Thanks for sharing, looks really useful. As Mantra will be outdated soon, I mean it already is, I think trying to do the same for Karma, would be more beneficial for the user.

All in all, textures looks great when applied.

Hi Iliazhao, this forum is a wrong place to post these kind of topics.

That was insane…only downside is that we need to wait 10 more days to get our hands on it. XD

Konstantin Magnus
Great initiative! Maybe you also display the shortcuts and add some (audio) comments for learners.

That is definitely a plan, don't worry. For now, I just figured because I practice a lot I might put those things online simply because you can get an idea of how things can work or how I work or how these tutorials might look, at least the workflows. There is so much potential and in the next few videos, you'll see why. Anyway, thanks for the comment ana I have a plan to upload videos where I talk as soon as H19 is out.

So guys, as promised, a few of you asked about me creating a YT channel about how I do DM in Houdini.

You can find me on my new YT channel. For now, I will be uploading videos that will give you an idea of how things could be done and those are basically my daily exercises, but still, I think it will show you the potential. I plan to post as much as possible, luckily I have a lot of ideas about what I wanna do. Fork as a first model has some kind of deeper meaning because I have started with a fork almost a decade ago in C4D, so I have found this appropriate for a first video.

I hope we all have fun and that you will enjoy the content and in the end have fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x78cuYgegHc [www.youtube.com]

You can also follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/ISeveric [twitter.com]
Or join my Discord channel https://discord.gg/GAgh74NRSU [discord.gg]

Grendizer
Hey Igor! Thanks for this new video. I didn't know about this trick : keep the "S" key pressed, and when you release it, the same function is called again. Very handy!
Unfortunately the Edge Divide tool is not a real answer to my problem as you cannot choose the new edges location. I think Sidefx needs to add this possibility.
Cheers

What about this buddy?

https://youtu.be/uwUq9q7NGpg [youtu.be]

What GCharb said. I use Dissolve or polyDraw when I need to delete edges. Also I would not say that C4D tools are poor. Those that are there are quite solid, its just there are many things that are missing.

GCharb

Daryl Dunlap
Why remove the SideFX branding, as if 'AskNK' authored the video?

Like I said, media jungle, but it does give Houdini 19 some attention, I wonder how SideFX sees these videos!

I am sure they have nothing against it. Its a free marketing that only benefits them and yea the guy who did a video, so in this case both side can be happy.

citizen

osong
and subd is absolutely same everywhere

Not sure if serious...

SIgor420
You can say the same for other DCC's. They are also missing some of Houdini's features

Yes, but we were talking about poly modeling just now.

SIgor420
Problem is, that you are expecting Houdini to have the same workflows as you see in C4D or Blender.

No, I don't. Some tools are poor, as in producing unexpected/weird results or missing some options, while others are downright missing. This is not an issue of preference/opinion/personal workflow/etc, they're empirically verifiable.

I saw your thread with the carriage and I hope you don't take it as a personal attack, but that's just not a very compelling showcase of modeling prowess. And even if it were, because I'm not saying that one can't model just about anything right now, I'm talking about the road of getting from A to B in Houdini, which is rather assiduous as it stands.

It looks to me that the users defending Houdini's DM capabilities, assume that the users criticizing it, have just not tried enough of Houdini's modeling. If only they'd change their mindsets...

No worries, I am not offended at all. What you are saying is true, but there are things within H that are missing from other DCCs and I am talking about poly modeling, not proceduralism.

I am coming from C4D environment and trust me, H has more tools than C4D has.
By saying all of that, I am not here to tell you that H is a perfect modeling tool and has everything you need, no not at all. ut with a bit more effort from SideFX it can be a really solid modeling solution, even now it's not far from it.

And you do need a different mindset for Houdini, no matter what you do simply because of node-based workflows. All in all, all DCC has their own PROS and CONS. I personally enjoy modelling in Houdini and even though I am more focused on DM, I still cannot resist doing things procedurally, its just fun for me.

@GCHarb
Exactly what you are saying, this is how I do things when modelling, it can be super satisfaing.

Anyway, seems like an awesome release for Houdini junkies. I am super curious about new Curve capabilities.

citizen

GCharb
you can model the exact same way in Houdini as you can in blender, and then some

I'm not a blender user, but many Houdini modeling tools for hard-surface modeling are poor (glitchy/requiring weird approaches/lacking in features), a few are good and some are simply missing.

You can say the same for other DCC's. They are also missing some of Houdini's features and not every tool works perfectly. Problem is, that you are expecting Houdini to have the same workflows as you see in C4D or Blender. Mindset is an issue. Some modeling solutions in H are just wonderful, and DM is definitely a thing in Houdini.

Things start to be more interesting when you start combing the best of both worlds, DM and Procedural modeling.

The images below are all done with DM...

GCharb

JalexM
Until Houdini has modeling tools like Blender, I'll never leave!
The best for me is a combination of both. Blender for the simple stuff and modeling and Houdini for the rest.

You can model the exact same way in Houdini as you can in Blender, and then some, you just don't know how, the new pie menu in Blender comes directly from Houdini, as do the new geometry nodes, which is a pale copy of the geometry nodes that comes with Houdini, and at least in Houdini when you create a sphere it stays parametric, in Blender as soon as you deselect it there is no way to modify its parameters, which is insane in 2021!

Actually, you cant, what I meant is you, cant model, in Blender, Cinema 4D or Maya like you could in Houdini. Houdini has a unique approach in DM and sometimes it can be a blast and sometimes it can be a pain. But like you said, you really need to know how to utilize all these nodes and workflows to be able to enjoy it. I definitely enjoy modeling in Houdini and have no plans to model anywhere else anytime soon. With some more improvements and additional new features, it can be a super solid package for DM.

Grendizer
Hey Igor and Julca. Thanks for the very informative video and GIF! I watched everything. These solutions are good but nowhere as fast as XSI's tools. However, I will use them.

So I think the best is for SideFX to modify the Edge Loop tool just a bit.
- If no edge is selected prior to clicking the "Edge Loop" button, it would behave just as today.
- If some edges are selected prior to clicking the "Edge Loop" button, it would subdivide just the selected edges.

So I think I'll send an RFE.
Thanks!!
David

EDIT : RFE sent. But before posting a RFE, it would be nice to check previous RFE's. Is there a way to do that?

Would this be fast enough?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hyvtwrkc43htrsw/edge_divide.mov?dl=0 [www.dropbox.com]

Looks promising. How is it procedural? Can you change some parameters to make changes without destroying the looks?

Dont get to excited about XPU. It is incredibly complex to develop, plus it need loads of VRAM to be utilised. So keep your expectations low. We probably gonna see first iteration of it which will be super buggy, but hey once done right, its gonna be a blast.

Thanks, guys. I've been doing a smaller scale project and it's crashing a lot, especially when trying to render things. But that could be due to 3RD party render engine. Also, Viewport is killing me sometimes and does not display correct info to that point I have to restart Houdini.

I think we are missing one image!

andregodinh

SIgor420
Welcome to Houdini world(I also come from C4D ). I am not animation but I have noticed that Blast nodes can have a big impact on your performance and I can see you are using quite some. Together with deformers, I don't think they are the best combo when animating. I might be wrong though. Simply try Bypass Blast nodes and try how is the performance.

Thanks for your answer SIgor420! I've also noticed that blast nodes can impact performance a lot, specially on more complex geometry - my guess is that if you cache the blasts, avoiding the node calculating every frame, can help. But in this case, even if I deactivate the blast nodes, the animation is still slow. It's probably because of all the bend nodes, but I'm still not sure about alternatives...

Your welcome. I wish I could help more. You can try using KiniFX and Delete node instead. I think it has better performance. Also, KiniFX is not that hard to use.

Welcome to Houdini world(I also come from C4D ). I am not animation but I have noticed that Blast nodes can have a big impact on your performance and I can see you are using quite some. Together with deformers, I don't think they are the best combo when animating. I might be wrong though. Simply try Bypass Blast nodes and try how is the performance.

Andrea Sbabo
Just to hype it up and to not make you guys sleep in the next days:

Talk Houdini 19 Reveal on Mon Oct 18 from 18:00-20:00 CET
Talk Karma XPU, MaterialX, & Vellum Grains in Houdini 19 on Tue Oct 19 from 09:00-10:00 CET
Talk Using Vellum Fluids & Crowd Updates in Houdini 19 on Tue Oct 19 from 10:15-11:15 CET

From VIEW conference program

Karma XPU :O Now we are talking... let's see what else will blow our minds.

julca

SIgor420
Unfortunately, no such tool exists to my knowledge but there are some workarounds you could do.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8eantk0jr8tz4oo/cutting%20edges.mp4.mov?dl=0 [www.dropbox.com]

Please download the video, because DB preview quality is super bad. Hope it helps...

Hello,

@SIgor420, Thank you for the video, just a note about knife tool that is good but generate unshared edges on primitive border selection.
cf. quik gif to simple workaround

@Grendizer, As I also come from softimage I also remember frustation about edge divide tool !
Feel free to submit RFE is needed.

I have noticed that too, you could also see that in the video when I am trying to make a polySplit cut. I will report this as its really not good behavior and I am usually agains workarounds, especially if they could be easily avoided.