ok…i recently got some stupid motion fx work for a tv station trailer…
so because i am not very familiar with houdini yet i'm gonna finish it in LW…
but i think it is a great opportunity as a paraller project to start working it in houdini to see how i can confront some of the problems…
the first problem i encountered is edge beveling…
(i started a thread some time ago to find out if there is a way to do a hard edge beveling -softening with a shader but my Vex knowledge kept me far from finding a solution…)
here is the desired effect …
Questions and problems
a.Modeling
My approach for each circle is :
Create Circle Curve (delete points to create 1/4 circle Arc-open)
create rectangle
resample circle
sweep rectangle and resampled arc
skin it.
the main problem is that a get slight twisting of the original rectangle during the sweep
got the first ideas from thread
http://odforce.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3793&hl=Extrude [odforce.net]
b.Shading
any ideas how to bevel the tube's outer edges to create “highlight catchers”
Motion Graphics (Logo work)
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- JohnBardakos
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- JohnBardakos
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- Simon
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- JohnBardakos
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That did id
i just re subdivided the original grid to 4x4 and then subd-Op
it had 3 points at each corner which is ok..
any ideas how to close the holes from the sweep?
i did it manually with polyknit …
or
merged the result of a copy of the sweep with just begining and end clones and then fused points..
the cap op doesnt work properly…
…i ll check it further tho.. :-)
i just re subdivided the original grid to 4x4 and then subd-Op
it had 3 points at each corner which is ok..
any ideas how to close the holes from the sweep?
i did it manually with polyknit …
or
merged the result of a copy of the sweep with just begining and end clones and then fused points..
the cap op doesnt work properly…
…i ll check it further tho.. :-)
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- JohnBardakos
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ok it worked with the fuse thing…
duplicated the sweep
merged it and then deleted the unwanted clones of the rectangle
(left just the start and end)
then fused them with consolidate points…
the problem is that if i check unique points the ogl shading is better…
and if i add a fuse with consolidate and then a fuse with unique points
the model is either 100% unique points (and unconnected)
or 100% connected with bad shading…(dark interpolation stuff between points)
anyway to the quest we go..
duplicated the sweep
merged it and then deleted the unwanted clones of the rectangle
(left just the start and end)
then fused them with consolidate points…
the problem is that if i check unique points the ogl shading is better…
and if i add a fuse with consolidate and then a fuse with unique points
the model is either 100% unique points (and unconnected)
or 100% connected with bad shading…(dark interpolation stuff between points)
anyway to the quest we go..
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- craig
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- JohnBardakos
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- JohnBardakos
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ok i think i got a bit further :-)
here is the result without the rings scaled or anything….
now what i did is created the 1 profile and sweeped the pre-beveled rectangle
copied and skacled the profile curve in order to have the desired distance..twice.
then merged the 3 arc-tubes
did a bit of tweaking ..facet op and then mirror twice along YZ,and,XZ acordingly…
i want to do an animation where each “ring” reacts as a whole..
and at one point the whole geometry is split into its arc-tubes…
what would u suggest ?
what i tested is exported into bgeo and then to all the spliting work into 12 different geometries in the obj level…
but it doesnt seem right …
here is the result without the rings scaled or anything….
now what i did is created the 1 profile and sweeped the pre-beveled rectangle
copied and skacled the profile curve in order to have the desired distance..twice.
then merged the 3 arc-tubes
did a bit of tweaking ..facet op and then mirror twice along YZ,and,XZ acordingly…
i want to do an animation where each “ring” reacts as a whole..
and at one point the whole geometry is split into its arc-tubes…
what would u suggest ?
what i tested is exported into bgeo and then to all the spliting work into 12 different geometries in the obj level…
but it doesnt seem right …
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- JohnBardakos
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ok before i go into animation and geometry organising..i decided to chek a bit on the facet op with the desired shading…
I dont get it ..i use the facet on the whole model
(1. probably i should mask the areas where i want the faceting to happen?)
nothing but cusp polygons
what do u think of that?
even with the 180 cusp threshold i get faceting….
I dont get it ..i use the facet on the whole model
(1. probably i should mask the areas where i want the faceting to happen?)
nothing but cusp polygons
what do u think of that?
even with the 180 cusp threshold i get faceting….
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- edward
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- JohnBardakos
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- edward
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- JohnBardakos
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Ill do a last effort on my own and if nothing happens ill upload a hip file…
the main problem that i see is that smooth shading is on or off
in order to control it more i have to do something different ..probably with the facet op…
in my case i try to put one of the preset gold shaders and if i have smooth shading the result is ..mushy?
if i dont is almost what i want..
the main problem that i see is that smooth shading is on or off
in order to control it more i have to do something different ..probably with the facet op…
in my case i try to put one of the preset gold shaders and if i have smooth shading the result is ..mushy?
if i dont is almost what i want..
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- JohnBardakos
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- symek
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God… I'm listening this and it's reminding me my tears few months ago when I was tring to achieve similar result. After few hours fighting with something which seams to be simple I gave up :roll: I know it's possible, and there are people who can do this but generally you never know where and when Houdini will strike. There is short list of simple task which are very difficult for it (and long list of things difficult for others which are piece of cake for H. 
)
)
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- JohnBardakos
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i understand how u feel :-)
The thing is that i am used with a much easier way for rendering …
(Lightwave's)
it is like driving a vespa fast cheap easy fun…
but then again mantra is like a big truck that contains 20 vespas and a few
Ducatti's in a container…
but u have to find out how to park the truck and unload the vespas :-)
…still it is great oportunity for learning..
The thing is that i am used with a much easier way for rendering …
(Lightwave's)
it is like driving a vespa fast cheap easy fun…
but then again mantra is like a big truck that contains 20 vespas and a few
Ducatti's in a container…
but u have to find out how to park the truck and unload the vespas :-)
…still it is great oportunity for learning..
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- symek
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rendering? well, I can say something on this! LW was my first 3d app. also, and I remember how easy and nice was F9 buttom…
but after switched to Houdini, I really can't imagine how anybody can use any of this “magic buttoms” applications… really! Perhaps because I'm much better in composition then 3d, programable rendering engine and multipass rendering is always my first choice. How anybody can use app. with only ONE lighting model..? And another thing: micropolygon renderer! I know it is a kind of sickness but I almost can't look in raytraced images. There is so!!!! big diffrence in image quality between raytraycers and micropoligon renderers…
I love this absolute freedom in lightning/shading/rendering pileline in Houdini.
Whenever try something different I feel like a schoolboy forced to learn “rules and regulations”. But… modeling can be painfull…
cheers,
SY.
but after switched to Houdini, I really can't imagine how anybody can use any of this “magic buttoms” applications… really! Perhaps because I'm much better in composition then 3d, programable rendering engine and multipass rendering is always my first choice. How anybody can use app. with only ONE lighting model..? And another thing: micropolygon renderer! I know it is a kind of sickness but I almost can't look in raytraced images. There is so!!!! big diffrence in image quality between raytraycers and micropoligon renderers…
I love this absolute freedom in lightning/shading/rendering pileline in Houdini.
Whenever try something different I feel like a schoolboy forced to learn “rules and regulations”. But… modeling can be painfull…
cheers,
SY.
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- JohnBardakos
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in art liberty and potential for the tools is always welcome.
everything is great as long as u adapt it to a productive workflow.
even oil colors are so much beter than acrylic paint but u dont have to always paint with them…
sometimes even a pencil is more useful :-)
nuff with the philosophical thoughts :-)
any ideas on the smooth shading istuff?
.btw lightwave now has more shading types..
everything is great as long as u adapt it to a productive workflow.
even oil colors are so much beter than acrylic paint but u dont have to always paint with them…
sometimes even a pencil is more useful :-)
nuff with the philosophical thoughts :-)
any ideas on the smooth shading istuff?
.btw lightwave now has more shading types..
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- Simon
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It's funny how such a simple thing exposes so many like bits of knowledge you need to have to work effectively in Houdini.
I think your problem comes from the way you have built your shape. I'm guessing that your corner bevels are made of only one face. The reason it then looks soft is that the normals are getting interpolated for the flat surfaces from normals that are at an angle to the surface that isn't perpendicular. If you append a facet sop you can harded the edges so that every surface renders nice and flat but that will include your bevels and isn't what you want either. In order to get soft bevels but flat faces you need to make sure you make your bevels out of more than one face so that by the time it turns into a flat face the normals are perpendicular.
Take a look at the attached and display the two facet sops and turn on the display of normals in the viewport. Hopefully that will explain it.
I think your problem comes from the way you have built your shape. I'm guessing that your corner bevels are made of only one face. The reason it then looks soft is that the normals are getting interpolated for the flat surfaces from normals that are at an angle to the surface that isn't perpendicular. If you append a facet sop you can harded the edges so that every surface renders nice and flat but that will include your bevels and isn't what you want either. In order to get soft bevels but flat faces you need to make sure you make your bevels out of more than one face so that by the time it turns into a flat face the normals are perpendicular.
Take a look at the attached and display the two facet sops and turn on the display of normals in the viewport. Hopefully that will explain it.
The trick is finding just the right hammer for every screw
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- edward
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I just realized why you might have everything cusped regardless of the angle. It suspect that the cusping is done between primitive normals. So perhaps not all of your polygon normals are consistently oriented. To see this, turn on Primitive Normals on the viewport's right toolbar and look at them.
As for your “mushy” question, I don't quite understand. In your pictures, it looks like you have some faceting. What have you done to your file?
BTW, what do you mean by “shading types”?
As for your “mushy” question, I don't quite understand. In your pictures, it looks like you have some faceting. What have you done to your file?
BTW, what do you mean by “shading types”?
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