So, the cooktime that seemed to loop frame 1 was due to the number of frames in a sequence which is extremely particle and dynamics heavy.
And breaking into smaller sequences is the workaround. Or am I misunderstanding you?

Wow, you nailed it with your compositing method. Managing the shading of that effect would have been another nightmare. Good call.

Hello,

I have a couple of NURBS modeling questions.

1. I'd like to connect 2 NURBS grids with a blend between them (basically, rounding a corner). When I place the grids at 90 degrees to each other, with edges nearly touching and apply the stitchSOP I get the connection. However, there seems to be a discontinuity, or crease at the join. I am looking for the correct method to round a corner with curvature continuity?

2. I'd like to connect a tube to a grid with a blend.
I've carved out the first v of my tube and projected it onto the grid and then tried connecting the original tube to the grid using a variety of SOP, none worked properly for me. How is this most easily achieved? Do I need to use the trim number here? I"ve had sucess bridging 2 trims using the trim #'s, but connecting a trim to a primative has got me baffled.

Thank you

I've been using Houdini on Win2k pretty regularly since the NC version has been available. I've had houdini crash on me only once while rendering a particle simulation. Maybe I've been lucky, or maybe I happen to have just the right hardware/software environment for houdini. But I am very pleased as well, with the great features/improvements/tightening of the software.

Good job guys and gals.

Yea, I've done a couple 72hr sessions myself. The brain fog is no fun.

Could one of you guys summarize the solution to David's cooking problem. You've got my curiousity peaked here.

David, good luck with D2. Get ya working back in the states.

I've been using Houdini Apprentice, primarily for modeling, for several months now. Personally, I find it difficult to go back to Maya which is what I use for jobs. Many people seem to feel this way. Soon I will be able to afford Houndini and I'll only use maya when a client insists upon a maya format file.

I'm most certain that if you download the apprentice version and give it an honest try, which might mean a few weeks of practice, you'll see the power of Houdini. There are loads of tutorial vids out there to get you started.

Weaknesses? Well, I'm still learning, so I may discover some down the road. However, comming from a maya background, I've really found none of consequence.

http://www.vislab.usyd.edu.au/sidefx/ [vislab.usyd.edu.au]