Houdini 18 Sneak Peak
https://vimeo.com/370444569/015dadf810 [vimeo.com]

Lots of great stuff in there. I am really excited about the Sparse Volumes which look like they'll reduce computation times by a good bit.

Once again Houdini is poised to widen its lead even more from the competition.

Can't wait!

“Widget library for custom text and 3D drawables with python API”

Does it means that we can now create our own visualizers for the viewport?
What are 3D drawables?

Andr
What are 3D drawables?

https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/hom/hou/Drawable.html [www.sidefx.com]

Thank you SideFX! These are exactly the kind of updates that reminds me of what a good idea it was for me to dump everything Autodesk. It's clear SideFX is focused on supporting their users.

-Paul

Whats a verbified sop? Compilable?

BTW…if anyone is listening…I'd love to see a tutorial for that awesome building being split into two. It looks stunning!

I love the adaptive flip!

Jim Rutherford
Whats a verbified sop? Compilable?

It's compilable and can be used with Python verb.

WOW and holy moly that is a very good update.

Best +
viewport 3d zoom and pan.
sparse solver
flip efficiency
Karma
USD/Hydra
FEM - maybe…

Didn't see -
CurveSOP 2.0
Resizable viewport panes
Builtin UI colorpicker / at least color picker in Python Pane
removing flash of Netboxes with intramovements
State record of viewport settings
Vellum muscles competitive with Zyva
Network groups with visible state records
Animation Editor UX artist simplicity
!MacOS bugfixes!
Tablet scroll of parameter pane
Multi-select tree hierarchy
Flood-fill selection to RMB

goat
Builtin UI colorpicker / at least color picker in Python Pane

Right click on a color parameter. “Color Picker Tool…”

goat
Vellum muscles competitive with Zyva

I am guessing you mean Ziva? They are moving into that direction by implementing this Paper [graphics.pixar.com] for FEM. Ziva also uses FE methods as a base. Also the option of independent point densities for Vellum will make that easier.

While I agree with the CurveSOP, it is a bit of

Can't wait for such a big release.
No Curve SOP 2.0, a little disappointed, though.
Also, for game dev, a renderer like EEVEE is way useful than another offline renderer Karma.

anvdev
Resizable viewport panes

So “3D drawables” is something already available.
Then I can't really figure out what the update means regarding them, as I'm just starting with python states…

I have a bad feeling about Karma, I don't think it will be available as an output renderer in H18, only as a viewport renderer.. I hope I'm wrong because even if it's only a beta, I'm sure some less complex works done by small teams or freelancers could be benefit from it's speed improvement over Mantra…

the good: more sim less surf.
the bad: neglected OPs.
the ugly: lops (probably), and tops is still in there.

jarenas
I have a bad feeling about Karma, I don't think it will be available as an output renderer in H18, only as a viewport renderer..

Karma can render directly to disk.

USD/Hydra integration was the whole cake for me. I really didnt expect anything more than that. USD will change the way content is created/matured/stored.

You need to dream bigger Daryl!

Andr

anvdev
Resizable viewport panes

So “3D drawables” is something already available.
Then I can't really figure out what the update means regarding them, as I'm just starting with python states…

Drawables have been extended in H18 to support geometry mesh and text drawing with python states. Check out `$HH/viewer_states/examples/advanced_drawables_demo.hip` for a demo.

If you are new with python states, make sure to look at the viewer state code generator available in the Type Operator Editor and the Viewer State Browser.