Hello Everyone,
Am trying to have two separate objects with matching normals at their boundaries smooth-shade together when using mantra subdivision.
Have tried point and vertex normals, both types of mantra subdivision, and de-selecting “Automatically Compute Normals”. Still can't get the two objects to “blend” together when using mantra subdivision.
All I'm asking is for mantra subdivision to love, honour, and obey the normals in the geometry.
Using the default Mantra Surface shader in h13.0.520 on linux.
Any suggestions?
Found 107 posts.
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Technical Discussion » Mantra subdivsion & normals
- fgillis
- 156 posts
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Technical Discussion » Houdini on the new MacPro?
- fgillis
- 156 posts
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Have finally been able to test the graphics performance of the new macpro side-by-side with my 2 year-old linux box.
MacPro: 12-Core E5 2.7 GHz, 64 GB, dual AMD FirePro D700 6GB each
Linux: 4-Core i7 2600K 3.4 Ghz, 16 GB, GeForce GTX580 3GB
Tested with houdini 13.0.343.
Loaded up meshedsea3mil_111.hip, (link from an earlier post), and tumbled in the viewport using GL 2.1 on the MacPro and GL 2.1 on Linux, (GL 3.3 looked terrible with High Quality lighting on my linux box).
Headlight Only: D700: 86fps, GTX580: >120fps
High Quality Lighting: D700: 37fps, GTX580: 45fps
High Quality with Shadows: D700: 36fps, GTX580: 41fps (but no shadows)
GTX580 also had noticeably faster playback on a couple of Houdini animation projects I've loaded up for testing.
MacPro: 12-Core E5 2.7 GHz, 64 GB, dual AMD FirePro D700 6GB each
Linux: 4-Core i7 2600K 3.4 Ghz, 16 GB, GeForce GTX580 3GB
Tested with houdini 13.0.343.
Loaded up meshedsea3mil_111.hip, (link from an earlier post), and tumbled in the viewport using GL 2.1 on the MacPro and GL 2.1 on Linux, (GL 3.3 looked terrible with High Quality lighting on my linux box).
Headlight Only: D700: 86fps, GTX580: >120fps
High Quality Lighting: D700: 37fps, GTX580: 45fps
High Quality with Shadows: D700: 36fps, GTX580: 41fps (but no shadows)
GTX580 also had noticeably faster playback on a couple of Houdini animation projects I've loaded up for testing.
Technical Discussion » Houdini on the new MacPro?
- fgillis
- 156 posts
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Have been doing some render tests with the new MacPro, an iMac, and my older linux box. (Have not tested the graphics performance of the MacPro yet.)
MacPro: 12-Core Xeon E5 2.7 Ghz, 64 GB, latest Mavericks
iMac: Quad-Core i7 3.1 Ghz, 16 GB, latest Mavericks
Homebuilt: Quad-Core i7 2600k 3.4 Ghz, 16 GB, Debian Squeeze
The linux box is the license server and the ifd's and image files are being written to the linux box. I've tried heavy-geometry scenes and low-geometry scenes and the relative render times seem consistent, (network overhead doesn't seem to be much of a factor).
Times for a test render:
MacPro: Render Time: 1:17.09.45u 26.27s 3:16.87r
iMac: Render Time: 57:47.42u 5.26s 7:17.35r
Homebuilt: Render Time: 46:28.23u 4:34s 5:52.02r
I know there are other factors besides Ghz, but these numbers don't add up for me. I'm used to Ghz-relative speed-ups in render times from previous upgrades to newer linux systems.
I was expecting the Mac Pro to render somewhere around 2.35 times faster than my linux machine. The render times for the MacPro and iMac are pretty close, relative to their processor speeds.
Is OSX just generally slower running mantra when compared to linux?
Are there efficiency issues with high core-count processors?
Are there some special settings for rendering on OSX?
Cheers
MacPro: 12-Core Xeon E5 2.7 Ghz, 64 GB, latest Mavericks
iMac: Quad-Core i7 3.1 Ghz, 16 GB, latest Mavericks
Homebuilt: Quad-Core i7 2600k 3.4 Ghz, 16 GB, Debian Squeeze
The linux box is the license server and the ifd's and image files are being written to the linux box. I've tried heavy-geometry scenes and low-geometry scenes and the relative render times seem consistent, (network overhead doesn't seem to be much of a factor).
Times for a test render:
MacPro: Render Time: 1:17.09.45u 26.27s 3:16.87r
iMac: Render Time: 57:47.42u 5.26s 7:17.35r
Homebuilt: Render Time: 46:28.23u 4:34s 5:52.02r
I know there are other factors besides Ghz, but these numbers don't add up for me. I'm used to Ghz-relative speed-ups in render times from previous upgrades to newer linux systems.
I was expecting the Mac Pro to render somewhere around 2.35 times faster than my linux machine. The render times for the MacPro and iMac are pretty close, relative to their processor speeds.
Is OSX just generally slower running mantra when compared to linux?
Are there efficiency issues with high core-count processors?
Are there some special settings for rendering on OSX?
Cheers
Technical Discussion » wrong primitive number
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
I have the same problem with the GL 1.2 2.1 & 3.2 viewports. Am still using an older 12.1 release so it may have been fixed since.
To get accurate point and primitive numbers, (and to see duplicate point or prim numbers), I always switch back to the “H11” viewport. Click on Edit/Preferences/3D Viewports, then select “H11” as your “Scene Renderer”.
To get accurate point and primitive numbers, (and to see duplicate point or prim numbers), I always switch back to the “H11” viewport. Click on Edit/Preferences/3D Viewports, then select “H11” as your “Scene Renderer”.
Houdini Lounge » Specular highlights on trasparent object
- fgillis
- 156 posts
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This is an embarrassing question.
How do you get strong specular highlights on a transparent object using the Mantra Surface shader?
Am trying to render a clear, thin plastic. No refraction. Have strong specular highlights before adding opacity settings. Once opacity is added the specular highlights fade away also.
I must be missing something ridiculously simple here.
Thanks
How do you get strong specular highlights on a transparent object using the Mantra Surface shader?
Am trying to render a clear, thin plastic. No refraction. Have strong specular highlights before adding opacity settings. Once opacity is added the specular highlights fade away also.
I must be missing something ridiculously simple here.
Thanks
Houdini Lounge » Viewport font outline
- fgillis
- 156 posts
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Houdini Lounge » Viewport font outline
- fgillis
- 156 posts
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Same problem here.
Constantly switching to/from h11 viewport to get rid of the point/primitive number outlines in the h12 viewport(s).
Bueller?
Constantly switching to/from h11 viewport to get rid of the point/primitive number outlines in the h12 viewport(s).
Bueller?
Technical Discussion » quadro4000 vs gtx580
- fgillis
- 156 posts
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Just a quick follow-up. I ended up buying the GTX580 3gb board for a new system build. Have been using it with Houdini on production work for a couple of months now and, so far, I'm very happy. It's fast and stable.
I am having some issues with scrubbing audio… but I doubt that's related to the graphics board.
This was the first system I've built, (since the Sinclair ZX-81), and it went smoother than expected.
some system info:
Asus P8 Z68-V/Gen3 mobo
Intel i7 2600K
Evga Geforce GTX 580
Debian Squeeze… currently running nvidia 295.33 driver
I am having some issues with scrubbing audio… but I doubt that's related to the graphics board.
This was the first system I've built, (since the Sinclair ZX-81), and it went smoother than expected.
some system info:
Asus P8 Z68-V/Gen3 mobo
Intel i7 2600K
Evga Geforce GTX 580
Debian Squeeze… currently running nvidia 295.33 driver
Technical Discussion » quadro4000 vs gtx580
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
Hi Dennis,
Thank you for the information. Very interesting and helpful, (and what I was hoping to hear).
Anyone else who'd like to share their experiences, positive or negative, with using the GTX580 in a professional production environment running Houdini on Linux, (or Windows)?
Many thanks,
Thank you for the information. Very interesting and helpful, (and what I was hoping to hear).
Anyone else who'd like to share their experiences, positive or negative, with using the GTX580 in a professional production environment running Houdini on Linux, (or Windows)?
Many thanks,
Technical Discussion » quadro4000 vs gtx580
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
Hi all,
Am building a linux workstation for using Houdini and am still on the fence regarding gtx vs quadro.
SESI does not recommend using gtx cards, and many sites discussing the issue devolve into the “professional” Quadro camp vs the “gaming” GTX camp.
I've read the pros and cons… and based on manufacturer product descriptions, SESI recommendations, and because I will be using the card for “professional” use and not gaming, I should go with the Quadro card series.
However, it's hard to dismiss a card like the 3GB GTX580 which appears to be faster and have more memory than a much higher priced Quadro card.
Does anyone have extended experience using a GTX580 “professionally” in a real production environment running Houdini on a linux system? Can you share your experience? Modelling? Sims? High poly/point count viewport interaction? Stability? Driver support? Etc?
Thanks,
Am building a linux workstation for using Houdini and am still on the fence regarding gtx vs quadro.
SESI does not recommend using gtx cards, and many sites discussing the issue devolve into the “professional” Quadro camp vs the “gaming” GTX camp.
I've read the pros and cons… and based on manufacturer product descriptions, SESI recommendations, and because I will be using the card for “professional” use and not gaming, I should go with the Quadro card series.
However, it's hard to dismiss a card like the 3GB GTX580 which appears to be faster and have more memory than a much higher priced Quadro card.
Does anyone have extended experience using a GTX580 “professionally” in a real production environment running Houdini on a linux system? Can you share your experience? Modelling? Sims? High poly/point count viewport interaction? Stability? Driver support? Etc?
Thanks,
Houdini Lounge » mantra surface shader error messages
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
h11.701 on linux
Am still not too familiar with the “mantra surface” shader and getting some errors when rendering. Hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction.
When I assign a default mantra surface shader to geometry it renders (PBR or MP) with no errors.
Once I begin editing parameters in the tabs I start getting render error messages. Here's a sample…
mantra: VEX warning: Unknown parameter: ‘vm_truedisplace’ Undefined symbol
mantra: VEX warning: Unknown parameter: ‘0’ Undefined symbol
The more parameters I edit the more error messages I get… ‘noiseAmp’, ‘baseColor’, ‘refl_objs’, ‘refl_sep’, etc, etc.
Anyone else see this? Could this be an install or PATH issue?
Thanks
Edit: Received a reply from SESI support regarding this…
We've heard this complaint from other clients, I am adding you to bug# 43616
It seems somewhat related to using displacement shaders and surface shaders in the same network (as the mantra surface does).
In any case, the warnings are harmless…
Am still not too familiar with the “mantra surface” shader and getting some errors when rendering. Hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction.
When I assign a default mantra surface shader to geometry it renders (PBR or MP) with no errors.
Once I begin editing parameters in the tabs I start getting render error messages. Here's a sample…
mantra: VEX warning: Unknown parameter: ‘vm_truedisplace’ Undefined symbol
mantra: VEX warning: Unknown parameter: ‘0’ Undefined symbol
The more parameters I edit the more error messages I get… ‘noiseAmp’, ‘baseColor’, ‘refl_objs’, ‘refl_sep’, etc, etc.
Anyone else see this? Could this be an install or PATH issue?
Thanks
Edit: Received a reply from SESI support regarding this…
We've heard this complaint from other clients, I am adding you to bug# 43616
It seems somewhat related to using displacement shaders and surface shaders in the same network (as the mantra surface does).
In any case, the warnings are harmless…
Houdini Lounge » mantra shader builder / mantra surface
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
Hi Jason,
Thanks for the “Save Cached Code” tip… can now load up many of these materials without the huge hit to the hip file size. (And apologies for the slow response… haven't gotten back to this 'til now).
Am still on the learning curve getting things to look the way I want in a reasonable amount of time. Was very comfortable with the older shading approach.
I have another question regarding “mantrasurface”. Even before making my own hda I was getting the following kind of errors when rendering…
mantra: VEX warning: Unknown parameter: ‘vm_truedisplace’ Undefined symbol
mantra: VEX warning: Unknown parameter: ‘0’ Undefined symbol
On and on… for ‘noiseAmp’ ‘baseColor’ ‘refl_objs’ ‘refl_sep’ etc etc. As I changed more of the default values in the shader I got more errors.
Any of this sound familiar?
Running h11.0.701 on linux.
Edit: Received a reply from SESI support regarding this…
We've heard this complaint from other clients, I am adding you to bug# 43616
It seems somewhat related to using displacement shaders and surface shaders in the same network (as the mantra surface does).
In any case, the warnings are harmless…
Thanks for the “Save Cached Code” tip… can now load up many of these materials without the huge hit to the hip file size. (And apologies for the slow response… haven't gotten back to this 'til now).
Am still on the learning curve getting things to look the way I want in a reasonable amount of time. Was very comfortable with the older shading approach.
I have another question regarding “mantrasurface”. Even before making my own hda I was getting the following kind of errors when rendering…
mantra: VEX warning: Unknown parameter: ‘vm_truedisplace’ Undefined symbol
mantra: VEX warning: Unknown parameter: ‘0’ Undefined symbol
On and on… for ‘noiseAmp’ ‘baseColor’ ‘refl_objs’ ‘refl_sep’ etc etc. As I changed more of the default values in the shader I got more errors.
Any of this sound familiar?
Running h11.0.701 on linux.
Edit: Received a reply from SESI support regarding this…
We've heard this complaint from other clients, I am adding you to bug# 43616
It seems somewhat related to using displacement shaders and surface shaders in the same network (as the mantra surface does).
In any case, the warnings are harmless…
Houdini Lounge » CUDA drivers/GPU renderers
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
Finally got the cuda3.2 toolkit and SDK to install.
Regarding the extraction fails… I changed (vi) the TMPROOT variable at the beginning of the cuda run files to another (larger) location on my system and then they ran fine. Strange… had no problem with the cuda3.0 extractions. Perhaps my /tmp directory was too small?
Even with cuda3.0 I was never able to compile the binaries that came with the SDK. Did a few things differently when installing cuda3.2… not sure if one or all of these solved the problem.
- apt-get install libxmu-dev - had only installed freeglut3-dev, libxi-dev & libglew-dev previously.
- Did NOT set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH as suggested in several locations… instead created “/etc/ld.so.conf.d/cuda.conf” and added the lines /usr/local/cuda/lib64 & /usr/local/cuda/lib to it. Some instructions say to add these paths to your /etc/ld.so.conf file… but on my system that file already had the line… “include /etc/ld.so.conf.d/*.conf”… so it reads any .conf files in the ld.so.conf.d directory. Has the LD_LIBRARY_PATH env been deprecated?
- Also did the blacklist bit recommended on many sites… not sure if this was necessary in my case…
Created /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf and added the following lines…
blacklist nvidiafb
blacklist nouveau
blacklist rivafb
blacklist rivatv
blacklist vga16fb
options nouveau modeset=0
Cuda3.2 binaries compiled. deviceQuery runs and passes. SDK sample files run. Oh… and Octane Beta2.46 runs!
Here are some of my other system details…
Debian Lenny 64 bit | Quadro FX2700M | NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-260.19.44
Cheers.
Regarding the extraction fails… I changed (vi) the TMPROOT variable at the beginning of the cuda run files to another (larger) location on my system and then they ran fine. Strange… had no problem with the cuda3.0 extractions. Perhaps my /tmp directory was too small?
Even with cuda3.0 I was never able to compile the binaries that came with the SDK. Did a few things differently when installing cuda3.2… not sure if one or all of these solved the problem.
- apt-get install libxmu-dev - had only installed freeglut3-dev, libxi-dev & libglew-dev previously.
- Did NOT set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH as suggested in several locations… instead created “/etc/ld.so.conf.d/cuda.conf” and added the lines /usr/local/cuda/lib64 & /usr/local/cuda/lib to it. Some instructions say to add these paths to your /etc/ld.so.conf file… but on my system that file already had the line… “include /etc/ld.so.conf.d/*.conf”… so it reads any .conf files in the ld.so.conf.d directory. Has the LD_LIBRARY_PATH env been deprecated?
- Also did the blacklist bit recommended on many sites… not sure if this was necessary in my case…
Created /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf and added the following lines…
blacklist nvidiafb
blacklist nouveau
blacklist rivafb
blacklist rivatv
blacklist vga16fb
options nouveau modeset=0
Cuda3.2 binaries compiled. deviceQuery runs and passes. SDK sample files run. Oh… and Octane Beta2.46 runs!
Here are some of my other system details…
Debian Lenny 64 bit | Quadro FX2700M | NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-260.19.44
Cheers.
Houdini Lounge » CUDA drivers/GPU renderers
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
Hi Peter,
I've been trying to install this for a few days now.
Up-to-date Debian Lenny (2.6.26-2-amd64)
quadro FX2700M
nvidia driver 260.19.44
CUDA 3.2 toolkit and SDK fail during extraction.
CUDA 3.0 toolkit and SDK run (extract) fine but fail to make the binaries…. with a lot of “warning: type qualifiers ignored on function return type” errors
Paths are fine.
That's as far as I've got so far… and my eyeballs hurt from all the readme's and related sites I've visited.
A bit frustrating cuz this GPU rendering stuff looks very cool. Should probably post on some of the appropriate sites to get some help.
One bright spot… I haven't trashed my OS yet, and everything else seems to be working fine.
edit: Never was able able to install cuda3.2. Went with cuda3.0. Cuda SDK stuff never compiled, but was able to run OctaneRender… after installing libglew-dev stuff. Have only played with OctaneRender for a few minutes… my card doesn't have much horsepower. Looking forward to spending more time with it.
I've been trying to install this for a few days now.
Up-to-date Debian Lenny (2.6.26-2-amd64)
quadro FX2700M
nvidia driver 260.19.44
CUDA 3.2 toolkit and SDK fail during extraction.
CUDA 3.0 toolkit and SDK run (extract) fine but fail to make the binaries…. with a lot of “warning: type qualifiers ignored on function return type” errors
Paths are fine.
That's as far as I've got so far… and my eyeballs hurt from all the readme's and related sites I've visited.
A bit frustrating cuz this GPU rendering stuff looks very cool. Should probably post on some of the appropriate sites to get some help.
One bright spot… I haven't trashed my OS yet, and everything else seems to be working fine.
edit: Never was able able to install cuda3.2. Went with cuda3.0. Cuda SDK stuff never compiled, but was able to run OctaneRender… after installing libglew-dev stuff. Have only played with OctaneRender for a few minutes… my card doesn't have much horsepower. Looking forward to spending more time with it.
Houdini Lounge » CUDA drivers/GPU renderers
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
Houdini Lounge » CUDA drivers/GPU renderers
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
Am intrigued by GPU based renderers like Octane or fryrender and would love to test them out. Unfortunately I have a history of trashing my linux systems during even routine upgrades.
I currently have only one workstation… so if I were to go through the trouble of installing the CUDA 3 drivers, new linux libs, and who knows what else (it looks like a lot) just to test these renderers out… will Houdini still function properly on such a system?
Thanks,
Floyd
I currently have only one workstation… so if I were to go through the trouble of installing the CUDA 3 drivers, new linux libs, and who knows what else (it looks like a lot) just to test these renderers out… will Houdini still function properly on such a system?
Thanks,
Floyd
Houdini Lounge » mantra shader builder / mantra surface
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
h11.0.701/linux
Just wondering if anyone is actually using “mantra surface” in production.
Am finding that every copy of this shader adds about 1/2 MB to the size of a hipfile… (submitted Feb 11/11 as bug# 42017).
This makes it impractical to use for materials when you have dozens of objects, so I keep going back to h10 shaders to get anything done… not the direction I want to go.
Any favorite/practical h11 shaders people are using? Or are most of you writing your own?
Thanks,
Floyd
Just wondering if anyone is actually using “mantra surface” in production.
Am finding that every copy of this shader adds about 1/2 MB to the size of a hipfile… (submitted Feb 11/11 as bug# 42017).
This makes it impractical to use for materials when you have dozens of objects, so I keep going back to h10 shaders to get anything done… not the direction I want to go.
Any favorite/practical h11 shaders people are using? Or are most of you writing your own?
Thanks,
Floyd
Technical Discussion » Compositing many layers problem
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
H 11.0.547 / Linux / .pic files
Seems like something that should be trivial, but I can't get to work.
I have many sequences I'm trying to layer together… for example…
A.0001.pic - A.0100.pic
B.0075.pic - B.0200.pic
C.0175.pic - C.0300.pic
and so on…
All I'm trying to do is comp A over B over C… etc.
Comp always stops and complains it's missing frames outside of the range of the various sequences.
Have tried the layer cop, and even a series of over cops… same problem.
Have tried all options for “Missing Frames” options and turning off “Warnings”.
It works if I place an empty frame at the beginning and end of the full range for each sequence, but then I end up with dozens (in this case) of frames being called for each step… instead of only two that might be overlapping.
I must be missing something simple.
Thanks.
Seems like something that should be trivial, but I can't get to work.
I have many sequences I'm trying to layer together… for example…
A.0001.pic - A.0100.pic
B.0075.pic - B.0200.pic
C.0175.pic - C.0300.pic
and so on…
All I'm trying to do is comp A over B over C… etc.
Comp always stops and complains it's missing frames outside of the range of the various sequences.
Have tried the layer cop, and even a series of over cops… same problem.
Have tried all options for “Missing Frames” options and turning off “Warnings”.
It works if I place an empty frame at the beginning and end of the full range for each sequence, but then I end up with dozens (in this case) of frames being called for each step… instead of only two that might be overlapping.
I must be missing something simple.
Thanks.
Technical Discussion » Colored Shadows
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
Thanks for the suggestions. Will probably go the custom shader route.
Too bad though. Like I said, this use to be trivial and included with the default shaders in earlier releases… <h9?
Too bad though. Like I said, this use to be trivial and included with the default shaders in earlier releases… <h9?
Technical Discussion » Colored Shadows
- fgillis
- 156 posts
- Offline
Am trying to color ray traced shadows… can only get shades of black.
I remember this being trivial in earlier releases… I think by using a shadow or light shader with shadow color parameter fields.
How do we do this now?
I remember this being trivial in earlier releases… I think by using a shadow or light shader with shadow color parameter fields.
How do we do this now?
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