Abdelharg:
its all about your ATI. I don't know what chip you have but unless it's ATI FIRE your are in trouble, because Houdini won't use OpenGL at all our crash after while. You can work in software mode with env. variable: HOUDINI_OGL_SOFTWARE.


willkommen!
SYmek


sum][one:


you prepared video tutorials for Houdini and nobody knows it!? Shame on you! :wink:

havn't you read that yet!?:

http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=2852 [mag.awn.com]




Everything you would like to know about “Houdini in The Wild” but you were afraid of asking.

yes, there is one system for hair generation in Houdini:

export your model and make hair outside Houdini… its called (a)side effect


cheers,
SYmek


PS read this http://odforce.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2208 [odforce.net]

not for begginers thought…

I'm curious if its a known behavior that mantra crashes if it renders with -n parameter (multi process) and in the same time camera has cropped view via Crop Tab in Camera Properties. Can I crop window in other way - not so disturbing for mantra?

thanks for advice,
SYmek

Shops and textures are the mantra area. Mantra can't “see” what is going on in Houdini. It just read archive (ifd, geo, pic) and render file. So your problem is more a scripting challenge then pure Houdini setup. As I suppose, you need script which will go through several steps for every frame:

1. manage your texture render cam in COPS via ROP render
2. then postprocess frame in COPs
3. render final COP
4. and then fireup new render with previously rendered frame as a texture on your object

and just like that frame by frame.

quite easy, but I still don't understand why you just can't render your texture first, then aply texture and render it again?


cheers,
SYmek

truth, truth…

I see some misunderstanding here: Shake Iff's format - freely licenced for Alias Maya (Shake developer wrote Maya's flipbook) - has nothing to do with old fashon amiga iffs… it's different file format. It supports arbitrary number of channels, 8,16,32bits per channels, it can be compressed (by adding gz extension after *.iff ) it starts form lower left corner (important issue) and finaly… yes, it fully supports TILING. Shake can also save in it aditional information like its own DOD paramiters.

But of course tiff rulez! This is my choice also, whenever going out of Shake.


cheers,
SYmek


PS Edward, I almost never use lzw,rle etc. , I know that compression will slow down reading a file. But even without it, filein routine can be good or bad coded. Have you ever tried Silicon Grail RAYZ? The fastest viewer ever seen! As you know everything starts from simple C headers and librares…

it's a matter of speed of disk operations, Shake is soooo fast with its internal iff format… quite important for compositors. If you work on shake, work on iffs. 30%faster reading a file (then tiff with lzw) x 20 layers in 2K… this makes different.


cheers,
symek

Its very useful! Thanks! Writer is also expected since quite often you have to render for Shake. Iffs are best choice for it. No reason to rise war against Apple/Alias on that field. It's worse for H. then for them.

windows version… why not, so please add these few lines to your code

cheers,
SYmek

…that's interesting. Do you know the price for leasing Houdini Master?

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=5234 [sidefx.com]

nothing more to say..,

Funny or even bizzar is your level of frustration first on Houdini, later on its community (!?). Especially that as you said, you have no idea of what kind of software you are talking about (!) As you mentioned, Sony leaves copyright-protect software on your machine without warrnings or user agreements. This is a reason to be angry. SESI leaves licences services because it's a COMMON practise&need to have many Houdini sub-versions on one machine (8.022, 8.038, 8.045 etc) - if you need to uninstall one of them you typically don't want to uninstall license server. You can do it in literally tree steps - if you are familiar with your tool. This is actual need of professional users, what should be pretty clear after reading list of Houdini's involved movies.
Have you ever tried to uninstall 3Dequalizer or Avid DS? You are lucky if you can install them first… peace pipe!

cheers,
SYmek.

i don't understand your angry…

after stoped your problem makers in Services, swich it to disabled, then go to windows/system32/ and remove them manually…

if you really need to use specialized, professional software and you have just spent on it 17K$, you don't mind such details… if you mind, use something else… child toy :wink:


cheers,
Symek.

PS and… yes, actually it's funny.

I'm not really sure about these numbers of movies with Houdini on board… This should be concluded by SESI, how many liceneses they sell every year… do they have enough money to develop Houdini in way they want and recharge them self twise a year on Hawai.

I'm also not offended by the opinion that there is a nonsense to think that SESI is not interested with growing of their community. There was some oversinplifiing actually in my state. It should goes like this:

Do you know that some kind of books can't cost too less because nobody would buy it, the first in series mayby yes but another not? Some fancy ilustrated book on modern art, for example. This is paintful for students, but nessesery for publishers life. There are marketing strategy in which you take in acount such facts. Ferrari would like to sell as much cars as possible in so far as this wouldn't lead to farrari on every steet corner. Ferrari is too expensive to repair under guarantee so it wouldn't be a good buisness! Ferrari must become different to be successfuly sold in millions. The name for this is market divesification.

Unfortunately Houdini won't have much sense in parts. You can't spend 6K$ for modern software without particles and dynamic engine! Houdini with SOPs&COPs only would be worse and less effective then LightWave and THIS would be really bad for Houdini Master which should have the opinion: best of the best - to be sell with succes.

ok, let's finish it. I understand your frustration, this would be my case also if I would make 3D-effects. Fortunately I asking for them . Do you know what is it all about? It's about love. You really love Houdini so much that you would like to see it everywhere and be pround of it. I understand this because it's my case also. But, to be honesty: if WETA can use Maya for most of their work, you can also.

Do you know why Alias changed thier strategy? This was jump for money. Thay know that business is growing. 3D is becoming common practice, movies are just top of this mountian, Matrix is everywhere and year by year it will be more realistic - virtually of course. If they wouldn't do it, someone else would catch that cash. This has nothing to do with passions of few guys who changed the industry standards in 3d applications. If you imagine three or four guys just after thier studies who dreem to do something new, have vision and want to earn with it for life, houses, cars, and free time, you get the idea. I'm not talking about SESI. It can be true or not, doesn't matter. Let's say Shake; was written by compositors frustrated with absense of good tools for their job. Compare it with Toxic orginates: just marketing policy of gigant: if every shot in every movie needs compositing nowadays - we glue the code we have and do horrible tool for hudge work on this - we can sell it, don't worry, we have practise in it.

Behind every software there are the people and their passions OR blind passions of earning millions practised by people who have never seen their product on screen. The importense is in a balasne. If SESI will go bankrupt I was wrong .

cheers,
SYmek.

there is something in it actually….
Houdini is targeted for BIG studios not for freelacers what can be seen from above mentioned facts… is it the right way of thinking? I don't know. I think that SESI owners are much closer “these guys” from “Hollywood” and never had the ambition to be worldwide software supplier - this politic has some sense actually: much less stress and efforts then in case of milions of clients, better support for sparces, software well-tailored for special order…

For a big company there is absolutely no difference if software cost is about 5K, 10K, 20K or 25K. Houdini is not the most expensive software in their house anyway. Specilly if they get mantra unlimited build-in. But for a smaller studios it is a difference.

Let's count:

17K / (POP+SOP+DOP+COP+RenderPlus) ~ 3,5K$ the prise for Houdini divisions. Let's say I want to use SOP+COP with 3 mantra licenses… basic TV works. This would be Softimage or Maya like which is ok, specilly with 2D compositor included. But does SESI really wants to be competitor for them? Avid and Alias have changed their targets recently to be more common usage software but Houdini was never supposed to be such app.
Do you really think that Discreet is interested do change Inferno prise? Infenro IS the 0,5milion$ baby…


ok, let's say next month I need best effects package on the world so I buy again POP+DOP+3xmantra licenses for another ~6K. This is ok, any specialized software costs so much (Endorpin, Massive, Nuke, RenderMan etc etc)

Next year I'm going to make a big movie so I need RenderMan support and unlimited mantra - so I buy these for another 5K… and we have 17K.

Of course it is so easy on monitor, what about SHOPS, VOPS, characters, program versions, parts integrations, and these tousands of new users, who have their rights, need support, expect extensive help. And who knows how many of these potentialy new users really exists and if there are enough of them to support new sofware…

Does it make any sense for SESI? Well, surely they know all of this and much more, so it must be a reason for their politic (like not being a competitor for Autodesk or Avid which could be stressful, painful and unprofitable…)

I really would like to see more Houdini out there, as you guys, but it doesn't mean that SESI would like it too. Being the worldwide supplier changes your life and your company, maybe they really don't want it?
If someone makes special equipment for Hable telescope this doesn't mean that he would like to make camera lenses for Sony as well.

best,
symek.

PS Does Houdini Master should have two versions: without unlimited Mantra and RenderMan support for ~10K and current version..?

ok, two words from me:

The reason for which Houdini is not so easy to learn: because it's not just a program, more the way of thinking. I realized that problems with learning it are very similar to problems which occured when one try to learn programming language. It is not enough to “know” all functions, keywords, globals, locals etc etc to really be ready for coding big application.

The same with Houdini, you can know every SOP, COP, CHOP, POP, VOP, and still it doesn't mean you are the Master! Like in programming, you recognize good one from his style, five line of tricky code! Houdini Master needs two SOPs: Point SOP, and Copy/Stamp SOP to achieve amazing stuff. One must understand the virtual power of almost every ~OP in Houdini to use it succeessful.

thanks for advice!

link to shaders from here:

http://www.digitalpostproduction.com/Htm/Features/2000/HoudiniVEX/HoudiniVex1.htm [digitalpostproduction.com]

is here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=38ZZJUHX [megaupload.com]

you suppose or does not suppose…? no problem I can send you these shaderes… I don't think there are some copyright issues here.

Although… you know, I'm sitting right now at the very nice lakeshore (8:00 pm) deep in the wild forest watching three beatyfull herons standing 30 meters from me. Bach plays on my notebook like on his own keyboards. My bare feeds swim in a cold water. I wonder why these shy birds don't afraid of Johann..? some Houdini's magic… (and why do I have to check my mailbox right now!?)



do you suppose you want these shaders or don't?

best,
symek.

I have sent you private massage with attachment. I'm not sure if it works. If not, give me a call, I will send you again requested shaders!

best,
symek

kind of misunderstanding:

houdini is not a 3dstudioMax, in which case you have thousands of books, tutorials and it's clear that if somebody publishes another materials, he wants to present some new quality in it.

In Houdini case everybody perfecty knows the common level of understanding in community, because all of us except profesionals and veterans knows Houdini from two sourcees: 3dBuzz VTMs and SESI video tutorials introduced in H 5.5. From that point of view, publishing DVD which clearly ignore the situation in community is, as I sad, not well considered.

It's hard to imagine for me, that anybody who knows VTMs and SESI video would be satisfied with Gnomon DVD. Maybe I'm wrong. I didn't say that is not usefull, I sad that you can get much more and for free from VTMs and SESI. So, I expected some more from such a specialist as Mr Garman.

Ok. lets finish it.