Hi folks,
I'm Malte and I'm studying the Art of 3D. A few days ago I came across this very nice Apprentice Edition. I think this is a great way of learning a 3D Prog, since these are normally very complicated at first.
now my question:
I made some tutorials and i had to open the “materials pane”. I can not find this one (only shaders). Where can I find it?
Thanks to you all for this cool prog and this community.

Hi Malte,

This is assuming you're using Windows NT/2000/XP.

Go to My Computer -> Properties, then Advanced Tab & click on Environment Variables

In the Environment Variables dialog, click New… under System variables. Type HOUDINI_COPTOPMAT into Variable Name parameter & 1 into Variable Value parameter. Click Ok all the way to the desktop.

If you're using Linux, add

setenv HOUDINI_COPTOPMAT 1

to your .cshrc/.tcshrc file.

Now start a new Houdini session & have fun!

Cheers!
steven

Hi,
Further to this, please be aware that the Materials pane and technology is old and will be completely gone in the next release of Houdini. The tutorials that reference Materials (and TOPs and the “old” compositor, Cops) are ‘legacy’ materials that have yet to be converted to 5.5. So, we recommend you run through all the video tutorials and .pdf files on the Apprentice CD first, and only then approach the Legacy materials on the website.

Cheers,

Peter B

Yeah, thanks.
I experimented a bit further and found the new material editor.
Thanks to you.