Hi folks,

I'd like to be able to use a midi controller (like a continuous CC controller foot pedal) to control, for example, the focal length of my camera.

I'm an audio engineer by day, and all DAWs these days have the ability to map certain parameters to incoming midi CC messages.

Is such a thing possible in Houdini?

Cheers!

You should be able to do it with CHOPS.
Specifically the Midi-In node [www.sidefx.com]

Thanks!

I took a look at it but i don't see any explanation there of how to actually map a parameter to an incoming midi message.

It just says MIDI can be used to control the internal Synthesizer (Houdini has a built in Synth, really??!!)

(although i should also mention i'm quite new to Houdini, so perhaps the answer is right here staring me in the face!)

Here's how I'd approach the problem, though I'm no expert!
First you take the midi input from that node, and process it using chops nodes or a channel wrangle to fit within your desired parameter range - say 0-10.

Then you would use an export node to control your camera parameter. There's an example file in the documentation that will show you how to set that up. This essentially links your 0-10 output to whatever you like.

The more standard way of linking things is to simply use a parameter reference but I'm not sure if that works with chops.

Just read

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technical-artist.net%2F%3Fp%3D1217 [translate.google.com]

https://forums.odforce.net/topic/43893-midi-chops/ [forums.odforce.net]

Thanks!

Seems like some hoops will need to be jump through to get this working.

Unfortunately my Houdini chops (pun intended) are not up to speed yet but i've earmarked this to have a go at in the future.

Hopefully SideFX can implement this DAW style at some point in the future (right-click parameter, learn, move midi controller, job done).

Dazzer123
Thanks!

Seems like some hoops will need to be jump through to get this working.

Unfortunately my Houdini chops (pun intended) are not up to speed yet but i've earmarked this to have a go at in the future.

Hopefully SideFX can implement this DAW style at some point in the future (right-click parameter, learn, move midi controller, job done).

Like Ableton Live!

decksounds
Like Ableton Live!

yeah dude, you know what i'm talking about, Ableton has a great modulation mapping system!

This is quite puzzling to me, i'd imagine VFX people would want to be able to control selected parameters via hardware controllers but this doesn't appear to be a thing, at least not in Houdini.

I like the idea for sure. I would also like to have just one knob that I can use to dial in settings for whatever field is active or whatever the mouse is hovering over. That would be slick.

Well, matey, you're in luck, see here!:

https://www.nobcontrol.com/#top-section [www.nobcontrol.com]