and convert to volume.
1.: I create a grid with the same amount of points as pixles in my map. So at 2048*2048 points Houdini starts getting slow. At 4k*4k it is almost impossible to work. Is there a more efficient way to transfer a height map into geometry in Houdini (while maintaining detail)?
2.: For large maps I would treat pieces of them separately. This would allow me to create smaller more manageable pieces of geometry. The question is how to make the chunks align perfectly at the edges. During conversion to and from volumes (and subsequent poly reduction), inconsistencies are introduced along the edge of the meshes. How could this be avoided in the first place? How could it be fixed efficiently?
- My idea here is to code some VDB magic to import the heightmap directly into VDB without the in-between via grid and vops and extrusion. This should save tons of performance and reduce the amount of inconsistencies gained. - But I don't really know how to do it.
The way I do it now: I load a picture into cops (and manipulate it). I create a grid, uv it and assign height via a pointVOP. Next I polyExtrude the geometry and convert to volume.
1.: I create a grid with the same amount of points as pixles in my map. So at 2048*2048 points Houdini starts getting slow. At 4k*4k it is almost impossible to work. Is there a more efficient way to transfer a height map into geometry in Houdini (while maintaining detail)?
2.: For large maps I would treat pieces of them separately. This would allow me to create smaller more manageable pieces of geometry. The question is how to make the chunks align perfectly at the edges. During conversion to and from volumes (and subsequent poly reduction), inconsistencies are introduced along the edge of the meshes. How could this be avoided in the first place? How could it be fixed efficiently?
- My idea here is to code some VDB magic to import the heightmap directly into VDB without the in-between via grid and vops and extrusion. This should save tons of performance and reduce the amount of inconsistencies gained. - But I don't really know how to do it.
Houdini Engine for Unreal » How to assign multiple materials to the same object
- DASD
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I tested it (Houdini Indy version 15.0.287) and the only thing that worked was to feed cops into the shaders (like shown in your example).
- It's not bad but I guess that is not intended behavior.
- It's not bad but I guess that is not intended behavior.
Houdini Engine for Unreal » How to assign multiple materials to the same object
- DASD
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I'm not using stylesheets, as far as I know. I'll try to find a solution next week and make an update in this post.
Houdini Engine for Unreal » How to assign multiple materials to the same object
- DASD
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Your example file certainly works. I tried to apply this on my file and I did something very similar before, but I am still debugging.
I think - correct me if I'm wrong - that the different cop nodes being fed into the materials is actually essential for this to work. I did not have time to test it yet, but I think that if you only set colors on the shaders, Houdini Engine won't differentiate between dirrent shaders and give the object only one material slot.
- If that's not it, I must be missing something else.
I think - correct me if I'm wrong - that the different cop nodes being fed into the materials is actually essential for this to work. I did not have time to test it yet, but I think that if you only set colors on the shaders, Houdini Engine won't differentiate between dirrent shaders and give the object only one material slot.
- If that's not it, I must be missing something else.
Houdini Engine for Unreal » How to assign multiple materials to the same object
- DASD
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How do I get multiple material slots on one object (via houdini engine in unreal engine)?
As far as I know, for unity you can create an attribute “unity_material” and set it to string with a path to a material. What's the equivalent for Unreal? I tried just assigning different materials via a Material Sop, but that didn't work. (I still only get one material slot per object).
- I'm asking, because I read somewhere that support for that was recently added.
As far as I know, for unity you can create an attribute “unity_material” and set it to string with a path to a material. What's the equivalent for Unreal? I tried just assigning different materials via a Material Sop, but that didn't work. (I still only get one material slot per object).
- I'm asking, because I read somewhere that support for that was recently added.
Houdini Engine for Unreal » Some questions
- DASD
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When I bake to blueprint, I get a blueprint and the objects that are instanced into the content browser. Then I can pull the blueprint into the scene to get it into the World Outliner and move it around as a whole.
When I examine the blueprint I don't see any nodes or code that I could influence. So, once the blueprint is baked, I cannot make any changes to instance placements, right? I cannot grab any of the instanced placements and delete them or move them around. I can only grab them all at once, right?
Is it even the correct workflow to just pull the blueprint into the scene/world outliner?
- On a sidenote: Currently my procedure always crashes the Houdini Engine in Unreal. I have to cache everything in Houdini and then I essentially use the engine to import to Unreal and bake. Are there known common crash conditions with Unreal Engine?
When I examine the blueprint I don't see any nodes or code that I could influence. So, once the blueprint is baked, I cannot make any changes to instance placements, right? I cannot grab any of the instanced placements and delete them or move them around. I can only grab them all at once, right?
Is it even the correct workflow to just pull the blueprint into the scene/world outliner?
- On a sidenote: Currently my procedure always crashes the Houdini Engine in Unreal. I have to cache everything in Houdini and then I essentially use the engine to import to Unreal and bake. Are there known common crash conditions with Unreal Engine?
Houdini Engine for Unreal » Best practice for instanced collision generation.
- DASD
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I am working on a very performance-sensitive project and I want to get the most out of Houdini Engine.
My question is this: What would be the most performance-efficient way to add collision to Unreal on a Houdini Engine instanced object.
Currently, I am generating a tunnel from repeating concave and complex segments. I generate the segment and its collision in Houdini.
I have one instance node, a tunnel segment and a few collision boxes on the geometry level of my hda. In the instance node I generate points to place the collision boxes and the tunnel segments. I presume the most efficient thing to do would be to instance boxes separately from the tunnel segments so as to generate as few boxes as possible. (So if for example, several tunnel segments are instanced on a straight line, their ceiling and ground could be represented with one collision box, each.) For this I would need to generate one collision box and instance it with different scale values (and eventually bake that into a blueprint). Is this efficient?
Or would it be better to generate a few collision boxes of different sizes and instance them without scaling? Or would it be better to create one (optimized) complex collision mesh, make it a complex collision in Unreal and instance it with every tunnel segment? Or would it be best to generate the collision for the tunnel segment in the Unreal StaticMesh Editor (so that I only instance tunnel segments with built-in collision)?
Or is there an even better way to do this?
- Note: I am using tunnel segments as an example. I want information that I can apply to any instance type, like maybe a forest or city generation tool. I am interested in “under the hood” information on the performance impact of different techniques.
- Note 2: This topic is relevant to (and should take into account) the discussion in https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=38283 [sidefx.com] and RFE #61716 . Is there an ETA on RFE #61716?
Thanks in advance!
My question is this: What would be the most performance-efficient way to add collision to Unreal on a Houdini Engine instanced object.
Currently, I am generating a tunnel from repeating concave and complex segments. I generate the segment and its collision in Houdini.
I have one instance node, a tunnel segment and a few collision boxes on the geometry level of my hda. In the instance node I generate points to place the collision boxes and the tunnel segments. I presume the most efficient thing to do would be to instance boxes separately from the tunnel segments so as to generate as few boxes as possible. (So if for example, several tunnel segments are instanced on a straight line, their ceiling and ground could be represented with one collision box, each.) For this I would need to generate one collision box and instance it with different scale values (and eventually bake that into a blueprint). Is this efficient?
Or would it be better to generate a few collision boxes of different sizes and instance them without scaling? Or would it be better to create one (optimized) complex collision mesh, make it a complex collision in Unreal and instance it with every tunnel segment? Or would it be best to generate the collision for the tunnel segment in the Unreal StaticMesh Editor (so that I only instance tunnel segments with built-in collision)?
Or is there an even better way to do this?
- Note: I am using tunnel segments as an example. I want information that I can apply to any instance type, like maybe a forest or city generation tool. I am interested in “under the hood” information on the performance impact of different techniques.
- Note 2: This topic is relevant to (and should take into account) the discussion in https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=38283 [sidefx.com] and RFE #61716 . Is there an ETA on RFE #61716?
Thanks in advance!
Houdini Engine for Unreal » Some questions
- DASD
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Is it possible to just bake out placements to the World Outliner?
Once the blueprint is baked it seems completely static - I don't seem to be able to add, remove or adjust placements. Would Lod-ing work with the blueprint solution? How does it compare performance-wise to simple placements in the World Outliner?
- This is all very important for a project I am working on.
If it is possible to bake to the World Outliner, is there a way to automatically group into folders based on groups or an attribute, or something?
Once the blueprint is baked it seems completely static - I don't seem to be able to add, remove or adjust placements. Would Lod-ing work with the blueprint solution? How does it compare performance-wise to simple placements in the World Outliner?
- This is all very important for a project I am working on.
If it is possible to bake to the World Outliner, is there a way to automatically group into folders based on groups or an attribute, or something?
Technical Discussion » What's best practice for updating to Houdini daily builds?
- DASD
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1. I do NOT encourage getting rid of the full daily builds.
2. On Linux you already have integrated systems that prevent you from installing the same stuff twice. Windows doesn't.
3. It takes a bit longer on my Windows system to install (even though I have an SSD). But that's not even my main concern.
4. My main concern is that I use an SSD for my software and the space is damn limited. - It wouldn't even be a big deal, but when I uninstall a previous Houdini version it also uninstalls the license manager. That's why I'm asking whether there is a better way… Anyways the whole process is tedious and seems superfluous (for presumably most Houdini Indie users).
5. If there was a build-in update-function, I think Side FX could save itself a lot of bandwidth.
2. On Linux you already have integrated systems that prevent you from installing the same stuff twice. Windows doesn't.
3. It takes a bit longer on my Windows system to install (even though I have an SSD). But that's not even my main concern.
4. My main concern is that I use an SSD for my software and the space is damn limited. - It wouldn't even be a big deal, but when I uninstall a previous Houdini version it also uninstalls the license manager. That's why I'm asking whether there is a better way… Anyways the whole process is tedious and seems superfluous (for presumably most Houdini Indie users).
5. If there was a build-in update-function, I think Side FX could save itself a lot of bandwidth.
Houdini Engine for Unreal » Instance / Scatter ?
- DASD
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Technical Discussion » What's best practice for updating to Houdini daily builds?
- DASD
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Hi, what's the best practice when it comes to doing updates to daily builds? (Assuming you are not in a giant Houdini production-pipeline where you need to keep things as static and solid and working as possible). Just re-install everything except the servers & services? Is there no way to just get the updates?
I understand that technically a new build could break something, so you would want to keep your previous daily build installed. But I guess it's probably faster to just update relevant bits. And on the rare occasion that something actually breaks/doesn't work, you would do a full install of the working build.
Or am I looking at this wrong?
I understand that technically a new build could break something, so you would want to keep your previous daily build installed. But I guess it's probably faster to just update relevant bits. And on the rare occasion that something actually breaks/doesn't work, you would do a full install of the working build.
Or am I looking at this wrong?
Houdini Engine for Unreal » All about Unreal Landscape
- DASD
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Houdini Engine for Unreal » All about Unreal Landscape
- DASD
- 453 posts
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Thx, I use Houdini Indie, so I have to to email the RFE to support@sidefx.com , right?
(I don't see options for this on http://service.sidefx.com). [service.sidefx.com]
(I don't see options for this on http://service.sidefx.com). [service.sidefx.com]
The Orbolt Smart 3D Asset Store » Cannot upload to sell stuff (otl failed to compute)
- DASD
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I added an hda (hdalc), filled out everything and when I submitted I got an error message that the otl failed to compute. Of course, all the info I put in was lost. I tried again and it came out the same - twice.
Can somebody look into this please?
Can somebody look into this please?
Houdini Engine for Unreal » Interact with Asset nulls in ue4
- DASD
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I think Paolo Oliverio wants to use the null nodes for transformation with different pivots. So a bit like using locators in Maya. Probably for some kind of make-shift rig.
Paolo Oliverio have you tried using a bone rig instead?
Paolo Oliverio have you tried using a bone rig instead?
Houdini Engine for Unreal » All about Unreal Landscape
- DASD
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Is there a way to read, output for and or use Unreal Engine's landscape (terrain) generation tools?
- Specifically I would like to:
1.: Read out the poly-paint information of the terrain (to influence instance placements).
1.b.: Read out the material information of the terrain (to influence instance placements).
2.: Read out and manipulate landscape height information (around my instance placements).
3.: Read out and manipulate Foliage painting (to expand or remove foliage around instance placements).
3.b.: Get some kind of information so my procedure won't place things (or will place very specific things), where an artist added foliage.
5.: Raise or lower parts of the terrain (get and manipulate the heightmap of the terrain).
If this (or any part of it) is possible, could you please post a simple example for this?
If these are planned features/will be coming in the near future, is it likely to get implemented within the next 1 to 2 months?
- Specifically I would like to:
1.: Read out the poly-paint information of the terrain (to influence instance placements).
1.b.: Read out the material information of the terrain (to influence instance placements).
2.: Read out and manipulate landscape height information (around my instance placements).
3.: Read out and manipulate Foliage painting (to expand or remove foliage around instance placements).
3.b.: Get some kind of information so my procedure won't place things (or will place very specific things), where an artist added foliage.
5.: Raise or lower parts of the terrain (get and manipulate the heightmap of the terrain).
If this (or any part of it) is possible, could you please post a simple example for this?
If these are planned features/will be coming in the near future, is it likely to get implemented within the next 1 to 2 months?
Houdini Engine for Unreal » Instance / Scatter ?
- DASD
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We have a feature where you can split an instance input (inside UE, +/- buttons next to it) into multiple instance inputs (instance input variation). If an instance input uses say 100 points, and you split it in, say, 4, each of those 4 sub-inputs will use 25 points
I would really love two improvements to this:
1.: A seed value (for the user). - To get varying distributions at the drag of a slider.
2.: A (float) priority/multiplier value for every slot. Each slot starts with the default value 1. But you can increase the value to make the object in the slot appear more often. Or decrease it (to 0) to reduce how often the object is used.
So if you have:
obj1
multiplier: 2
-
obj2
multiplier: 1
-
obj3
multiplier: 1
-
obj4
multiplier: 1
-
Then obj1 appears 40% and the others appeas 20% of the time each.
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