I'm working on a spaceship. I created a Geometry Node at the Obj page, then inside that node I'm using various File nodes to bring in Kitbash files (.obj and .fbx) and using various transform nodes, group nodes with dedicated UV maps and material maps to assemble the full spaceship.

Back at the Obj page level, I'm adding the Reshift Object Properties and enabling subdivision tessellation and displacement since some of the materials that I'm using have displacement maps.

This doesn't seem particularly efficient since some of my kitbash pieces don't require any subdivision, and some are not utilizing any displacement materials.

Am I doing this correctly? Should I instead create a number of Geometry Nodes for each kitbash that I'm using in the Obj page so that I can assign individual Redshift Object Properties on a piece by piece basis? However, if I end up with, say a dozen or more Geometry Nodes in my Obj page, how do I animate them all as a single spaceship? Do I parent all the Geometry nodes to a single Null and animate that null?

I hope the above makes sense, as a newcomer to Houdini I'm trying to learn the “proper” way before I develop some bad habits that yield inefficient workflows and poor Houdini performance.

Many thanks!

Hey Midphase,

you could also try to model everything like you did in one object- for convenience.
everything you want later to be subdivided could be assigned to a group called “SubD” or so…. when it comes to rendering you just use a split node and use the group “SubD” to split the geometry. now you can object merge everything you want to be subdivided into a new object - with new redshift properties.

Cheers
Philipp

The best workflow in my opinion for RS in order to get the most of the OBJ Properties is split things up into different GEOs and the use obj Merge, that way you can decide where you want to use displacement, subdivisions, particles, strands, volumes, etc. Since as of right now obj properties work at scene level.

I usually work in one node where I have kind of my master scene then I put a bunch of NULLS where I know I will need to output something into a new Geo. Also I believe Juanjo mentioned something about that extraction times are faster this way as well. Do not quote me on this one yet, I'll have to look at it.

I think I understand. Let me see if I am getting this right:

So basically at the Scene level I have a single Geometry node which contains all of my various elements within it, but doesn't have any Redshift Object Properties assigned to it.

Then, also at the Scene level I have a bunch of Nulls for the various components of the ship, and each of those guys do have the Redshift Properties assigned to them (so that I can pick and choose which one gets subdivided, etc.)

Inside the main node, at the Geometry level, I have all of my various pieces parts from the kitbash, etc, merged, transformed, etc. At the end of my tree node, I have an Object Merge node which simply takes each one of my pieces parts (or combines a few if that's the case) and re-routes it into one of the Nulls that I specify…do I have it right?

When I was talking about Nulls is on the obj level.
More like this hopefully this pics make sense, this a simple example. And you do not have to have just one master scene you can 2 or more depending on how complex is your shot.

Ok, slowly getting there, please bear with me:

1. Your Main_Env geometry node contains all of the geometry that you're planning to use in your scene. The Main_Env node itself does not have any Redshift OBJ added to it.

2. You have also created at the Scene level 3 other Geometry nodes which (for the time being) are actually blank.

3. Inside your Main_Env node, you go about populating the scene with all the pieces parts/transforms/etc. At the end paths for each piece, you add a Null which you label OUT_XXXXX depending on the element that you created.

4. Inside the Main_Env node you are also utilizing various Merge nodes from the Nulls (I assume this is simply for you to view everything in the Viewport as you create your scene).

5. Back to the Scene level, inside each additional Geometry node (Particles, Guy, Terrain) which, up until now, have been empty, you are now putting an Object Merge node that you're utilizing to bring in the various Nulls. So for instance, the Geometry Node “Guy” would contain an Object Merge which points to the OUT_GUY node. I assume the Geometry Node “Terrain” would also contain an Object Merge node which points to the Null OUT_METEOR and so on.

6. Finally, back on the Scene page, you attach a Redshift OBJ parameter to each of your Geometry Nodes (but not to your Main_Env), and for each one you set your various Redshift options as needed.

Is that correct? Sorry for trying to break it down step by step, but it's the only way I can wrap my head around it.

Yep you gotta it, exactly, that's it pretty much.
If you want to share like a demo scene or whatever so I can have a look, feel free.

Allright, if you have the time, take a look at this file and see if I'm doing anything wrong.

Also….I assume you're assigning the Shaders for each object at the Scene level….so for instance in your scene, Particles, Terrain and Guy would each have a material assigned there. I assume also that for any material that is only mapped to certain polygons in your object, one would simply use the Group and Material inside the “main” Geometry node which contains all of the individual pieces parts (I did this in my scene with the Cube, and it seems to be working properly).

Once again, just trying to develop some good habits early on, as well as use the networks that yield the most performance (I do find Redshift a bit crash-prone for the time being).

Thank you!

Yep exactly.if you need to break an obj with different material you can do what you are doing or use stylesheets.
All good. One thing that I forgot to mention, instead of using SHOPs use the MAT network, SHOPs will be deprecated anyways.

sepu
One thing that I forgot to mention, instead of using SHOPs use the MAT network, SHOPs will be deprecated anyways.

Interesting….so basically I just create a redshift_vopnet in the mat section and go from there? Why are SHOP's deprecated? Is this a new Houdini 16.5 thing? I'm curious so any info you can provide is much appreciated.

yeah You can do that or just create a material without the vop network. Is just faster to play with different shaders, textures, etc. for lookdev basically. In SHOPs it was a little cumbersome to go inside different materials, mix materials/layers, etc it was just slower. Mat were introduce in H 16

Here is a masterclass about the MAT context so you can get an idea

https://vimeo.com/212603065 [vimeo.com]

Wait, do we need to create multiple geometry containers just to add the Redshift OBJ tag? can this be done inside the GEO using groups?

The Redshift properties can only be applied to OBJ-level nodes.
It's a limitation of Redshift it can`t assign these properties per primitive or per point.

Cheers
CYTE