Does anyone know how to use the new SideFX LABS Trim Texture Tool? I'm trying to figure it out and I haven't been able to, and there seems to be no documentation about it.

Anyone used it successfully?

there is some info here
https://vimeo.com/420544104#t=1169s [vimeo.com]

Don't think for a second that I haven't gone frame by frame on that presentation and still can't figure out what is being pumped into the right input. It's really frustrating actually.

seems like you use Trim Texture utility to specify your regions there

Thank you, your example clarifies a few things.

Hi,

Very late to the party, sorry.... But useful for others in the future.

We have example files for all labs tools on the repo. Check out: https://github.com/sideeffects/SideFXLabs/tree/Development/hip [github.com]

I know this isn't ideal and you need to know about the files.. But it is the best we can do with the docs/example files system that Houdini provides for non-native tools.

I'm experience a potential bug with the HE_TrimT_Tool, the "Initialize" button that is exposed on the HDA doesn't seem to update the Trim Strips count on the trim_texture_utility1 node that is inside HE_TrimT_Tool1

I'm testing within Unity and have session sync enabled so that I'm able to look at what the HDA is doing within Houdini.

The Trim Strips count seems to stay at 3, it never matches the count of unique color ID regions in the trim texture when clicking Initialize from within Unity.

If I unlock the HE_TrimT_Tool1 node within Houdini and then click Initialize on trim_texture_utility1 (within Houdini), it correctly updates the trim strip count.

I noticed the Initialize button has a Callback Script assigned on trim_texture_utility1, but the callback script is missing on the exposed Initialize button (when doing Edit Asset properties on the HW_TrimT_Tool)

I've tried deleting the exposed Initialize button and dragging the Initialize button from trim_texture_utility1 but it also lacks the script after doing so. I'm not sure if that is intended or where the issue is stemming from.

I've reported a bug through the SideFX bug reporter also, any help is appreciated!

Another bit of feedback with the automatic_trim_texture node is I'm getting poor results with adjusting the fitting preference.

The texture I'm using is similar to a workflow Id Software uses, where they use trim textures with defined UV region "hotspots", and a custom script for Modo then picks the best UV region for all the quads.

The UV hotspots are picked based on either best aspect ratio fit, or closest target texel density (when applied to the surface). There is also a similar script for Blender now.

I'm applying the automatic trim texture HDA to a cube using this trim texture and I would expect the Quad regions to have highest priority (marked with green checkmarks).

The texture may look like overkill, as it has 96 trim sections, but it is the same exact layout that Id Software uses.

It is intended for generic surfaces, handling a bunch of different aspect ratios and texel densities. (Then you might have various materials which use the same layout and just swap the material without changing UVs)

When adjusting the Fitting Preference from 0 to 1 (width to height) it really has no affect on the fit, same with Area.

The trim pieces selected end up being highly vertical strips which don't make sense for the square sides of a cube.


Another suggestion is to maybe have the color ID map texture's width and height taken into account, then make a grid using the dimensions in pixels. I noticed it is set to only 16 slices which limits usage. (I put it up to 128 on X and Y because that matches the grid the trim textures are authored at)

The color ID detection is nice, but if it was more definable it would help a lot (more accuracy basically or configuration without diving into the HDA in houdini)

So one thought is maybe allowing input of a mesh and deriving the trim regions from the UV layout of the mesh, each individual UV island would be treated as a potential UV hotspot that can be considered using its aspect ratio and texel density when mapped to a quad surface on the mesh.
The final UV's of the target mesh would just be pulling the UV information from the UV hotspot mesh, so artists can ensure that the layout of their trim texture have texels perfectly fit to the UV islands.

Thank you for the excellent feedback xra, I will take this into account with some of the planned updates that are coming.

Hey guys, is there any update on this tool?

I've downloaded the sample, it doesn't work for me (H19.0.531). When I try to check the utility node, attribwrangle7 stores 0 as xres and yres in the detail attribute, so from there nothing is created.

If I want to use it on my assets, the trim_texture node displays the trimsheet for selecting, but nothing happens at all.