I have a pretty simple simulation. A sphere dropping and shattering on the floor.
I turns out once the sim is cached and is playing it seems to cache again and use more RAM every time it plays the already cached sim until the system runs out of memory and houdini crashes.
Am I missing something or is it really yet another bug? Literally every time I open Houdini and test something I stumble over at least one of those issues.

You need to post your scene & computer specs if you want this to be solved.

If you are always running into issues, it is well known that the best platform is Linux for using Houdini. Anything else is a compromise.

Thanks!

https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=15603 [sidefx.com]

chrism
https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=15603 [sidefx.com]

I will sumbit a report when I

A) have a confirmation that this is most likely a bug, and
B) Have nothing else to do.

I posted here because it is often quicker to get a response like “ Yes we know that one” or “ you mostl likely forget X or Y”.

To submit a report I need time to investigate and see under what circumstances those things happen. That costs time and I'd rather spend that to learn more houdini. Otherwise I use what works until I actually got that time.

MartybNz
You need to post your scene & computer specs if you want this to be solved.

If you are always running into issues, it is well known that the best platform is Linux for using Houdini. Anything else is a compromise.

Thanks!

Here is the scene (indie license). I tested on two different machines with different hardware. It seems the debris is the culprit. The sim without the debris behaves normal. As soon as the debris is active with every played loop the memory consumption rises.

The H13 build is production 14.0.444 running on Win 7 64.

It's pretty easy to diagnose - if you open the Performance Monitor, set the Memory stats only, you will see that the UV Quickshade is growing. Turning it off sees effectively no memory growth. Therefore it is most likely some kind of bug but there should be many work arounds of more optimal setups that you could try.

In regards to the original post of finding bugs every-time you open Houdini, whilst learning. In today's work every bit of progressive complex software has a set of bugs, the thing is to learn how to work around them and report them effectively.

This bug took <6 min to diagnose.

MartybNz
This bug took <6 min to diagnose.

That bug took YOU 6 min to diagnose. I would never have though that a display shading node would cause a memory issue in my main RAM. especially if it does not happen when there is no debris sim which has for me no logical connection to UV quickshading. You cannot expect your expertise from someone making his first steps in houdini.

MartybNz
In today's work every bit of progressive complex software has a set of bugs, the thing is to learn how to work around them and report them effectively.

Maybe that is why CG production is lacking profit everywhere

Seriously, I am aware of that. I am using all major DCC apps for literally decades now. What really strikes me as odd in the case of houdini is that many of the issues I come across are on such a basic level that it should have been discovered by the long time users instead of someone who just starts to play around with it. I fact, the issue with nurbs normals I posted a few days ago can be seen in a tutorial from 2012. Why would I bother to report that as a bug? I mean it must have been reported already but it has not been fixed. In three years. If that is not the case, what are people actually doing with houdini?

I would expect the application that has the highest maintenance fee of all to be at least in the very basic areas that don't change every release the most solid.

Now if I have a piece of software where most of the things I need are in fact working why would I buy another one only to find that a great deal of the time I'm using it I do in fact QA work? As a newcomer to the software?

In a small studio like mine productions schedules are measured in days, not in week or months. Every hour I spend during that time of not producing is a loss of money. Why would I buy any piece of software that is producing loss?

I think this is a fundamental question that every vendor or developer of DCC applications must ask themselves today. No client cares for the problems I have with my software. So I am using the one that has at least no issues in the basic handling.

Only to underline what I am talking about:
It took ME less than 6 minutes to find the next issue (though it took half an hour to find out what is wrong). I am talking about issues here because I'm never sure if it is a bug unless someone can tell me it's not a feature. It is an issue because it hinders me in my workflow. And it confuses newcomers and generally slows things down.

Here it is: When you right click on the little symbol that turns off the constr.plane and the ortho grid it behaves exactly as expected. It turn off the grid. However if you then open the display options and go to the grid tap you may find that the ortho grid parameter are greyed out. This is even saved with the scene.
Now there may be an explanation for it but it is not a) obvious, b) anywhere documented.
Things like that make me want to close houdini and say “why bother? I have software I am familiar with” because instead of trying something I would like to do in houdini I am forced to figure out what happens here or write a post or report a bug.

If that is what's expected from me then the suspicion that indie was released to get free betatesting from users who pay for it starts creeping up on me. I am sure that was not the intention so I'm also sure betatesting is not my job.
I am willing to contribute to the quality of the software but that depend a lot of how much it actually helps me making profit with it. I am working towards a full license but at the moment I would be really pissed if I had paind 6000 $ learning that the most expensive 3d app has so much issues in so many basic areas.

I already found the next one. This time I really have no time to describe it.

OneBigTree
I think this is a fundamental question that every vendor or developer of DCC applications must ask themselves today. No client cares for the problems I have with my software. So I am using the one that has at least no issues in the basic handling.

“help fiscally contribute to software”, “I don't have time”, “how can it be”, “I'm a small studio”, “beta test” :twisted: following this to it's logical end you'll be stuck in C4D land - hahaha

The ‘Display Ortho Grid’ - hover your mouse over it and it says it's for the Ortho Viewports. Press ‘N’ key over a orthographic viewport to select it and then the grid options appear.

The one in the Perspective is called the Construction Plane, so you use the Construction Plane Parameters from the ‘Persp1’ menu to edit the values there.

The main issue is why are you so affected by this? Just move on and learn the whole world of vfx and forgot a tiny issue of the ortho-grid. It will takes years to learn the program thoroughly and by then maybe grid thing will be a non-issue.

MartybNz
“help fiscally contribute to software”, “I don't have time”, “how can it be”, “I'm a small studio”, “beta test” :twisted: following this to it's logical end you'll be stuck in C4D land - hahaha

And isn't that a shame?*

MartybNz
The ‘Display Ortho Grid’ - hover your mouse over it and it says it's for the Ortho Viewports. Press ‘N’ key over a orthographic viewport to select it and then the grid options appear.
The one in the Perspective is called the Construction Plane, so you use the Construction Plane Parameters from the ‘Persp1’ menu to edit the values there.

That is not the issue. I know how to adjust grid and construction plane. The issue is that it is possible to “freeze” the input controls for the orthogrid. You have looked at my screenshot haven't you?

MartybNz
The main issue is why are you so affected by this? Just move on and learn the whole world of vfx and forgot a tiny issue of the ortho-grid. It will takes years to learn the program thoroughly and by then maybe grid thing will be a non-issue.

I am actually living as a 3D and vfx freelancer for almost 20 years now. I have learned and done paid jobs with max, lightwave, maya softimage, MoI 3d, Adobe production suite, Nuke, syntheyes, speedtree, realflow, fusion and surely some i have forgotten. And now I am learning houdini.
I am working for commercials TV and Film, both fiction and non fiction. Most of those productions I do from start to finish. I may not be a guru like others in any of those fields but I have quite some experience in workflow, am capable of comparing various approaches of different packages and I think I can say I can spot a problem when there is one. Also I think economically whereas a lot of artists don't even have to buy their own software.

It is not a matter of how things work but rather that I have to spend time to tracks bugs instead of learning. (today I found another one.).

Also while all this may sound like a rant, it actually isn't. All I do is speak openly about my experience with a certain software. This is called feedback and sure can help to improve things.
I think it is safe to say that houdini is a very sophisticated software in all those advanced areas like simulation, shader programming and whatnot but at the same time has lost focus at the very basic functions. Or simply lacks userfeedback for this areas. Which I am providing right now.


*In fact it leaves me with softimage which still beats any other tool out there in therms of usability.

Yes - and so have I worked for 2 decades, so I know exactly what they might mean and doesn't mean.

Your screenshot is has greyed out ,'freezed', as you have a perspective viewport selected, when you switch to an orthographic viewport they will become active. Check the attached screenshots.

In regards to feedback, Sesi do well receive it well as I have submitted 600+ of them.

The good news is that this memory leak has been fixed in H15.

The bad news is that I'm not sure what fixed it, and if it's what I suspect it might be, it's not backportable to H14. I'll take a look.