Found 69 posts.
Search results Show results as topic list.
SI Users » Softimage to Houdini guides
- ctedin
- 69 posts
- Offline
I was initially disappointed with blend shapes in houdini until I was able to understand it better. It is a whole lot more flexible than maya, and seems to approach the awesome setups that pooby was able to do in ice. I'd love to attempt some of his facial ice setups in houdini, just to see how far I can get with simple expressions and vop sop perhaps.
SI Users » animation and rigging
- ctedin
- 69 posts
- Offline
The autorig creates a great proxy rig for fast animation quickly for you. The playback speed is not too bad at all. Pretty snappy for m. The new open gl 3.3 standard should fix much of the slow interface.
SI Users » animation and rigging
- ctedin
- 69 posts
- Offline
Honestly, I find the rigging system to be more than adequate for bipeds and quadrapeds right out of the box. And, it's pretty easy to customize. Very similar to jeremie passerin's gearrigging system, with the ability to use components to make custom rigs. Also, the muscle system is very easy to use, giving me great results with large bulky meshes.
And, once you are done, you get to use mantra, which is much closer to Arnold and vray than to mental delay. Subsurface scattering and displacement maps are built into the standard shader. The hair system is fantastic too. Renders beautifully.
And, once you are done, you get to use mantra, which is much closer to Arnold and vray than to mental delay. Subsurface scattering and displacement maps are built into the standard shader. The hair system is fantastic too. Renders beautifully.
Edited by - March 6, 2014 09:23:34
SI Users » Hello magicians
- ctedin
- 69 posts
- Offline
I've transitioned from Soft about a year ago. Fully commercial version too. I'm teaching, so in the educational realm. I've stopped teaching anything in Soft completely, and gone deep down the rabbit hole in Houdini. The animation system is awesome, particle and DOP system is very much like ICE, (especially the VOP system), and the only thing that really needs some help is the modeling system. I don't think it's anything the Houdini folks aren't aware of, but specific details about what we feel is missing would be fantastic. If I get together some specific details about the things I miss, I'll post them up. In the meantime, I'm adding some character modeling videos to CMIVFX library, to augment my earlier Softimage titles. We are working hard to add some “Softimage to Houdini” titles to our site very soon.
It makes a lot more sense to transition from Soft to Houdini than to Maya, or Max. Max makes absolutely no sense, IMHO. It's very old code, and feels like it's on its last leg. Softimage was beautifully multithreaded and amazingly fast.
It makes a lot more sense to transition from Soft to Houdini than to Maya, or Max. Max makes absolutely no sense, IMHO. It's very old code, and feels like it's on its last leg. Softimage was beautifully multithreaded and amazingly fast.
Houdini Lounge » Trouble with autorig?
- ctedin
- 69 posts
- Offline
Is anyone having trouble with the skinning (deform_rig) in the Quadraped or biped autorig? I think I may have the solution. If you dive inside the skin node, and click on the mirror group/edit tab, then the convert tab, the convert from should be set from primitives to points, not the other way round, as it is by default. The later mirror_capture_weights uses points, not primitives, so it throws up an error.
It might be a corrupt preferences file, but I rebuilt it and it still does it wrong.
It might be a corrupt preferences file, but I rebuilt it and it still does it wrong.
Houdini Lounge » Houdini 13 Wishlist.
- ctedin
- 69 posts
- Offline
I would really love to see quick ghosting and editable (or at least non-editable) motion trails in the viewport for animation polishing.
While I'm at it, when middle mouse dragging a copy of the keys (foot planting for example) it would be nice if the splines were flat (plateau) in between the keys. That's irritating to fix every time. One can almost always assume that a middle mouse drag is a held key.
While I'm at it, when middle mouse dragging a copy of the keys (foot planting for example) it would be nice if the splines were flat (plateau) in between the keys. That's irritating to fix every time. One can almost always assume that a middle mouse drag is a held key.
Technical Discussion » Autorig Biped not working in houdini 12?
- ctedin
- 69 posts
- Offline
You might try re-creating your preferences folder.
I'm having similar issues. My rightside_group is producing “primitives” by default, but the mirror_group is trying to convert points to primitives, and I'm getting the error. I'm wondering if I should change the rightside_group to produce points. When I do, the group is a little wonky. Some points are selected along the centerline axis and some aren't, so it produces funky mirror_group primitives.
I'm having similar issues. My rightside_group is producing “primitives” by default, but the mirror_group is trying to convert points to primitives, and I'm getting the error. I'm wondering if I should change the rightside_group to produce points. When I do, the group is a little wonky. Some points are selected along the centerline axis and some aren't, so it produces funky mirror_group primitives.
Houdini Lounge » Houdini 13 Wishlist.
- ctedin
- 69 posts
- Offline
Thanks SreckoM. Yes, I would love to do some animation based videos once I get the complete hang of the character rigging system. From what I've seen worked on so far, it kicks serious arse. The system is very well built to do some very amazing metaball based deformations right out of the box using the AutoRig system. Tricky to add more muscles to the system once you've already started, but I'm digging into it a bit further. I would hate to suggest further improvements in this area until I'm fully familiar with the toolset. I'm pretty stoked with the fact that I could just build myself a tool that would work using the existing operators. But again, better documentation and some step-by-step documentation in a few areas would be fantastic.
Overall, I love the tabs for the rigging setups, but to get to the real power of this tool, you really need to dig down pretty far and do some hand building.
Overall, I love the tabs for the rigging setups, but to get to the real power of this tool, you really need to dig down pretty far and do some hand building.
Houdini Lounge » Houdini 13 Wishlist.
- ctedin
- 69 posts
- Offline
Plus one for keeping Houdini exactly as it is. I've been a 3ds Max user for 17 years, Softimage XSI since version 4, Maya since version 2. I own Zbrush and use Mudbox, and have a deep love for 3dCoat.
That having been said, I respect Houdini's interface, and have learned how to use it. It simply is the best for getting so much complex work done, much of it beyond the capacity of “out of the box” software. You'd need to know loads of Python or Mel to get it to work in Maya. ICE in Soft is great, but I find it limited compared to Houdini. Probably it needs to be around more, and it might develop into the robust tool that Houdini is. Anyway, just wanted to add my two cents. Fix a few irritating things around the edges and make it run faster. Everything else is just fine. It's a high powered rocket engine, just hang on tight and figure out how to control it by grabbing inside and tweaking the knobs and rearranging the pipes. Without exception, all my students prefer Houdini's interface and workflow to Maya's. Maybe that will all change this upcoming semester, when I really test them.
I think the documentation could be better. When I go to the help menu, show me some more examples of how to use the tools. The “launch/load” links are pretty good, though.
That having been said, I respect Houdini's interface, and have learned how to use it. It simply is the best for getting so much complex work done, much of it beyond the capacity of “out of the box” software. You'd need to know loads of Python or Mel to get it to work in Maya. ICE in Soft is great, but I find it limited compared to Houdini. Probably it needs to be around more, and it might develop into the robust tool that Houdini is. Anyway, just wanted to add my two cents. Fix a few irritating things around the edges and make it run faster. Everything else is just fine. It's a high powered rocket engine, just hang on tight and figure out how to control it by grabbing inside and tweaking the knobs and rearranging the pipes. Without exception, all my students prefer Houdini's interface and workflow to Maya's. Maybe that will all change this upcoming semester, when I really test them.
I think the documentation could be better. When I go to the help menu, show me some more examples of how to use the tools. The “launch/load” links are pretty good, though.
-
- Quick Links