I received a reply from Side Effects Support, stating that there are issues with some machine types on the Amazon EC2 system right now. However, given that this occurs before any information (as far as I know) is sent to the cloud and that some of you are having issues with local render farms as well, I believe this is a Houdini issue and not an Amazon issue.
I'll keep you guys posted.
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Houdini Indie and Apprentice » HQ Render Indie limitations?
- jrockstad
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Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Procedure of updating Houdini to newer minor version?
- jrockstad
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The installation of a new Houdini version is completely independent from any existing version of Houdini you may have on your system, therefore you will always need to do a full install when updating. Assuming you have no further need for the old version, best practice when updating is to run the included uninstaller in the Administrative Tools folder inside your Houdini install folder prior to installing the new version, otherwise you will end up with two different versions of Houdini on your computer.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » HQ Render Indie limitations?
- jrockstad
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Yep, same behavior here on Indie. Seems to be a bug introduced in the latest build. I've submitted a bug report, and it probably couldn't hurt for all you to do the same - a bunch of people reporting the same bug could light a fire under Side Effects to get it patched quickly.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Autodesk Maya LT to Houdini Indie workflow
- jrockstad
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Modeling in a separate application and importing the geometry to Houdini for sims / lighting / rendering and such has become a pretty standard workflow. Many folks these days for example are modeling in modo and taking everything over to Houdini for FX and simulations.
It's true that your basic poly modeling in Houdini isn't as immediately intuitive as in other 3D applications, and there are some common modeling tasks (bridging edges is one that immediately comes to mind) that don't really have direct analogs in Houdini, in the sense that although you can certainly accomplish them, the method is often awkward and non-obvious. With that said, I think learning a bit of modeling in Houdini can be still be very worthwhile, even if only as an exercise to familiarize yourself with the software - a familiar task such as modeling can help you get your head around Houdini's node-based workflow without the added burden of dealing with complex dynamics systems and such. Also, remember that the number one rule in Houdini is to always keep things procedural whenever possible, so if you model in Houdini with that in mind you can very quickly make changes rather than having to go back to Maya and re-export your model every time you need to tweak something.
This course [rohandalvi.net] from Rohan Dalvi is a very good introduction to modeling in Houdini if you're interested in learning more.
It's true that your basic poly modeling in Houdini isn't as immediately intuitive as in other 3D applications, and there are some common modeling tasks (bridging edges is one that immediately comes to mind) that don't really have direct analogs in Houdini, in the sense that although you can certainly accomplish them, the method is often awkward and non-obvious. With that said, I think learning a bit of modeling in Houdini can be still be very worthwhile, even if only as an exercise to familiarize yourself with the software - a familiar task such as modeling can help you get your head around Houdini's node-based workflow without the added burden of dealing with complex dynamics systems and such. Also, remember that the number one rule in Houdini is to always keep things procedural whenever possible, so if you model in Houdini with that in mind you can very quickly make changes rather than having to go back to Maya and re-export your model every time you need to tweak something.
This course [rohandalvi.net] from Rohan Dalvi is a very good introduction to modeling in Houdini if you're interested in learning more.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Error in Open Houdini Indie in Houdini FX !
- jrockstad
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.hiplc files cannot be used with the full commercial version of Houdini. However, I recall in the past that Side Effects would convert your Apprentice .hipnc scenes to the .hip format if you upgraded to a full commercial license, and I assume they'll most likely do the same for .hiplc scenes as well.
I poked around a bit but couldn't find a reference to this service on the site… I'd try contacting the support team and see if they can point you in the right direction.
I poked around a bit but couldn't find a reference to this service on the site… I'd try contacting the support team and see if they can point you in the right direction.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Houdini extrude
- jrockstad
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To avoid having to change those settings every time you do an extrude, bear in mind that you can set them as defaults either on a per-session basis by selecting “Make current values temporary defaults” in the gear menu at the top of the Parameter view, or “Save as Permanent Defaults” to have them persist across sessions. You can also save a preset to recall later as well.
It's a little thing but can save you a lot of time if you're doing a modeling job with many extrudes.
It's a little thing but can save you a lot of time if you're doing a modeling job with many extrudes.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Says Apprentice at top?
- jrockstad
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No need to worry about having the right version, all Houdini downloads come with the full commercial as well as Indie and Apprentice versions. Check out your Houdini program folder - on a Mac it would be /Applications/Houdini 13.x.x and I believe on Windows it would be C:\Program Files\Side Effects and then the Houdini folder. You should find separate executable links for all the different versions there.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Hqueue in Indie hangs at instance launch
- jrockstad
- 11 posts
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TRex92
I'm having a similar issue I can only seem to launch a single machine type through amazon which is the 20 ec2 Compute units with 7 gb's of ram. I hope they fix this soon. I should note I'm using a fully licensed version, but am still having a similar issue.
This seems to have done the trick… kind of. If I select that machine type my jobs will go through, only to fail with the same message that Kevin has been getting this whole time. TRex, are you able to get finished jobs from that machine or are yours also failing?
Kevin, the Compute Units thing is a little confusing. Basically it's Amazon's metric for the processing power in a single machine, so you can pick a machine with however many Compute Units but it's still only a single instance unless you specify that you want more in the HQueue Render properties.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Hqueue in Indie hangs at instance launch
- jrockstad
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Good to hear. Perhaps the update to the cloud version coincides with the release of the new production build today? I've just installed it and will try to fire off a render later tonight.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Hqueue in Indie hangs at instance launch
- jrockstad
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Hmm… seems you're getting further than I am. I don't see anything about any version of Houdini being initialized.
In any event, I think I'll submit a ticket as well and see where that leads - I'll also keep you updated with any progress on that front.
In any event, I think I'll submit a ticket as well and see where that leads - I'll also keep you updated with any progress on that front.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Hqueue in Indie hangs at instance launch
- jrockstad
- 11 posts
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I've been having some issues with cloud rendering via Indie as well. This is a copy / paste from a thread I made on the OD Force forums:
Any similarities to your troubles, Kevin?
My first thought was also that it could be an issue with the version of Houdini on the cloud machines not being able to process files from Indie, so hopefully someone can shed some light on that for us.
I've sent a couple jobs out but seem to have hit another snag. After I hit render I get the normal preflight / password dialogs, my browser opens to the Cloud Submit page, but after a while I get a dialog box with the message “The Houdini Cloud Submit daemon has terminated prematurely.” There is a direction to a log file - this seems to be the most relevant passage:
ERROR: AuthFailure: Unable to launch image ami-73607f1a as the product code 5D6864EE is not supported for the specified region, instance type and operating system combination. Please contact the vendor for more information.
Any similarities to your troubles, Kevin?
My first thought was also that it could be an issue with the version of Houdini on the cloud machines not being able to process files from Indie, so hopefully someone can shed some light on that for us.
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