Log into your account to keep track of your progress. You can work through the lessons without logging in but your progress will be lost when you refresh the page.

TOTAL DURATION: 4h 05m

This course intends to give an introduction to the concepts needed to begin using Houdini’s Karma renderer. This USD-based renderer is now the recommended renderer in Houdini, and replaces Mantra. Since Karma is based around USD and used in Solaris, some elements of these will need to be understood to be successful using Karma. Some of the content used throughout this course can also be found in the Karma User Guide section of the Houdini Documentation. Throughout this course you will learn about the differences between CPU & XPU, be shown examples of light types, be introduced to MaterialX concepts, and learn about the basic render settings needed. This course will not attempt to deep-dive into every topic, as subsequent courses will add depth. By the end of this course you should feel comfortable using Karma for your common renders.

CREATED BY

PArcara09
PETER ARCARA

SideFX Training Lead

More from Peter Arcara

COMMENTS

  • LukeP 3 weeks, 5 days ago  | 

    Awesome! More tutorials like this that focus on end to end workflows, core concepts and nodes.

  • coccarolla 3 weeks, 5 days ago  | 

    4 hours of content and no mention of caustics?!

    • PArcara09 3 weeks, 5 days ago  | 

      That will be in the advanced course. Working on more courses for the coming months

      • coccarolla 3 weeks ago  | 

        Super!

  • thejedic9fe0cfbc41944bf 3 weeks, 5 days ago  | 

    Thank you so very much Mr Arcara for this very comprehensive tutorial series

  • weinzibler1998 3 weeks, 5 days ago  | 

    This was good!
    Can someone please make a detailed, complete tutorial about "Light Path Expressions"? It's so confusing.

    • PArcara09 3 weeks, 5 days ago  | 

      In order to have a better understanding of LPEs, it's necessary to have a better understanding of Path Tracing as a whole. Take a look at my Intro to Path Tracing Concepts course if you need some basic info: https://www.sidefx.com/tutorials/intro-to-path-tracing-concepts/. Beyond that, I'm planning to touch on LPEs in a couple of upcoming courses.

      • weinzibler1998 3 weeks, 4 days ago  | 

        Thanks, I'll check that out!

        I wanted to create something like "Refraction Affects Alpha Channel" as in Redshift. I’ve found some solutions, but I don’t fully understand them yet. I can see the power of LPE, but admittedly, I’m struggling to grasp it, even after reading the documentation. I really wish there were a short, complete tutorial on it, since LPE is one of Karma’s greatest strengths.

        Also, I just want to say that you’re an absolutely amazing teacher. Your USD tutorials were fantastic, you explain things so clearly. Thank you, and have a great day!

        • PArcara09 3 weeks, 4 days ago  | 

          I'll definitely keep that in mind as I am making the next couple courses, and thank you so much for your kind words.

  • MrVFX 3 weeks, 5 days ago  | 

    Thank u so much.

  • Moeen 2 weeks, 4 days ago  | 

    Amazing as always, Peter! You're a genuine gem for the community.

    • PArcara09 2 weeks, 4 days ago  | 

      Awe Moeen, thanks so much! I can only say the same right back at you.

  • amarcus 2 weeks, 2 days ago  | 

    A few corrections for OpenPBR :
    Fuzz is actually above the Coat, in contrast to how Sheen is below it in Standard Surface (not the other way around as said in the video). This actually enables use cases not possible with Standard Surface of layering a rough non-shiny dust layer over a shiny coat. Because Fuzz is not simply Sheen by a different name (or at least it shouldn't be). OpenPBR calls for Fuzz to use a different shading model to Sheen, one that at high roughness can be used for dust.
    As for emission, the new tinting feature wasn't actually shown in the video. It comes about when coloring the Coat, not the Base, because emission is supposed to emmit over the base but below the coat, so should be tinted by the Coat color as it emmit through it.
    It would be great if a supplamentary video is added to correct that and show that these features actually work properly in Karma for OpenPBR.
    There's also additional new features in OpenPBR not mentioned in the video, like Thin Walled mode's control of diffuse transmission vs. diffuse reflection for simple thin translucent materials like paper. It would be good to show these off if they are supported, and being mentioned if they aren't"t.

    • PArcara09 1 week, 4 days ago  | 

      Hi there! Thanks for the feedback.

      I ran this by the SideFX developers, and I'm going to update the initial points that you made regarding Fuzz and Emission. Those should be pretty simple changes, but they will take me a little bit of time.

      As for the Thin Walled mode, according to the developers that already exists in the Standard Surface as well. I don't think I'll try to add that into the video, as this was just an overview of the shaders. The help card for the OpenPBR Surface node is quite well documented, and should indicate if anything isn't supported that is in the OpenPBR standard.

      Cheers!

Please log in to leave a comment.