Use this:
hou.parm("Path to the parameter").parmTemplate().isButtonStrip()
chf("path", frame) cht("path", seconds)
blackpixelAmazing!
Btw: here's a recent example of how a too slow stroke sop led to an amazing, creative workaround:
https://ihoudini.blogspot.com/2020/01/drawing-with-wacom-in-houdini.html [ihoudini.blogspot.com]
blackpixelThank you dear Mariusz!
It's slow in your example because you are iterating over each of the 500k points instead of per variant ( check out attached hip )
The reason people stay away from these kind of threads is that they usually are the source of someone's frustration, rather than the search for help. It also tends to end in heated, almost religous debates and a thread lockdown.
You really need to specify what your problem is in order to get advice.
“this thing (node/setup) is slow”
- am I doing it wrong? -> check out the docs, look in the forums, then if everything fails ask in the forums for advice
- this is the “official” way to do it, but can it be faster ? -> ask in the forums. Maybe someone has some tricks up their sleeves or there is a different way to tackle your problem.
- this thing is unexpectedly slow -> Maybe it's a bug ? check out forums, submit a bug to sidefx
- this thing is actually slow -> submit a RFE, maybe an example of a DCC that handles this in a better way
Moin,
I don't understand the content of this thread:
> I mean that do you agree that Houdini's cooking system should be faster?
… what exactly do you mean by that statement? The “cooking system should be faster” has no technical meaning - if by “cooking system” you mean that Houdini “cooks” (compiles and/or executes) “nodes” (or functions) when necessary. There is no “faster” to this, except for “more often” (which you probably don't mean) or “within shorter reaction times” (near real time reaction?), which most likely would only result in milliseconds earlier cooking start
If you are talking about the compilation of nodes - please do say so. Please point out exactly what kind of nodes you have in mind and what precise compilation you are having issues with.
If you are talking about execution times of nodes - please do say so. Please point out exactly what kind of nodes you have in mind and what precise compilation you are having issues with. Keep in mind that a compiled VEX node has a different performance footprint to those horrible, ban-deserving, patience-killing Python-nodes. Unfortunately, nowadays more and more features all over the world are being done in Python making everything slower and more error-prone. But that's a different topic altogether, for there are evangelists for Python out there one just does not want to mess with.
If you are talking about simulations - please do say so. Please point out exactly what specific situation you have in mind and also show your performance metering showing WHERE things go slow and where things go fast. Houdini provides the tools to do that, use them, please.
Let me just pick this line of yours:
> Dropping down RBD Material Fracture takes about 10 seconds on a six core machine to prepare (depends on your machine it takes more or less)!
… you are already stating that “it takes more or less on different machines” - so what's your claim then? If your hardware isn't up to your demands, why not start there?
I am running a five-years old quadcore machine here that is nowhere near “top nodge” and just dropped down an rbdmaterialfracture node. It took 1.5 seconds (one point five seconds) - which, too, is a completely non-informative thing to say. It has NO MEANING. What has meaning is: What happens in the background? What is DONE when you drop down a node?
For sure, a lot of functions in Houdini could benefit from an overhaul, no doubt, maybe some need a “rewrite from scratch”. But simply saying “Houdini needs to be more faster” (I like that phrasing) is the same as saying “me wife needs to be more prettier”. At least for the latter man invented alcohol.
Marc
P.S. Don't get me wrong. I want things to be faster all the time. If I can endure a Youtube video, chances are that I play it back at 2.0 speed because people simply talk WAY TOO SLOW in order to make more money. But you really need to be specific, you need to do some basic research about what is HAPPENING and then send RFE to SideFX to help them understand your usecase and maybe even come up with solutions for your specific needs. They are QUITE GOOD at that. They actually care. Just give them a chance to help you - by being constructive.