I'm trying to test the Alembic export from Houdini.
I've created a very simple scene with a couple of geometry objects, a camera and a light.
I created an Alembic ROP in the Out context and set the output file to output a file output.abc to the $HIP folder.
When I click on render the Alembic ROP turns red stripped and no output file is created.
Can anyone suggest what I am doing wrong?
Found 37 posts.
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Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Alembic Export - How to get it working
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Houdini Lounge » OSX Mountain Lion released
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Houdini Lounge » Question about the Mantra Surface material
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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The reason the balance between reflections and diffuse must be set manually is that objects may also absorb light instead of reflecting it or re-radiating it to the scene (think of a matt black surface…). By setting the diffuse and reflection levels manually you can determine how much light is absorbed, which would not be possible if the adjustment was made by Houdini automatically.
On the Mantra Surface Material the “Conserve Energy” parameter is on the settings tab and is checked by default, it prevents the shader increasing the amount of light in the scene, it does NOT automatically adjust the Diffuse Amount to compensate for reflection amount.
Search Houdini documentation using the phrase “surface model” for more details, it's all there.
The problem is that you can't find it if you search using “Mantra Surface Material”! although there is a link under in the document for the Mantra Surface Material it's easy to overlook it.
I hope that helps.
On the Mantra Surface Material the “Conserve Energy” parameter is on the settings tab and is checked by default, it prevents the shader increasing the amount of light in the scene, it does NOT automatically adjust the Diffuse Amount to compensate for reflection amount.
Search Houdini documentation using the phrase “surface model” for more details, it's all there.
The problem is that you can't find it if you search using “Mantra Surface Material”! although there is a link under in the document for the Mantra Surface Material it's easy to overlook it.
I hope that helps.
Houdini Lounge » Question about the Mantra Surface material
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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In CG Specularity is used to mean the reflection of highlights from lights, this is wrong, in Physics Specularity means smoothness, a very smooth object is highly specular whether or not it is reflecting something. An example is glass, which is highly specular, but not very reflective. Another example is white cloth, which is highly reflective but not smooth at all. The terms Reflect Lights and Reflect Objects are much clearer and this is how Houdini presents reflections.
Houdini separates reflection into Reflect Lights and Reflect Objects. The Specular parameters are retained to allow you to create conventional CG Effects, which you need when using point lights. The setup therefore allows you to use either conventional CG lighting approach or a Physically correct lighting approach.
Technically for a Physical Renderer you don't need specularity at all, it is redundant, as reflection would cover both lights and objects. Specularity is only present as a parameter to deal with the problem of point light sources that are infinitely small.
You may find the video “Shader Interface Design for Artists”, from CGMasters, of interest:
http://online.cg-masters.com/videos/software/6 [online.cg-masters.com]
Houdini separates reflection into Reflect Lights and Reflect Objects. The Specular parameters are retained to allow you to create conventional CG Effects, which you need when using point lights. The setup therefore allows you to use either conventional CG lighting approach or a Physically correct lighting approach.
Technically for a Physical Renderer you don't need specularity at all, it is redundant, as reflection would cover both lights and objects. Specularity is only present as a parameter to deal with the problem of point light sources that are infinitely small.
You may find the video “Shader Interface Design for Artists”, from CGMasters, of interest:
http://online.cg-masters.com/videos/software/6 [online.cg-masters.com]
Technical Discussion » Ack! MacOS viewport slooooow
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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I also have this issue.
The viewport is almost unusably slow with some scenes.
In addition, the GL2.1 viewport seems worse than the H11 viewport!
MacBook Pro 17 (early 2011), 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1024 MB, 750GB, OS X Lion 10.7.3
The viewport is almost unusably slow with some scenes.
In addition, the GL2.1 viewport seems worse than the H11 viewport!
MacBook Pro 17 (early 2011), 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1024 MB, 750GB, OS X Lion 10.7.3
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » HQ cloud render
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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I would submit a bug report.
You can do this here http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=768&Itemid=239 [sidefx.com]
I am still using Mac OS X 10.6.8.
Other users appear to have issues with HQueue Cloud Render on Mac OS X Lion.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=24835 [sidefx.com]
You can do this here http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=768&Itemid=239 [sidefx.com]
I am still using Mac OS X 10.6.8.
Other users appear to have issues with HQueue Cloud Render on Mac OS X Lion.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=24835 [sidefx.com]
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » HQ cloud render
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Have you tried creating a new key on Amazon and copy pasting this into Houdini?
You don't say which build of Mac OS X and Houdini you are using, which makes it hard for anyone to help…
You don't say which build of Mac OS X and Houdini you are using, which makes it hard for anyone to help…
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Resize Smoke Box Tutorial with Object
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Thanks for your replies.
The point of the Jeff's tutorial was to do the resizing in SOPs, rather than DOPs, to make the process “more artist friendly”.
The padding is applied to the bound node in the fluid_resize object.
Loaded the project and hit play this morning and it worked fine.
Load a previous version that I know doesn't work to see if I could fix it.
Then reloaded the previously working version and it doesn't work even after restarting Houdini!
So I think it is a software issue. Will see if I can reproduce it and if so report to SideFX.
In the meantime back to the SOPSolver in DOPS!
The point of the Jeff's tutorial was to do the resizing in SOPs, rather than DOPs, to make the process “more artist friendly”.
The padding is applied to the bound node in the fluid_resize object.
Loaded the project and hit play this morning and it worked fine.
Load a previous version that I know doesn't work to see if I could fix it.
Then reloaded the previously working version and it doesn't work even after restarting Houdini!
So I think it is a software issue. Will see if I can reproduce it and if so report to SideFX.
In the meantime back to the SOPSolver in DOPS!
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Resize Smoke Box Tutorial with Object
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Hello,
I have been following Jeff Wagner's tutorial on resizing a fluid container.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1939&Itemid=216 [sidefx.com]
Once I had the first stage complete, with the fluid container resizing correctly, I saved the project. On reopening the project the next day the simulation no longer worked.
I repeated the steps in a new project, got it working, saved. Reopened and the same thing happened, the simulation does not produce any smoke.
Tried this in both Houdini Production Builds: 11.1.118 and 11.1.201.
Can anyone throw some light on this!
Project file attached.
Many thanks in advance for taking a look.
I have been following Jeff Wagner's tutorial on resizing a fluid container.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1939&Itemid=216 [sidefx.com]
Once I had the first stage complete, with the fluid container resizing correctly, I saved the project. On reopening the project the next day the simulation no longer worked.
I repeated the steps in a new project, got it working, saved. Reopened and the same thing happened, the simulation does not produce any smoke.
Tried this in both Houdini Production Builds: 11.1.118 and 11.1.201.
Can anyone throw some light on this!
Project file attached.
Many thanks in advance for taking a look.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Rendering PyroFX Simulations on
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Yes,
Cached simulations are in sub-folders
/bgeo/LowResPyro
/bgeo/UpResPyro
The pre-flight shows these as green, i.e. in the correct location(s).
Cached simulations are in sub-folders
/bgeo/LowResPyro
/bgeo/UpResPyro
The pre-flight shows these as green, i.e. in the correct location(s).
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Rendering PyroFX Simulations on
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Hello,
I am having a problem rendering PyroFX simulations on the Cloud when the simulation is cached to bgeo files.
What happens is that the simulation renders fine locally.
However, when I submit the project to render on the Cloud the simulation is not rendered, all images come back black.
If I switch from using the cached simulation to simulating in real time and resubmit to the cloud the simulation renders fine, albeit much more slowly.
Is it possible to render on the cloud using the cached files to save re-simulating, which is very time consuming and pushes up the cost?
If so what do you need to do to get the render working with the cached simulation on the cloud.
I am having a problem rendering PyroFX simulations on the Cloud when the simulation is cached to bgeo files.
What happens is that the simulation renders fine locally.
However, when I submit the project to render on the Cloud the simulation is not rendered, all images come back black.
If I switch from using the cached simulation to simulating in real time and resubmit to the cloud the simulation renders fine, albeit much more slowly.
Is it possible to render on the cloud using the cached files to save re-simulating, which is very time consuming and pushes up the cost?
If so what do you need to do to get the render working with the cached simulation on the cloud.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » HQ cloud render
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Hi Rob,
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
I just tested again, the problem is that after I press the button “Yes, Proceed”, on the Submission Confirmation Screen nothing happens, there is no feedback at all.
Am I right in saying that a browser should appear?
I had a look to see if there a cloudsubmit.log had been created, but there hadn't.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
I just tested again, the problem is that after I press the button “Yes, Proceed”, on the Submission Confirmation Screen nothing happens, there is no feedback at all.
Am I right in saying that a browser should appear?
I had a look to see if there a cloudsubmit.log had been created, but there hadn't.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » HQ cloud render
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
- Offline
I have the same issue. I have been trying to set up HQueue Cloud Render for Houdini Apprentice HD 11.1.67, on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8.
You do need to install HQueue Server for cloud render, if you don't then you won't see the HQueue node in Houdini, which you need to setup and run the cloud render.
Unfortunately when you run the Houdini 10.6.7 installer with the HQueue Server installation option, the installer fails at the end of the installation; as far as I can tell it installs Houdini fine, but does not install HQueue Server correctly. So, when you setup your HQueue Cloud Render it all goes fine until you submit the render to Amazon, and then the HQueue Browser does not launch and nothing happens.
I opened a bug report regarding this with SFX yesterday.
Please do the same and submit a bug report to SFX at http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=768&Itemid=239 [sidefx.com], this will help them fix it quicker, as they will know it is affecting other Mac OS X users. There support is very good, they come back to you very quickly.
You do need to install HQueue Server for cloud render, if you don't then you won't see the HQueue node in Houdini, which you need to setup and run the cloud render.
Unfortunately when you run the Houdini 10.6.7 installer with the HQueue Server installation option, the installer fails at the end of the installation; as far as I can tell it installs Houdini fine, but does not install HQueue Server correctly. So, when you setup your HQueue Cloud Render it all goes fine until you submit the render to Amazon, and then the HQueue Browser does not launch and nothing happens.
I opened a bug report regarding this with SFX yesterday.
Please do the same and submit a bug report to SFX at http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=768&Itemid=239 [sidefx.com], this will help them fix it quicker, as they will know it is affecting other Mac OS X users. There support is very good, they come back to you very quickly.
Houdini Lounge » cmiVFX 50% Sale
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
- Offline
Thanks for the heads up,
Great offer.
Purchased the All Houdini Video Kit and some CINEMA 4D videos on Saturday.
Great offer.
Purchased the All Houdini Video Kit and some CINEMA 4D videos on Saturday.
Technical Discussion » Help Search Help Broken in 11.1.60 (Build 60)?
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Houdini Lounge » Poor viewport performance on the new MacBook PRO 17"
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Have you applied the latest OS X and EFI Firmware updates? if not run Software Update and apply these.
Technical Discussion » Help Search Help Broken in 11.1.60 (Build 60)?
- Charles Kirk
- 37 posts
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Hi,
I just installed build 11.1.60, unfortunately the help search function no longer works instead of results, I get the following:
URL: http://localhost:48626/find?q=render [localhost]
Module paste.evalexception.middleware:306 in respond
>> app_iter = self.application(environ, detect_start_response)
Module houdinihelp.wsgi:315 in dispatcher
Module houdinihelp.wsgi:214 in findapp
Module houdinihelp.wsgi:189 in query_results
AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘AndGroup’
extra data
It still works when I revert to build 11.1.22.
Is anyone else experiencing this issue?
OS X 10.6.8, Houdini 11.1.60
I just installed build 11.1.60, unfortunately the help search function no longer works instead of results, I get the following:
URL: http://localhost:48626/find?q=render [localhost]
Module paste.evalexception.middleware:306 in respond
>> app_iter = self.application(environ, detect_start_response)
Module houdinihelp.wsgi:315 in dispatcher
Module houdinihelp.wsgi:214 in findapp
Module houdinihelp.wsgi:189 in query_results
AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘AndGroup’
extra data
It still works when I revert to build 11.1.22.
Is anyone else experiencing this issue?
OS X 10.6.8, Houdini 11.1.60
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