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Houdini 15 Sneak Peak


ajz3d
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Nice. I really wish they would lift that restriction on 3rd Party renderers in Houdini Indie and give they user at least one or two render nodes with the license, because even the very target for which Indie is designed for, would have at least one extra render machine to help render a project. Practically no one just uses their desktop.

 

I'm going to start learning Houdini, and buy an Indie license soon, as it makes a lot sense for any vfx work.

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Nice. I really wish they would lift that restriction on 3rd Party renderers in Houdini Indie and give they user at least one or two render nodes with the license, because even the very target for which Indie is designed for, would have at least one extra render machine to help render a project. Practically no one just uses their desktop.

 

I'm going to start learning Houdini, and buy an Indie license soon, as it makes a lot sense for any vfx work.

 

 

I personally found the Houdini interface and workflow daunting at first then suddenly I got it and now I have nothing but admiration for it. It's still daunting at times (it's very very deep) but it stands out as the most powerful single creative tool out there today.

 

And this is the great master of it

 

http://www.cgsociety.org/training/instructor/spencer-lueders

 

Edited by L'Ancien Regime
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I personally found the Houdini interface and workflow daunting at first then suddenly I got it and now I have nothing but admiration for it. It's still daunting at times (it's very very deep) but it stands out as the most powerful single creative tool out there today

Hear, hear!
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Houdini looks nice so far .
I have try the Houdini free Version, but skinning will not work for me. Capture action seems ok but Bone  are not bindung to the mesh. I do exactly the steps in the manual  very Strange, So I have lost my interest now. :D

Maybe it will improved and I will try it again in the upcomming version

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i for myself find the houdini engine plugins for UE4 and Unity tempting, so ive decided to  try the free Version for learning. 

Maybe i have more success than with modo (dropped it, wasnt made for me ^^) 

Edited by chingchong
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Houdini looks nice so far .

I have try the Houdini free Version, but skinning will not work for me. Capture action seems ok but Bone  are not bindung to the mesh. I do exactly the steps in the manual  very Strange, So I have lost my interest now. :D

Maybe it will improved and I will try it again in the upcomming version

Hi Vidi,

 

To a simple skinning with houdini:

1. go to the tab -> create -> tube (orientation = X axis), radius = (0.32,0.32), (rows, colomns) = (12,12).

2. choose the front view

3. go to the tab -> rigging -> bones

4. draw 2 bones along the length of the tube (near the middle)

5. go the the tab -> rigging -> Capture geometry

6. click on the tube mesh

7. click on the "chain_root1" of bones

8. Now, you need to extend the influence of the bones

9. go to the tab -> rigging -> edit capture region

10. click on each bone to scale the gizmo according all axes.

11. The mesh tube should have bones' color

12. Now, you can play with bones!!!

 

NB: FK/IK behaviour is define during bones creation. See the options!

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Hi Vidi,

 

To a simple skinning with houdini:

1. go to the tab -> create -> tube (orientation = X axis), radius = (0.32,0.32), (rows, colomns) = (12,12).

2. choose the front view

3. go to the tab -> rigging -> bones

4. draw 2 bones along the length of the tube (near the middle)

5. go the the tab -> rigging -> Capture geometry

6. click on the tube mesh

7. click on the "chain_root1" of bones

8. Now, you need to extend the influence of the bones

9. go to the tab -> rigging -> edit capture region

10. click on each bone to scale the gizmo according all axes.

11. The mesh tube should have bones' color

12. Now, you can play with bones!!!

 

NB: FK/IK behaviour is define during bones creation. See the options!

 

 

Really swear, that's exactly what I did. :D and I tried it several times

I have now try it,  again  and  it works :D very strange .

Houdini was never in my focus. I have no Idea why, but I think I could like it. :unsure:

Edited by vidi
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Really swear, that's exactly what I did. :D and I tried it several times

I have now try it,  again  and  it works :D very strange .

Houdini was never in my focus. I have no Idea why, but I think I could like it. :unsure:

If you are very interested with rigging, you are some very nice tutorials: houdini technical rigging with character rigging of 3DBUZZ but it's not free. Instructors are very good and spend a lot of time to explain all the things : caution with view before drawing bones, ...

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If you are very interested with rigging, you are some very nice tutorials: houdini technical rigging with character rigging of 3DBUZZ but it's not free. Instructors are very good and spend a lot of time to explain all the things : caution with view before drawing bones, .

 

..

Yes Rigging is my favorite task, therefore it was the first what I have trying. :D

Many Thanks for help and the hint to the tutorials. :)

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They're beginning to change Modo into Houdini now? ;)

Yeah I think a lot of 3D apps are trying to be like Houdini these days. There is the Fabric Engine for Maya, Modo, etc. and there is also the Max Creation Graph in 3DS Max, and Blueprint in Unreal Engine, etc., all of those node-based compositors (Nuke, Fusion), node-based shading/compositing in Blender etc.

Houdini is probably the most powerful of them all.

The only problem is if you are an artist and you don't think like a programmer, then it is difficult to use these kinds of tools at first (until you learn it and get used to it). I think a lot of artists can never get used to it, because they just don't think like that. I'm so glad that Houdini has presets that you can tweak, and assets that you can buy so that you don't have to build those complicated node graphs all by yourself. Houdini 15 will even have a lava preset! I'm sure many people will buy the Indie License just to use the lava preset and then export it to be rendered in Maya or whatever they normally use.

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Yeah I think a lot of 3D apps are trying to be like Houdini these days. There is the Fabric Engine for Maya, Modo, etc. and there is also the Max Creation Graph in 3DS Max, and Blueprint in Unreal Engine, etc., all of those node-based compositors (Nuke, Fusion), node-based shading/compositing in Blender etc.

Houdini is probably the most powerful of them all.

The only problem is if you are an artist and you don't think like a programmer, then it is difficult to use these kinds of tools at first (until you learn it and get used to it). I think a lot of artists can never get used to it, because they just don't think like that. I'm so glad that Houdini has presets that you can tweak, and assets that you can buy so that you don't have to build those complicated node graphs all by yourself. Houdini 15 will even have a lava preset! I'm sure many people will buy the Indie License just to use the lava preset and then export it to be rendered in Maya or whatever they normally use.

I get the feeling that SESI is beginning to add artist-friendly features to Houdini. It looks like a consequence of last year's introduction of the affordable Indie version. So, those folks who do not have programming  background would probably feel very comfortable with the software pretty soon. :)

Houdini is an insanely powerful program. For many years I thought that Maya was THE ruler of all, but it turns out that I was living in a big lie. :D If only they could improve modelling tools and make them more streamlined, instead of node-based (as an option) - like in Nvil with all of its features- I would probably only leave Houdini to sculpt, UV and paint stuff in 3D-Coat.

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The thing I love about node based modeling is that it's the equivalent of the history in a good  CAD program like CATIA or Siemens NX. You can go back and change the parameters in the history dependency graph at the touch of the cursor on the tree network.

 

lf Houdini gets its modeling tools up to par then nobody will be able to challenge them I think. 

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So, is Digital Tutors the primary source for Houdini training, now or somewhere else? I know there is some basic tuts on their website, but I suspect there are better resources. Something like BlenderCookie, for example?

Peter Quint (free) : https://vimeo.com/user2030228

cmivfx : https://cmivfx.com/store

fxphd : https://www.fxphd.com/fxphd/courseInfo.php

cgsociety : http://www.cgsociety.org/training/course/fluids-fx-using-houdini

3dBuzz : https://www.3dbuzz.com/training/topic/houdini (explanation are very good, ideal for beginner to learn the houdini's philosphy)

Rohan dalvi : http://www.rohandalvi.net/home

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So, is Digital Tutors the primary source for Houdini training, now or somewhere else? I know there is some basic tuts on their website, but I suspect there are better resources. Something like BlenderCookie, for example?

 

 

There are good tutorial for it on FXPHD esp by John Moncreif

There are more on CMIVFX...the $250 a year is a great deal.

 

But the ones at CG Society are the very best as I posted above by spencer Lueders and others but they are expensive

3dBuzz has a very in depth 5 part series on rigging for animation in Houdini which is the best.   https://www.3dbuzz.com/training/bundle/houdini-rigging-bundle  $75 for the entire pack.

 

I'd say CMIVFX is the best deal overall

 

Digital Tutors is for beginners and amateur level.

Edited by L'Ancien Regime
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Now that's truly a sneak peak! SideFX knows who their customers are. If we were to compare and contrast this with this recent Autodesk site: http://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/your-life-maya , what in the world are they offering? A guy on the beach with an acoustic guitar? That screams 3d software like nothing else.

 

Either way, I'm really impressed with SideFX, and I'm glad they exist as a competitor.   

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Peter Quint (free) : https://vimeo.com/user2030228

cmivfx : https://cmivfx.com/store

fxphd : https://www.fxphd.com/fxphd/courseInfo.php

cgsociety : http://www.cgsociety.org/training/course/fluids-fx-using-houdini

3dBuzz : https://www.3dbuzz.com/training/topic/houdini (explanation are very good, ideal for beginner to learn the houdini's philosphy)

Rohan dalvi : http://www.rohandalvi.net/home

 

There are good tutorial for it on FXPHD esp by John Moncreif

There are more on CMIVFX...the $250 a year is a great deal.

 

But the ones at CG Society are the very best as I posted above by spencer Lueders and others but they are expensive

3dBuzz has a very in depth 5 part series on rigging for animation in Houdini which is the best.   https://www.3dbuzz.com/training/bundle/houdini-rigging-bundle  $75 for the entire pack.

 

I'd say CMIVFX is the best deal overall

 

Digital Tutors is for beginners and amateur level.

 

start_here.jpg

Thanks, guys, for those resources. Will definitely have to check those out. Especially the 3D Buzz ones. I almost forgot about them. I bought a DVD series from them for 3ds Max years ago, and remember them going heavily into Houdini, when it wasn't nearly as popular as it has become recently. I really don't want to have to get into programming just to do some decent work in the application. That just isn't my cup of tea. I think that is what has largely kept me out of Houdini, thus far. But it is just too powerful of an app not to take advantage of Side Effects' generosity, in Houdini Indie.

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Now that's truly a sneak peak! SideFX knows who their customers are. If we were to compare and contrast this with this recent Autodesk site: http://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/your-life-maya , what in the world are they offering? A guy on the beach with an acoustic guitar? That screams 3d software like nothing else.

 

Either way, I'm really impressed with SideFX, and I'm glad they exist as a competitor.   

I can definitely see them soaking up all the XSI community, after what AD did to them. I do think Houdini is already starting to make them regret that decision, when they introduced the Indie version and Engine. Hope they get that Engine available for 3ds Max soon. 

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I can definitely see them soaking up all the XSI community, after what AD did to them. I do think Houdini is already starting to make them regret that decision, when they introduced the Indie version and Engine. Hope they get that Engine available for 3ds Max soon. 

 

 

Well Bifrost in Maya is XSI ICE merged with Naiad fluid simulator and that is no mean thing. So far there's not a lot of tutorial material out for it so it remains t be seen what will come of it. Naiad was gaining ground against Real Flow before being bought by Autodesk and even though there was bitterness about them selling out to AD the jury is still out on it all. 

 

Maya isn't going away anytime soon. Their partnership with Disney/Pixar Renderman still puts them in the forefront whether we like them or not. 

 

Overall I say that competition is a boon to all of us, both in prices and in the fast moving pace of technological progress. 

 

We live in wonderful times.

 

ultimate-maya-bifrost-guide-volume-1-lar

 

Bifröst: the return of the Naiad team with a bridge to ICE

 

 

 

Maya2016_Biforst_Graph.jpg

Edited by L'Ancien Regime
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