Michael,
Have you tried turning off “Pointer Shadow” ? When Win2K first came out, most drivers didn't handle mouse shadow's properly when done using opengl.
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Technical Discussion » Attack of the Phantom Pointers
- edward
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Technical Discussion » edgedivideSOP problems
- edward
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Technical Discussion » VOP and SHOP?
- edward
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cipher
i've begun modelling my first creature (in 5.046), and all i can say is i wish it was more ‘viewer oriented’ with regards to manipulating points on curves etc. i much rather prefer the visual approach of Maya when it comes to modelling, but i'll keep exploring the nodes (hehe oops i mean OPs and see what i can come up with.
Which SOP(s) are you using to “manipulate points on curves” ? All the ones which I can think of off the top of my head have handles on them and so are very ‘viewer oriented’.
Technical Discussion » Character Tools and general questions
- edward
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Hi Michael,
Perhaps you could give some more description of what those Maya features do? Try looking up the lattice sop which allows you to deform by using boxes as well as arbitrary geoemtry.
The other sops that will probably come in handy are: metaball, bulge, magnet. One thing to note is that bones in houdini are pretty much simply geometry objects with some extra parameters which means that you can put extra sops inside bones to help with deformations. One way is to put metaballs inside your bone object, object merge the metaball into your skin object and then apply it to the skin using bulge.
Another advanced use for bones is to animate the capture region parameters for deformation. As well as putting multiple capture regions inside bones (merge them all and name the merge sop, cregion).
Perhaps someone who has done it before will help answer some questions on building muscle systems in Houdini. (Ken, are you there?)
Finally, your computer system sounds fine. Since you're running on a GeForce 3, make sure you're using the latest detonator drivers. I've heard of users experiencing problems with the nvidia opengl drivers slowing down horribly when they have apps that always stay “on top” of all the other windows. I've also heard of reports that the “Draw Lines Smoothly” option is unuseable on geforce cards without the softquadro patch. I hope this helps.
Perhaps you could give some more description of what those Maya features do? Try looking up the lattice sop which allows you to deform by using boxes as well as arbitrary geoemtry.
The other sops that will probably come in handy are: metaball, bulge, magnet. One thing to note is that bones in houdini are pretty much simply geometry objects with some extra parameters which means that you can put extra sops inside bones to help with deformations. One way is to put metaballs inside your bone object, object merge the metaball into your skin object and then apply it to the skin using bulge.
Another advanced use for bones is to animate the capture region parameters for deformation. As well as putting multiple capture regions inside bones (merge them all and name the merge sop, cregion).
Perhaps someone who has done it before will help answer some questions on building muscle systems in Houdini. (Ken, are you there?)
Finally, your computer system sounds fine. Since you're running on a GeForce 3, make sure you're using the latest detonator drivers. I've heard of users experiencing problems with the nvidia opengl drivers slowing down horribly when they have apps that always stay “on top” of all the other windows. I've also heard of reports that the “Draw Lines Smoothly” option is unuseable on geforce cards without the softquadro patch. I hope this helps.
Technical Discussion » VOP and SHOP?
- edward
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My favourite method to get a chops track to override a parameter is to bring up an un-tied floating pane of the chop viewer and then drag & drop the name of the track onto the parameter which I want to override.
Technical Discussion » VOP and SHOP?
- edward
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For custom sliders, the best method by far in H5.5 is to use custom op types. See the character section in the “Tutorial & User Guide” from the Houdini help menu. On a related thread, you might also want to check out:
http://odforce.net/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=15&t=172&s=49237d6b57d3bfdebca3d73975a3fc1e [odforce.net]
In the past, people have created buttons in custom panels which performed scripting commands (chcommit) on all the required parameters. Often times, you would want to key the entire pose anyways so for those, you would only need to create one of these key buttons for most of the custom panel.
http://odforce.net/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=15&t=172&s=49237d6b57d3bfdebca3d73975a3fc1e [odforce.net]
In the past, people have created buttons in custom panels which performed scripting commands (chcommit) on all the required parameters. Often times, you would want to key the entire pose anyways so for those, you would only need to create one of these key buttons for most of the custom panel.
Technical Discussion » How to delete polygons with Blast?
- edward
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DavidRindner
Either way, same result. Whether I append Blast SOP in Viewport or in Network Viewer. Generally, I append in Network Viewer.
If you're appending the Blast SOP in a network editor, then you've given it no selection so it doesn't know what primitive numbers you want to blast (ie. empty group parameter).
If you're appending the Blast SOP in a viewport, then you need to pick your selection to blast before finishing with a right-click. If you picked a primitive rather than all your primitives, then you should see the picked numbers in the group parameter of the Blast SOP.
Finally, it seems that your trouble regarding the “Enter” key generally stems from modelling using the network editor. The “Enter” key is used to enter the operation inside the viewport on your display sop. If you simply model in the viewport, then it will manage the display/footprint/render flags for you resulting in no need to use the “Enter” key at all. Note that you can traverse up/down your SOP chain using the Page Up and Page Down keys and then to branch, you use shift+left click on the item in the tab menu instead of left-click on the item. The only other thing I can think of is that you're constantly hitting the Escape key or pressing the hand icon to go into the tumble operation instead of simply using the spacebar resulting in the need to go back into the operation of the display sop.
Technical Discussion » How to delete polygons with Blast?
- edward
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DavidRindner
OK THX. I think I got handle on Blast SOP. How come the group# is not automatically assigned.
Are you appending SOPs in the viewport?
Technical Discussion » Linux installation Problems
- edward
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Rikki,
Does your IP address change over the session of your computer? Like logging on to an internet service provider through DSL? Sesinetd (the license server) caches the computer's IP address when it starts up. So if you change your IP address later on (eg. logging onto DSL), you will not be able to obtain licenses.
Does your IP address change over the session of your computer? Like logging on to an internet service provider through DSL? Sesinetd (the license server) caches the computer's IP address when it starts up. So if you change your IP address later on (eg. logging onto DSL), you will not be able to obtain licenses.
Technical Discussion » H5.0.94 WinXP PATH missing C:\Houdini5.0.94\bin
- edward
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The Cygwin environment is an outgrowth of those windows GNU utilities that were included on the installation CDs. The GNU utility package was renamed at some point to Cygwin by the owner company Cygnus, which was then later bought by Red Hat.
Anyhow, upgrading to the latest Cygwin environment is a good move if you want a Unix environment on Windows. The latest cygwin even has an Xserver you can use and reports of running the Black Box window manager on it all within Windows.
Anyhow, upgrading to the latest Cygwin environment is a good move if you want a Unix environment on Windows. The latest cygwin even has an Xserver you can use and reports of running the Black Box window manager on it all within Windows.
Technical Discussion » H5.0.94 WinXP PATH missing C:\Houdini5.0.94\bin
- edward
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Hi Ben,
On Windows, very little of the environment variables are disturbed. Houdini can run from the Start Menu right off the bat as installed.
In H5.5, no environment variables are modified at all since the GNU utilities are no longer included. Users are recommended to install the Cygwin utilities from http://www.cygwin.com [cygwin.com] if they want Unix functionality on Windows. In fact, the old “csh” link in the Start Menu items has been replaced with something called “Command Line Utilities”. This starts up a cmd shell window with the environment (HFS, HH, etc) initialized so that any of the Houdini command line utilities can be used without sourcing houdini_setup.
If you still prefer to use (t)csh from a stock install of Houdini, you still can. You first run the “Command Line Utilities” item from the Start Menu and then type “csh”. Once you're inside csh, you can get a useable shell without the cygwin utilties, by using the windows specific tcsh command “sourcerc”.
On Windows, very little of the environment variables are disturbed. Houdini can run from the Start Menu right off the bat as installed.
In H5.5, no environment variables are modified at all since the GNU utilities are no longer included. Users are recommended to install the Cygwin utilities from http://www.cygwin.com [cygwin.com] if they want Unix functionality on Windows. In fact, the old “csh” link in the Start Menu items has been replaced with something called “Command Line Utilities”. This starts up a cmd shell window with the environment (HFS, HH, etc) initialized so that any of the Houdini command line utilities can be used without sourcing houdini_setup.
If you still prefer to use (t)csh from a stock install of Houdini, you still can. You first run the “Command Line Utilities” item from the Start Menu and then type “csh”. Once you're inside csh, you can get a useable shell without the cygwin utilties, by using the windows specific tcsh command “sourcerc”.
Technical Discussion » Linux installation Problems
- edward
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Rikki,
It still seems like a network setup problem with licensing. Could you post the result you get from using the “Diagnostic Infomation…” item in the View menu of hkey?
It still seems like a network setup problem with licensing. Could you post the result you get from using the “Diagnostic Infomation…” item in the View menu of hkey?
Technical Discussion » Hard crash and more question
- edward
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If it's an operating system freezing issue, then it points to display drivers as the most likely culprit. Like it has been mentioned time and time again, make sure that you:
- Use the latest reference drivers for your video card. eg. for nVidia-based cards, download the latest ones from their website. Remember that if you use any “beta” drivers, they're beta for a reason.
- Make sure you have latest the service pack installed for your operating system. For Win2K, service pack 2 is essential, for WinNT 4, service pack 6 or above is recommended.
- If you're using an Athlon-based CPU on Windows 2000, then installing the AGP patch is recommended especially if you experience random freezes on your system. See http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871,00.html [amd.com]
- Use the latest reference drivers for your video card. eg. for nVidia-based cards, download the latest ones from their website. Remember that if you use any “beta” drivers, they're beta for a reason.
- Make sure you have latest the service pack installed for your operating system. For Win2K, service pack 2 is essential, for WinNT 4, service pack 6 or above is recommended.
- If you're using an Athlon-based CPU on Windows 2000, then installing the AGP patch is recommended especially if you experience random freezes on your system. See http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871,00.html [amd.com]
Technical Discussion » 'Handle Group Follows' stopped working in UV Editor Op
- edward
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Sorry, David. I'm a bit lost here. So are you saying that you used to be able to use UVEdit to move texture coordinates but it no longer works? What happens if you try on a different file?
Which specific icons are you referring to when you say that there is no pop-up help for them?
Also, which area of the icons are you finding too small? You can adjust the resolution of Houdini's interface via the HOUDINI_UISCALE environment variable. Try making this environment variable have a value of something larger than 100, eg. 200. To access environment variables on Win2K, it's Control Panel > System > Advanced > Environment Variables.
As for you comment about not being able to “undo anything”, which actions are you referring to in particular? I suspect you're talking about desktops. to disable auto-saving of desktops, look under the Dialogs menu and choose “Desktop Manager”. Under the Options menu of the Desktop Manager, there's an option to disable auto-saving of desktops.
If you really want to wipe all your autosaved options and start from scratch again, you can (backup first and then) delete your $HOME/houdini5.5 directory.
Which specific icons are you referring to when you say that there is no pop-up help for them?
Also, which area of the icons are you finding too small? You can adjust the resolution of Houdini's interface via the HOUDINI_UISCALE environment variable. Try making this environment variable have a value of something larger than 100, eg. 200. To access environment variables on Win2K, it's Control Panel > System > Advanced > Environment Variables.
As for you comment about not being able to “undo anything”, which actions are you referring to in particular? I suspect you're talking about desktops. to disable auto-saving of desktops, look under the Dialogs menu and choose “Desktop Manager”. Under the Options menu of the Desktop Manager, there's an option to disable auto-saving of desktops.
If you really want to wipe all your autosaved options and start from scratch again, you can (backup first and then) delete your $HOME/houdini5.5 directory.
Technical Discussion » 'Handle Group Follows' stopped working in UV Editor Op
- edward
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Sounds like you hit the ' (back tick) key (beside the enter key) by mistake in the viewport which detaches the handle. You should be able to see if the handle is “attached” or not by a solid or wireframe centre. If that happens, just hit the back tick key again. The reason for detaching handles is so that you can move the handle to a new pivot point and then you re-attach to use the new pivot.
Technical Discussion » 5.5 on Win2KPro not working as shown at SIGG02.
- edward
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DavidRindner
How do I add points, insert column or row of points to a Bezier surface?
Try the Refine SOP.
Technical Discussion » 5.5 on Win2KPro not working as shown at SIGG02.
- edward
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DavidRindner
In SOP it will not bring up the pop-up where EDIT GEOMETRY is, but only in Viewer window. RMB works fine elsewhere that I can see.
Could you explain this some more? The Edit Geometry option is only supposed to be available in the right-mouse pop-up menu of a particular object in the Objects Viewer. It will not show up in the SOPs Viewer for example, because the Edit Geometry item simply takes you to the SOPs level for that particular object.
DavidRindner
In many RMB pop-ups, that do work with WACOM. I am uinable to select or toggle an option without changing others. The act of dragging the picker over options to get the one I need, causes those options to activate. I cannot avoid them as placing the picker outside the boundary of the pop-up closest it.
Don't worry about that, it will only change the option if you release the mouse while over that item. It only changes to show its effect while your mouse is over it.
DavidRindner
If I put away the stylus and use the mouse I can bring up all pop-ups.
So reading your current messages, it seems that you are able to model now. I assume that is because you're using a mouse and not the stylus? It's very strange that since Alex is using the same stylus as you and has no problems, it seems that you should be able to as well. First of all, can we check that you are in fact using the same hardware and drivers for the stylus between you two?
Technical Discussion » 5.5 on Win2KPro not working as shown at SIGG02.
- edward
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Hey David,
Have you tried looking at any of the video tutorials on the CD? Have you tried copying what they do and see if that works? Make sure you're right-clicking on empty space inside the viewport for your operations.
Note that there's a timer on the right-click operations so that if you hold down the right-mouse too long, it might try to bring up the context-sensitive menu instead of finishing the selection operation.
Another thing to try is to model without using the right-mouse.
- First make sure your caps lock is off. Houdini is case-sensitive with all its hotkeys.
- Open up houdini. By default, it starts up in the Object world. Note the word Object and the blue toolbars at the top of the panes.
- Other than paying attention to case-sensitivity of keystrokes, the hotkeys are also mouse location sensitive. This means that depending on where your mouse is, hotkeys will have different meaning. In this exercise, make sure that your mouse is always pointed inside the viewport for doing the following steps.
- Now move your mouse inside the viewport and hit the <i> key. This should bring you into the modelling world, named SOPs (for Surface Operators). The top toolbars should be green as opposed to blue for Objects.
- Hit the Tab key, type: box<enter>. (make sure you don't move the mouse once you have hit the tab key.) Now you should have a box.
- Make sure that you're viewing in shaded mode and not seeing wireframe. If you're seeing wireframe, then hit the <w> key.
- With your mouse inside the viewport, hit the <s> key. This brings you into the Select mode.
- Left-click on a single side of the box to only select that poly.
- Now hit the Tab key again, and type: edit<enter>
- A transform handle now appears. To move your poly, drag on the white lines of the handle.
Does this work for you? As for the right-mouse thing, perhaps you have some Wacom settings that are different from Alex's.
Hope this helps.
Have you tried looking at any of the video tutorials on the CD? Have you tried copying what they do and see if that works? Make sure you're right-clicking on empty space inside the viewport for your operations.
Note that there's a timer on the right-click operations so that if you hold down the right-mouse too long, it might try to bring up the context-sensitive menu instead of finishing the selection operation.
Another thing to try is to model without using the right-mouse.
- First make sure your caps lock is off. Houdini is case-sensitive with all its hotkeys.
- Open up houdini. By default, it starts up in the Object world. Note the word Object and the blue toolbars at the top of the panes.
- Other than paying attention to case-sensitivity of keystrokes, the hotkeys are also mouse location sensitive. This means that depending on where your mouse is, hotkeys will have different meaning. In this exercise, make sure that your mouse is always pointed inside the viewport for doing the following steps.
- Now move your mouse inside the viewport and hit the <i> key. This should bring you into the modelling world, named SOPs (for Surface Operators). The top toolbars should be green as opposed to blue for Objects.
- Hit the Tab key, type: box<enter>. (make sure you don't move the mouse once you have hit the tab key.) Now you should have a box.
- Make sure that you're viewing in shaded mode and not seeing wireframe. If you're seeing wireframe, then hit the <w> key.
- With your mouse inside the viewport, hit the <s> key. This brings you into the Select mode.
- Left-click on a single side of the box to only select that poly.
- Now hit the Tab key again, and type: edit<enter>
- A transform handle now appears. To move your poly, drag on the white lines of the handle.
Does this work for you? As for the right-mouse thing, perhaps you have some Wacom settings that are different from Alex's.
Hope this helps.
Technical Discussion » Apprentice
- edward
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I just tried loading all the rollercoaster hip files here on my home system using Apprentice and they all work as well.
Running Windows XP, 128 Mb RAM on an Intel P4 1.56 GHz, with 16 MB ATI Rage 128 Ultra. (yes, I know the video card is not useable with Houdini but it can load files and let me tumble in wireframe
Running Windows XP, 128 Mb RAM on an Intel P4 1.56 GHz, with 16 MB ATI Rage 128 Ultra. (yes, I know the video card is not useable with Houdini but it can load files and let me tumble in wireframe
Technical Discussion » opdigits inside another function
- edward
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