I've been trying to get the instancer to work in Maya using the “use instancer node” checkbox on the digital asset, but so far I've not been that succesfull at getting a meaningful result.
So I was hoping someone could put together a basic example of how the houdini->maya instancer works by using the ‘use instancer node’ checkbox.
Steps I've taken:
*) In Houdini I've created a subnet which contains a sphere obj, a box object and a grid object.
The sphere object is named: part_0
The box object is named: part_1
The grid object is named: points (and I have deleted all the primitives and just kept the points). I also added N, up, and built the transformation matrix so I could extract the rotation and added rotationPP attibute.
*) Inside this subnet I've also created an ‘instance’ object node. I am object merging in the points of the grid, created a body_part integer attribute on the points that evaluates to: $PT%2
And then I've built the instance string as well that uses this body_part attribute and forms instance strings like:
`opfullpath(“../../part_”+$BODY_PART)`
*) The controls for this instance object node are set to use ‘fast point instancing’.
*) Then I make a digital asset out of this subnet.
*) when loading that in Maya I can see my geometry (part_0, part_1, points, instancer1), as well as the nparticles, but the instance seems not to be connected to either the particles or the part_0, part_1 geometry.
— I can set this part up by hand or by script if required, but I would like to know if this is the expected behavior or if I am missing something.
– Also I want to use the instancer as I will be dealing with large amounts of data.
I was reading throught the input/output sticky here:
https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=32561 [sidefx.com]
specifically this section I would like to get working:
instancer is supported. Instance geometry in Houdini can be outputted as Maya particle instancer or transform instances. The transform for the instances are outputted. It's possible to switch between the two by toggling “Use Instancer Node”, which is just under “Asset Option”.
I am using Houdini 13.0.491 and Maya 2014 service pack 2
Any example of how to use the instancer between houdini->maya, using the ‘use instancer node’ checkbox would be greatly appreciated. – or getting the transform for the instances outputted would be interesting too.
Thank you!
