Hi there,
I'm working on a basic scene with two area lights, one gi light and one env light. Studio backdrop and main object in the center, and I'm using Mantra PBR.
From what I've seen in the previous tests I did in order to get acquainted with Houdini, whenever I change a parameter, if auto-update is ticked in my Render View, then I see the changes automatically applied to the render.
This time though I'm getting some odd issues. When I tweak one light, I don't see any changes (although Mantra starts re-rendering as if there actually was a change). If I tweak the material, same story, I don't see any changes. The only way to really see what's happening when I tweak values, and by stopping the render and re starting it manually.
Is that a bug or a normal behavior?
Should I post more details about the scene? Perhaps I can post the scene if it's needed in order to figure out what is the issue.
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Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Render preview weird behavior
- verysame
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Houdini Indie and Apprentice » How to? Render scheduler to check render time it's confusing
- verysame
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Thank you MartybNz,
that works, I hoped there was a way to get the same with the render view tab.
that works, I hoped there was a way to get the same with the render view tab.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » How to? Render scheduler to check render time it's confusing
- verysame
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Houdini Indie and Apprentice » How to? Render scheduler to check render time it's confusing
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Hi there,
very basic question: if I'm not mistaken in order to check how long a render takes, I just need to look at the render scheduler.
If that's true, then I'm wondering how can I actually keep track of the time needed for a render, since the scheduler keeps counting the time spent even once the render is done.
One simple img took a min. or two, then I switched to another job, and when I looked back at the scheduler the time was 40min., which is not what I was expecting.
I must be missing something, it's kinda confusing..
very basic question: if I'm not mistaken in order to check how long a render takes, I just need to look at the render scheduler.
If that's true, then I'm wondering how can I actually keep track of the time needed for a render, since the scheduler keeps counting the time spent even once the render is done.
One simple img took a min. or two, then I switched to another job, and when I looked back at the scheduler the time was 40min., which is not what I was expecting.
I must be missing something, it's kinda confusing..
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Rendering EXTREMELY slow
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MartybNzverysame
Now, if (and considered my lack of knowledge for me it's a big if) this is the case, and simple scenes is not where Mantra shines in terms of speed, I'm wondering what would stop SideFx to address this situation (and hopefully they will do).
I think you could start by defining the exact criteria of your needs for motion graphics in terms of the visual qualities. i.e. noise-free, no indirect lighting motion-blur etc. then send some tests into SideFx.
Yes, I'm actually thinking to do a comparison test, which for me means start learning first, and then compare.
Basically I'm thinking to take some 3ds Max project from my work, export it to Houdini (and if I'm not mistaken I believe I can import alembic in the apprentice version) and try to re-create the same render, getting light setup as close as possible. Then, figure out how to tweak Mantra settings in order to get the best. At that point I will submit. The whole process should give me (I hope) a basic introduction of Houdini/Mantra.
But first I need to learn!
(the sad emoticon is due to the lack of time vs. how bad I'd like to start learning it)
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Rendering EXTREMELY slow
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MickeyH
Thanks for taking the time to answer, Marty, really appreciate it.
If I am getting you right, you are saying that mantra will perform comparatively better in more complex scenes (=more demanding of calculations), because Houdini does not help mantra in simple scenes.
Is there a technique/setting to somehow make Houdini kick in to speed up the render?
Not that I would want to render cubes all the time;-), but sometimes you just have simple Geo.
I guess I will try some dynamics to compare again.
What difference exactly did you mean by 10% - difference houdini to cinema 4d or your to my render time in houdini ?
Again, thanks for helping out.
MickeyH,
I'm in your same situation. I'm just starting looking at Houdini in my spare time.
Coming from 3ds Max/Vray and working in the motion graphics business, renders time play a very important role for me. What's working great for my needs right now is knowing that if I need to render a complex scene, Pflow or anything else, I can rely on Vray's speed and quality. But of course the same remains true if I need to render simple scenes, which actually happens more often than one would imagine (because it's a fast turnaround, or maybe what is needed it's just a proof of concept or simply because client needs plain, clean scenes).
I didn't get to the point where I know Mantra to such a level that would allow me to know whether simple scenes require longer times than expected because it is just the way Mantra works or because I didn't tweak the proper settings. From what I'm hearing, though, it seems it is true the former, and Mantra just gives its best when it comes to bake crazy amount of data.
Now, if (and considered my lack of knowledge for me it's a big if) this is the case, and simple scenes is not where Mantra shines in terms of speed, I'm wondering what would stop SideFx to address this situation (and hopefully they will do).
Technical Discussion » Blending two objects with ripple.
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pusat
Lower the volume resolution (voxel size) for faster playback.
Good to know, thank you pusat.
Houdini Lounge » What happened to Houdini Engine for 3ds Max?
- verysame
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That's a good news, I mean knowing that's in dev. and has not been abandoned.
Thanks mandrake0
Thanks mandrake0
Technical Discussion » Blending two objects with ripple.
- verysame
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Still, from newbie to newbie so, maybe I'm doing this totally wrong!!!
But since I'm moving my first steps it's kind of fun opening others' scene and try to figure things out.
I added an object merge, picking the mesh I want to use instead of the pig, and connecting to the xform. If I want to manipulate the new object, then I drop a transform node in between.
Did I get it right?
edit: ha! just noticed that I don't need a new xform node, I can simply use what pusat has added already
But since I'm moving my first steps it's kind of fun opening others' scene and try to figure things out.
I added an object merge, picking the mesh I want to use instead of the pig, and connecting to the xform. If I want to manipulate the new object, then I drop a transform node in between.
Did I get it right?
edit: ha! just noticed that I don't need a new xform node, I can simply use what pusat has added already
Houdini Lounge » What happened to Houdini Engine for 3ds Max?
- verysame
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It seems it was supposed to be released in late 2014:
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2754&Itemid=66 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2754&Itemid=66 [sidefx.com]
Technical Discussion » Blending two objects with ripple.
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As a total newbie here have no idea, but in the description there are links, perhaps they can be helpful?
http://qlab.github.io/qLib/ [qlab.github.io]
second one is in Japanese though
http://nomoreretake.net/2015/06/16/houdinicarbonfreezing/ [nomoreretake.net]
http://qlab.github.io/qLib/ [qlab.github.io]
second one is in Japanese though
http://nomoreretake.net/2015/06/16/houdinicarbonfreezing/ [nomoreretake.net]
Technical Discussion » No lights but the scene is not black
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Thank you both!
I think I was expecting to be black because in the Help I read:
I think I was expecting to be black because in the Help I read:
If you don’t have lights in the scene the render will come out black.
Technical Discussion » No lights but the scene is not black
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Assuming in my scene there are no lights, no hdri maps, just a simple plane and a sphere, I'm expecting to hit render and see nothing, just a black image.
Turns out I can see the objects with a basic minimal lighting.
The only case similar to this one that I'm aware of, is in C4D which comes with a default light when no lights are in the scene.
Unless Houdini share the same default setting, I don't understand where the light comes from. Is that normal?
My set up is Mantra PBR and a Camera.
Also, I didn't figure this out yet: when I add a camera and I start orbiting/panning the viewport, Houdini automatically switches to the viewport perspective but I think I've seen orbiting the Camera (I guess with hotkeys/mouse combination).
Turns out I can see the objects with a basic minimal lighting.
The only case similar to this one that I'm aware of, is in C4D which comes with a default light when no lights are in the scene.
Unless Houdini share the same default setting, I don't understand where the light comes from. Is that normal?
My set up is Mantra PBR and a Camera.
Also, I didn't figure this out yet: when I add a camera and I start orbiting/panning the viewport, Houdini automatically switches to the viewport perspective but I think I've seen orbiting the Camera (I guess with hotkeys/mouse combination).
Technical Discussion » Bridge and Extrusion like in Blender?
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McNistor
Play with houdini's modeling OPs by all means - it's a familiar ground as far as concepts go and will allow you to get in touch with the way Houdini works.
If you intend to model something more “serious” (perhaps even for a production god forbid) I strongly recommend you to keep modeling in Blender for the time being.
You'd probably reach that conclusion yourself soon enough, I just wanted to let you know “it's not you”
Good to know, thanks McNistor.
I'm still familiarizing with Houdini, that's why I thought it was a good idea starting from the basics. But since I'm mainly interested in particles, perhaps I can move on and skip some of the modelling for now, after all no matter what 3d app I use I always go back to Blender for more challenging modelling, at least I'm very familiar with it.
Enivob
There is a free Bridge modeling tool on Orbolt. If you don't know, Orbolt is kind of like the Blender Market place.
https://www.orbolt.com/asset/AlexeyVanzhula::bridgepolygons [orbolt.com]
Thanks for the heads up Enivob. Right now the site seems to be down, I'll try again later.
Technical Discussion » Bridge and Extrusion like in Blender?
- verysame
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Technical Discussion » Bridge and Extrusion like in Blender?
- verysame
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I'm moving my first steps into Houdini, starting with the quick start tutorials.
Right now I'm stuck with what I think it's a simple operation.
Just for the sake of learning, I'm creating a circle, extruding the faces and here I'm already noticing something which confuses me a little, let me show you with the help of some screen grabs:
circle
extrude & scale
delete unwanted poly
extrusion
unexpected, the base now is “empty”
preparing for polycap:
after polycap:
Now, let's do the same in Blender:
after extrusion
bottom is filled as well
pretending it wasn't and that the result was same as Houdini (let's delete bottom faces then)
select edge loops and bridge them out
done
mesh is clean, as it appears after a subsurf applied
So, I'm confused what happened in Houdini after the first extrusion and why after the poly cap geo is not clean.
Perhaps there's a different way to do this in Houdini..
Any hints?
Right now I'm stuck with what I think it's a simple operation.
Just for the sake of learning, I'm creating a circle, extruding the faces and here I'm already noticing something which confuses me a little, let me show you with the help of some screen grabs:
circle
extrude & scale
delete unwanted poly
extrusion
unexpected, the base now is “empty”
preparing for polycap:
after polycap:
Now, let's do the same in Blender:
after extrusion
bottom is filled as well
pretending it wasn't and that the result was same as Houdini (let's delete bottom faces then)
select edge loops and bridge them out
done
mesh is clean, as it appears after a subsurf applied
So, I'm confused what happened in Houdini after the first extrusion and why after the poly cap geo is not clean.
Perhaps there's a different way to do this in Houdini..
Any hints?
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Curious about Houdini, not sure should I learn it though
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mantragora
I think that the easiest way for you to jump in on the Houdini train would be to use Houdini Engine for 3dsmax, which is still in development and not even in Beta. But you could ask SESI, maybe they could contact you with the guy that develops it and pick you as one of the testers.
That way you could stay in Max and learn Houdini along the way.
That's interesting.
I've seen news popping out here and there about Houdini engine (I believe for C4D and.. Maya I guess?) but I didn't read what it is actually about.
I'll take a look and read something about it.
Thanks for the heads up.
Edit: oh, and you use Max too?
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Curious about Houdini, not sure should I learn it though
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Enivob
What do you have to lose?
Apprentice is a full version, except for watermark rendering, that never expires. Part of the problem I have with other software is that I may have good intentions on learning it and pull down a demo but by the time I get around to it the software has expired and I can no longer try it. With Houdini the trial period is as long as you like.
Well, I understand your point, in terms of what I have to lose there's actually the time factor. Learning a new applications takes time, and you don't know if at the end of the journey that's the app you needed or if you embraced a trip too long for your needs.
With 3ds Max it's been quite straight forward, I knew was pretty much good for motion graphics and I could rely on VRay in order to take some steps further from C4D render engine. What I didn't know was how much I could get from PFlow.
I guess at this point my question is:
1) Can learning Houdini be considered as easy as any other 3d app for what concerns general tasks (modelling, rendering, animation)?
If I can check mark that question, than my next question would be:
2) When it come to particles, do I need a deep level of knowledge, or can I mess around taking advantage of scenes and tools available around?
I know the second one is tricky, because it all depends on what I want to achieve. Let's say for now it's about something like this:
https://vimeo.com/98732317 [vimeo.com]
https://vimeo.com/51008275 [vimeo.com]
https://www.behance.net/gallery/5560557/quant [behance.net]
https://www.behance.net/gallery/5559623/search [behance.net]
http://emrah.ca/#/colr/ [emrah.ca]
My current knowledge of 3ds Max allows me to get quite close.
Last example for instance, color, I could do something similar in 3ds, but growing strands is not where it excels.
Or think to Tim Borgmann stuff..
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Curious about Houdini, not sure should I learn it though
- verysame
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Hi there,
my first post here.
First, a brief introduction. I've been working in the Motion Graphics industry for several years now. I started using C4D back in 2005. It was easy, the 3d app for mograph users and had one of the best integration with AE.
I never used Xpresso as my main interest is the design stage and what I always need it's something fast to deal with, in order to get the idea sketched out relatively fast.
Then I felt I wanted to learn more about particles and thus I started playing around with XSI. I loved ICE because I didn't need to have any particular math skills, yet I was able to take the available compounds that people were generously sharing on the net and mess around with them to get what I needed.
They killed Softimage and I moved to 3ds Max, which is now my weapon of choice. Fast modelling tools, Vray integration is some of the best on the market. To me is ideal solution in between motion graphics and vfx: great quality and versatility.
Where I'm stuck, though, is the particle side. PFlow is simple and I can do basic stuff, but I miss ICE. For instance, getting something like ICE strands in 3sd Max is just not possible.
That's where I get interested in Houdini. I never tried it, but from what I'm seeing it is definitely one of the best tool for particle simulation. My biggest concern is the techy side of it. From what I'm reading, in order to use it one needs to have some math knowledge.
So, long story short, I guess my question is: would make any sense looking at Houdini considering my main area of interest is motion graphics with particular attention to particles? All this considered I'm not a TD by any means.
Thanks for any info and sorry for the long introduction.
Best,
Andrew
my first post here.
First, a brief introduction. I've been working in the Motion Graphics industry for several years now. I started using C4D back in 2005. It was easy, the 3d app for mograph users and had one of the best integration with AE.
I never used Xpresso as my main interest is the design stage and what I always need it's something fast to deal with, in order to get the idea sketched out relatively fast.
Then I felt I wanted to learn more about particles and thus I started playing around with XSI. I loved ICE because I didn't need to have any particular math skills, yet I was able to take the available compounds that people were generously sharing on the net and mess around with them to get what I needed.
They killed Softimage and I moved to 3ds Max, which is now my weapon of choice. Fast modelling tools, Vray integration is some of the best on the market. To me is ideal solution in between motion graphics and vfx: great quality and versatility.
Where I'm stuck, though, is the particle side. PFlow is simple and I can do basic stuff, but I miss ICE. For instance, getting something like ICE strands in 3sd Max is just not possible.
That's where I get interested in Houdini. I never tried it, but from what I'm seeing it is definitely one of the best tool for particle simulation. My biggest concern is the techy side of it. From what I'm reading, in order to use it one needs to have some math knowledge.
So, long story short, I guess my question is: would make any sense looking at Houdini considering my main area of interest is motion graphics with particular attention to particles? All this considered I'm not a TD by any means.
Thanks for any info and sorry for the long introduction.
Best,
Andrew
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