Hello Guys. I ask for help in this time of need:

I have an image sequence that I have loaded as a texture for a sprite. However, When it renders I don't see the image sequence but only the first frame. I assume there is a button for this somewhere but I cannot find it.

Also, once I get this working: How can I offset the animation per particle?

thank you in advance.

Are you referencing your image sequence using $F, e.g. “frame_$F.tga”, or hard-coding the frame number e.g. “Frame_001.tga”? $F is a global variable referencing the current frame number and might be what you're looking for…

I am using a $F5 variable.

image.`padzero(5, $F-10)`.rat

I am sorry. I don't understand what that means. is it a code I need to plug somewhere?

lacluna
I am sorry. I don't understand what that means. is it a code I need to plug somewhere?

Yes, into your sequence path.

Basically paths to the files (bgeo, images), are just like any other parameters, they are evaluated at a current time, and can consist with various expressions. That why image.$F5.rat works, since it becomes image.00001.rat at evaluation at frame 1.

Since “00001” is hardly a number, you need to make your math (offset) on plain integers, and add padding zeros after that. This is what padzero() expression is doing. So:

/path/to/image.`padzero(5,$F-10)`.rat takes $F-10 and turns in into padded string “00001”. You can vary offset per particle, making this much more interesting.

This is how Houdini works. Since you can use expressions anywhere, and there are plenty of them, you're virtually unlimited. This is much beyond what any set of buttons can do for you.

thank you for the help