I never try to export an imported Alembic back as Alembic but I just did a shot where I need to export an imported FBX file as Alembic and the file size is roughly double the original FBX size.
It is simple boat geometry animation around 348KB for the FBX and the exported Alembic is 822KB.
Hopefully others can chime in about the issue.
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Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Alembic Export via ROP
- huey_yeng
- 69 posts
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Houdini Indie and Apprentice » How to use (as opposed to create) a z-depth map with Mantra?
- huey_yeng
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Hmm if I were to approach it from what I've know, I'll just bring in the geometry as a holdout if you have access to it.
Funny that RGB Lighting Mask are heavily used for the fog renders for my previous fully CGI featured film and yes there are times I need to render again with a different lighting falloff to meet the director's feedback.
I never use Trapcode Particular though so I can't comment on it.
When you mentioned about moving camera, well my shots deals with subtle camera animation but the RGB Lighting Mask setup works by parenting the directional light onto the camera so the light falloff will remain constant from the camera.
So yeah either you go DCM, get the source geometry into Houdini as holdout matte or using the RGB Lighting Mask.
Funny that RGB Lighting Mask are heavily used for the fog renders for my previous fully CGI featured film and yes there are times I need to render again with a different lighting falloff to meet the director's feedback.
I never use Trapcode Particular though so I can't comment on it.
When you mentioned about moving camera, well my shots deals with subtle camera animation but the RGB Lighting Mask setup works by parenting the directional light onto the camera so the light falloff will remain constant from the camera.
So yeah either you go DCM, get the source geometry into Houdini as holdout matte or using the RGB Lighting Mask.
Edited by huey_yeng - Jan. 24, 2018 07:58:07
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Scale flip particles velocity after collision
- huey_yeng
- 69 posts
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Hmm I'm still new to FLIP particles sim in Houdini but I assume this is more of a practice instead of actual production shot, you can try increasing the gravity to reduce the bounce and slow down the time scale while increasing the speed of the initial emission.
It'll be better if you can post your HIP file for us to check.
It'll be better if you can post your HIP file for us to check.
Edited by huey_yeng - Jan. 24, 2018 05:21:12
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » How to use (as opposed to create) a z-depth map with Mantra?
- huey_yeng
- 69 posts
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Not sure if I understand your need but why not occlude your clouds/fog render in comp stage instead of rendering it with the provided ZDepth pass?
Unless you're outputting deep data which I have no experience yet but it allows for the flexibility of merging objects and volumetric seamlessly without using holdout matte for the volumetric render.
I'll suggest to use directional lights to setup the BG and FG passes for the volumetric render and merge it in comp. This way you can tweak the intensity of either BG/FG passes without rendering again.
This is how I did for various fog shots in production although in Maya instead of Houdini.
Unless you're outputting deep data which I have no experience yet but it allows for the flexibility of merging objects and volumetric seamlessly without using holdout matte for the volumetric render.
I'll suggest to use directional lights to setup the BG and FG passes for the volumetric render and merge it in comp. This way you can tweak the intensity of either BG/FG passes without rendering again.
This is how I did for various fog shots in production although in Maya instead of Houdini.
Edited by huey_yeng - Jan. 24, 2018 05:14:06
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Nondestructive workflow similar to Max's modifier stacks in Indie version
- huey_yeng
- 69 posts
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Houdini Apprentice is what you're looking for non-commercial use! https://www.sidefx.com/download/ [www.sidefx.com]
Yeah the edit node behaves similarly like the Edit Poly modifier in a sense that if you want to paste an Edit Poly modifier onto another object that have the same topology but different surface deformation, it will apply without any issue.
So to answer your question, it will propagate to the next node and there is something that I like about Houdini node-based workflow is that if you frequently wanted to create a node with specific setup, you can save out a preset or even override it to be permanent defaults!
As far as I know there is no way to do it in Max unless you use MaxScript (with the listener on to echo the script line).
Yeah the edit node behaves similarly like the Edit Poly modifier in a sense that if you want to paste an Edit Poly modifier onto another object that have the same topology but different surface deformation, it will apply without any issue.
So to answer your question, it will propagate to the next node and there is something that I like about Houdini node-based workflow is that if you frequently wanted to create a node with specific setup, you can save out a preset or even override it to be permanent defaults!
As far as I know there is no way to do it in Max unless you use MaxScript (with the listener on to echo the script line).
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Nondestructive workflow similar to Max's modifier stacks in Indie version
- huey_yeng
- 69 posts
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The node based workflow in Houdini are pretty much nondestructive since each nodes act like a modifier stack.
There is some terminology that differs between Max and Houdini (like Meshsmooth/Turbosmooth is Subdivide in Houdini) but you can search the docs for the appropriate function.
Here is a random demo that I did to showcase the Max modifier style in Houdini.
1. The box node is well the same thing as box primitive in Max although you need to be aware that you can change the type of box aka whether it should be polygon, polygon mesh, etc.
2. On the left branch is a subdivide node (like Meshsmooth/Turbosmooth). Maybe you want to experiment something in between both nodes so I copy the subdivide node and place it to the right.
3. The edit node is basically Edit Mesh/Edit Poly modifier. Make your changes that you want over here like Edit Poly.
4. To chamfer in Houdini, use the polybevel node and select the vertices, edges or faces that you want to chamfer.
5. Connect the subdivide node to the polybevel and tada.
To bypass a node, just click on the left most bar on a node. The right most bar is the node that you want to view the results (something like Show End Results Toggle but only at the node that you selected as only one can be active in a network).
There is some terminology that differs between Max and Houdini (like Meshsmooth/Turbosmooth is Subdivide in Houdini) but you can search the docs for the appropriate function.
Here is a random demo that I did to showcase the Max modifier style in Houdini.
1. The box node is well the same thing as box primitive in Max although you need to be aware that you can change the type of box aka whether it should be polygon, polygon mesh, etc.
2. On the left branch is a subdivide node (like Meshsmooth/Turbosmooth). Maybe you want to experiment something in between both nodes so I copy the subdivide node and place it to the right.
3. The edit node is basically Edit Mesh/Edit Poly modifier. Make your changes that you want over here like Edit Poly.
4. To chamfer in Houdini, use the polybevel node and select the vertices, edges or faces that you want to chamfer.
5. Connect the subdivide node to the polybevel and tada.
To bypass a node, just click on the left most bar on a node. The right most bar is the node that you want to view the results (something like Show End Results Toggle but only at the node that you selected as only one can be active in a network).
Edited by huey_yeng - Jan. 22, 2018 10:08:01
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Proper Way to use POP for Pyro FX?
- huey_yeng
- 69 posts
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After digging up various threads and the documentations, I figure out how to control the look of the POP particles for use in Pyro FX.
Just like in the GIF (sorry for the huge 1.4MB for those on 14.4/33.6/56.6Kbps internet speed!), the Sample Distance and Point Sample Threshold under the Stamp Point tabs in Fluid Source node affects the overall look of the Pyro explosion.
Here's a screencap of the settings.
The setup in the GIF was straightforward. Create a popnet particles and apply the Explosion shelf tool on it. From there, I tweak the buoyancy and timescale so it doesn't grow too big for the purpose of the demo.
The only variables that I alter in the GIF are the Sample Distance and Point Sample Threshold.
Hopefully this is useful for other Houdini newbie or those who have experience with using Pflow for FumeFX in 3ds Max like me.
Just like in the GIF (sorry for the huge 1.4MB for those on 14.4/33.6/56.6Kbps internet speed!), the Sample Distance and Point Sample Threshold under the Stamp Point tabs in Fluid Source node affects the overall look of the Pyro explosion.
Here's a screencap of the settings.
The setup in the GIF was straightforward. Create a popnet particles and apply the Explosion shelf tool on it. From there, I tweak the buoyancy and timescale so it doesn't grow too big for the purpose of the demo.
The only variables that I alter in the GIF are the Sample Distance and Point Sample Threshold.
Hopefully this is useful for other Houdini newbie or those who have experience with using Pflow for FumeFX in 3ds Max like me.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Proper Way to use POP for Pyro FX?
- huey_yeng
- 69 posts
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Looks like I solve the issue by reworking how the particles emitted (still with a very short lifespan of 0.09 haha) and bumping up the Dissipation in the Shape tab in Pyro Solver to quickly get rid of the any possible lingering smoke at the emitter.
While not that surprise, the grid division size and max substeps does affect the look of the explosion and I'm happy with the max substeps of 10 but the sim time is pretty long but doable on my workstation.
Still I wonder if others can share their wisdom when using POP for Pyro FX.
I did adjust the Sample Distance value in the Stamp Points tab under Scalar Volumes (Fluid Source node) to give more volume to the particles? Not sure if that is one of the approach as I noticed there is the Scale Source Volume in the Source Volume node within the DOP network that works similarly?
While not that surprise, the grid division size and max substeps does affect the look of the explosion and I'm happy with the max substeps of 10 but the sim time is pretty long but doable on my workstation.
Still I wonder if others can share their wisdom when using POP for Pyro FX.
I did adjust the Sample Distance value in the Stamp Points tab under Scalar Volumes (Fluid Source node) to give more volume to the particles? Not sure if that is one of the approach as I noticed there is the Scale Source Volume in the Source Volume node within the DOP network that works similarly?
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Proper Way to use POP for Pyro FX?
- huey_yeng
- 69 posts
- Offline
Hi I'm still new to Houdini and I'm having issue with this problem that I highlighted in the following GIF.
I wonder if my method of emitting the particles are the right way (yes the particle life and amount are very little and feels like I'm doing it wrong!).
I try fiddling with the all three scale values in the Source Volume nodes but I can't seem to find a solution in getting rid of the leftover smoke at the emitter.
Nothing fancy with the setup as I create the particle emitter and apply the Pyro FX Flames shelf tool and slowly adjusting from there with not extra nodes.
I wonder if my method of emitting the particles are the right way (yes the particle life and amount are very little and feels like I'm doing it wrong!).
I try fiddling with the all three scale values in the Source Volume nodes but I can't seem to find a solution in getting rid of the leftover smoke at the emitter.
Nothing fancy with the setup as I create the particle emitter and apply the Pyro FX Flames shelf tool and slowly adjusting from there with not extra nodes.
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