Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jason S]

  
  
Hi!  Thanks both Andys :) and Jonathan
  for that great insight! 
   I hope H developers are reading this, because I don't feel too
  comfortable posting on H forums (yet)
  
  @Andy G
  
      maybe it’s a workflow thingy. 
  So it seems!

    I like to break functionality down into separate
  nodes and not try to do everything inside one gigantic
  Attribute VOP.
  
  Actually, don't you often -have to-  spread-out across a
  few nodes with vop vs in vex ? 
  Which can also be another rather big point, because.. that,
  together with mostly low level nodes therefore requiring lots of
  them (low level nodes also being likely more technical),
  is what seems to make using code (vex) sometimes simpler however
  that may sound... (in some ways but not at all in others)
  
  
  Jonathan recently posted a clip illustrating that.
     ___
     On 03/27/17 9:48, Jonathan Moore
  wrote:
  
     https://vimeo.com/206788209
  
     The key outtake is the amount of multithreaded
  control you can get via a very streamlined amount of code 
     (in comparison to the spaghetti junction that  VOP’s can
  end being for certain challenges).
     ___
  
  
   a few snippets from that video ::
  
      1m44
      ... with the exception of very very few
      I'm not sure if anyone can call themselves "experts"
      because there's so much that you can do..  so robust
      lets just say there's -Alot- of... possibilities.    
   
  I would have to agree with that!  -Alot- of possibilities in which
  very-very few can master,
  like  -programming-  can have Alot of possibilities, yet at the
  expense of ...
  
  
    With Alex's vop net, it worked, but it
  seems kinda cumbersome
      doing math calculations and binging it all back together
      Promoting parameters..  it can be .. a tedious process,
  tedious and cumbersome
  
      Anywhere there's an opportunity to keep thing as simple as
  possible and in one place I think is a plus.
  
      ... It takes alot less code compared to vops that are
  really convoluted.
  
  Indeed, doing that in Vop(s) involves -a great number- of low
  level nodes, spread across a couple of top level nodes 
  (lots of nodes and ins and outs)
  
  
      7m30 
    These few lines of code is alot less than what was in
vops.
    Another reason to try to use vex as opposed to vops.

    when Houdini users say they don't like to dive down into
things to change things 
    Any situation where you can keep everything in one place
I would favor.


    11m30
    ... all in one node , no diving in, 
    No need looking for different nodes to change settings
on..
  
  .
  
  He mentioned multiple times "keeping everything in one place", 
  being "art directable" and "simple".
  Yet while the resulting code is relatively short,
  and requires much less ins and outs  (which is probably the basis
  of the many requests about unifying all or many contexts)
  
  ... I (as well as many I'm sure) wouldn't call it "simple" or easy
  to understand,
  it can easily take just as much time to research what every bit
  does, and how everything relates,
  as it may have taken to create it, which in this case apparently
  involved a couple of days..
  
    15m38 
    I had kind of a hard time putting it all together
searching around..  
    I probably spend a couple of days trying to get this
simple thing put together.. 
    but can apply to alot of different situations, and
hopefully making the next guy or girl's job much easier.

  
  For the heck  of it, I knew this stuff was pretty-much a no
  brainer in ICE , 
  but still wanted to go ahead and do it (with some extra features
  as I went along) while screen recording. 
  
  So here's an 8 min clip (~40 min timelapsed)
  
   you can view it online:
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/1nvvu5sswor6xfv/1-MoveAndWobbleAlongDirection.mp4?dl=0
  
  or you may want to directly download the original mp4 (10 megs)
  for a clearer view of small text and bright connections over gray.
  1-MoveAndWobbleAlongDirection.mp4
   
  
  
  
  A "Bonus Round" with some speed modeling and things, which I hope,
  yet have yet to see if it's possible to be very fas

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

Duh. Got the order of the 3 points wrong there, but I’m sure you figured that 
out ;)

> On 7 Apr 2017, at 20:02, Andy Nicholas  wrote:
> 
>>> So now we have 'compounds' with custom port names, now how/why are we not 
>>> seeing dozens of those everywhere?
> 
> 
>>> And in you opinion, what could be preventing that, or what could be 
>>> streamlined to promote that.
> 
> 
> TLDR; Sharing HDA’s properly in a way that doesn’t cause screw ups is hard, 
> and most people are scared to start trying.
> 
> In more detail:
> 
> Basically there are three barriers of entry:
>   1) The process of making an HDA is a fairly technical and involved 
> process if you want to do it right.
>   2) It also requires a level of understanding as to what you’re doing 
> with versioning and operator naming.
>   3) If you want to have ease of re-use of HDAs, then you need to store 
> them on disk rather than embedding them purely within a scene. That means 
> that you really need to have a well organised and tightly managed 
> environment. 
> 
> 
> Okay, so looking at Barrier 1, there are basically two ways to name an HDA:
>   Option 1) Call it something like “my_vop_node” and give it a version 
> number in the Type Properties: Version parameter. There can only ever be ONE 
> version present in your scene. But believe it or not, the way Houdini decides 
> which version to use by default, is to pick the version with the latest 
> modified date on disk, **regardless of the version number you entered**! 
> Yeah, I was quite taken aback by that, but that’s what it does. So in my 
> book, that’s really not ideal. In a complex pipeline, there are just too many 
> ways a file may have it’s modified date changed at any time. Imagine if that 
> happens halfway through your render. No thanks!
>   Option 2) Call it “com.silib::my_vop_node::1.0.0” which is the more 
> recent "namespacing" format. This is much better, as now Houdini at least 
> respects the version number in the name properly (it now ignores the one in 
> the Type Properties: Version parameter). It also means that Houdini allows 
> you to have multiple versions of the same node in your scene, yet it still 
> sees them all as having the same type name “my_vop_node”. The namespacing 
> helps avoid name clashes with HDAs that are built-in or in other libraries. 
> All very handy. 
> 
> So number 2 is obviously the way to go, but I always have to look the details 
> up with how it handles versioning.
> 
> 
> For Barrier 2: 
> Let’s say you’ve written a SOP HDA to process some geometry in some way. 
> There are potentially a lot of things you need to handle to make it feel like 
> a proper Houdini node, some examples:
> * Does it tidy up the temporary attributes and groups you created in the 
> process? 
> * Does it preserve the original attributes and groups in an intuitive way 
> through to the result? 
> * Does it support Polygon Soups? 
> * What happens if I pass in NURBS, a volume, or packed primitives? Does it 
> ignore them, delete them, or error? 
> * Did you remember to write python code for doing the proper picking in the 
> UI for your “Group” parameter you created?
> * Have you hooked up the handles for the UI?
> * Don’t forget to write your help card! 
> 
> It’s nowhere near as quick and easy as in ICE.
> 
> For Barrier 3:
> Let’s say you make a new HDA. You might start with putting it in your local 
> user preferences. That’s fine for about 10 minutes until your mate Johnny 
> wants to use it. So you email him the HDA (eeek!) and he puts it in his user 
> preferences too. Great. So that all works fine until Johnny decides to change 
> your HDA and forgets to tell you. Now his scene behaves differently to yours! 
> Okay, so not a good strategy. 
> 
> Maybe we put it in a central location where everyone can access it? Much 
> better, right? Yep, as long as you remembered to write protect the file after 
> so someone doesn’t accidentally unlock it, make changes and save over the 
> top, thereby affecting everyone’s scene.
> 
> So that’s okay until someone wants to have a job specific version. Or even a 
> shot specific version. So this situation should be familiar, and it’s not 
> really that hard to manage an environment so that your paths are set up to 
> resolve the correct HDA based on which shot or job you’re on. Although in my 
> experience, many (if not most) VFX companies involved in commercials don’t 
> have this mechanism in place unless they have a film department too.
> 
> So let’s now say that all of this is done and our paths are set up to resolve 
> the correct HDA. We still have to have some sort of system to manage the 
> versions of the HDAs properly. Otherwise what’s to stop two people unlocking 
> the HDA at the same time and saving back over? Even if they remember to 
> increment the version number, it’s still not infallible. Confusion reigns!
> 
> That means, in an ideal world, we need an SVN style version management, 
> sandboxin

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

>> So now we have 'compounds' with custom port names, now how/why are we not 
>> seeing dozens of those everywhere?


>> And in you opinion, what could be preventing that, or what could be 
>> streamlined to promote that.


TLDR; Sharing HDA’s properly in a way that doesn’t cause screw ups is hard, and 
most people are scared to start trying.

In more detail:

Basically there are three barriers of entry:
1) The process of making an HDA is a fairly technical and involved 
process if you want to do it right.
2) It also requires a level of understanding as to what you’re doing 
with versioning and operator naming.
3) If you want to have ease of re-use of HDAs, then you need to store 
them on disk rather than embedding them purely within a scene. That means that 
you really need to have a well organised and tightly managed environment. 


Okay, so looking at Barrier 1, there are basically two ways to name an HDA:
Option 1) Call it something like “my_vop_node” and give it a version 
number in the Type Properties: Version parameter. There can only ever be ONE 
version present in your scene. But believe it or not, the way Houdini decides 
which version to use by default, is to pick the version with the latest 
modified date on disk, **regardless of the version number you entered**! Yeah, 
I was quite taken aback by that, but that’s what it does. So in my book, that’s 
really not ideal. In a complex pipeline, there are just too many ways a file 
may have it’s modified date changed at any time. Imagine if that happens 
halfway through your render. No thanks!
Option 2) Call it “com.silib::my_vop_node::1.0.0” which is the more 
recent "namespacing" format. This is much better, as now Houdini at least 
respects the version number in the name properly (it now ignores the one in the 
Type Properties: Version parameter). It also means that Houdini allows you to 
have multiple versions of the same node in your scene, yet it still sees them 
all as having the same type name “my_vop_node”. The namespacing helps avoid 
name clashes with HDAs that are built-in or in other libraries. All very handy. 

So number 2 is obviously the way to go, but I always have to look the details 
up with how it handles versioning.


For Barrier 2: 
Let’s say you’ve written a SOP HDA to process some geometry in some way. There 
are potentially a lot of things you need to handle to make it feel like a 
proper Houdini node, some examples:
* Does it tidy up the temporary attributes and groups you created in the 
process? 
* Does it preserve the original attributes and groups in an intuitive way 
through to the result? 
* Does it support Polygon Soups? 
* What happens if I pass in NURBS, a volume, or packed primitives? Does it 
ignore them, delete them, or error? 
* Did you remember to write python code for doing the proper picking in the UI 
for your “Group” parameter you created?
* Have you hooked up the handles for the UI?
* Don’t forget to write your help card! 

It’s nowhere near as quick and easy as in ICE.

For Barrier 3:
Let’s say you make a new HDA. You might start with putting it in your local 
user preferences. That’s fine for about 10 minutes until your mate Johnny wants 
to use it. So you email him the HDA (eeek!) and he puts it in his user 
preferences too. Great. So that all works fine until Johnny decides to change 
your HDA and forgets to tell you. Now his scene behaves differently to yours! 
Okay, so not a good strategy. 

Maybe we put it in a central location where everyone can access it? Much 
better, right? Yep, as long as you remembered to write protect the file after 
so someone doesn’t accidentally unlock it, make changes and save over the top, 
thereby affecting everyone’s scene.

So that’s okay until someone wants to have a job specific version. Or even a 
shot specific version. So this situation should be familiar, and it’s not 
really that hard to manage an environment so that your paths are set up to 
resolve the correct HDA based on which shot or job you’re on. Although in my 
experience, many (if not most) VFX companies involved in commercials don’t have 
this mechanism in place unless they have a film department too.

So let’s now say that all of this is done and our paths are set up to resolve 
the correct HDA. We still have to have some sort of system to manage the 
versions of the HDAs properly. Otherwise what’s to stop two people unlocking 
the HDA at the same time and saving back over? Even if they remember to 
increment the version number, it’s still not infallible. Confusion reigns!

That means, in an ideal world, we need an SVN style version management, 
sandboxing system to retrieve, test and publish the HDAs back to the correct 
location on the server. I’m pretty sure that Digital Domain had something like 
this, and probably aren’t unique, but that’s a tonne of work to implement.


Being a bit more pragmatic and a little less OCD about it… Personally, I would 
definit

RE: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jonathan Moore]

I was speaking about this with Andy a few weeks back as I’m the same. I ideally 
like to build single function VOP and Wrangle nodes. Andy’s view was that in 
general terms this is a best practise as you not only find it easier to debug a 
network but you also get to build a library of discreet reusable nodes that are 
bespoke to the way you like to work.

 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Andy Goehler
Sent: 07 April 2017 19:16
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 

Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

 

Hi Jason,

 

maybe it’s a workflow thingy. I like to break functionality down into separate 
nodes and not try to do everything inside one gigantic Attribute VOP. And I 
find that lots of these are shared as HDAs, less so for VOP subnets.

 

I mostly build and organize at the SOP level.

 

But you’re right there should be more VOP HDAs for common repeating 
functionality.

 

Happy weekend

Andy

 

 

On Apr 7, 2017, at 7:08 PM, Jason S mailto:jasonsta...@gmail.com> > wrote:

 

So now we have 'compounds' with custom port names, now how/why are we not 
seeing dozens of those everywhere?

 

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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Goehler]

Hi Jason,

maybe it’s a workflow thingy. I like to break functionality down into separate 
nodes and not try to do everything inside one gigantic Attribute VOP. And I 
find that lots of these are shared as HDAs, less so for VOP subnets.

I mostly build and organize at the SOP level.

But you’re right there should be more VOP HDAs for common repeating 
functionality.

Happy weekend
Andy


> On Apr 7, 2017, at 7:08 PM, Jason S  wrote:
> 
> So now we have 'compounds' with custom port names, now how/why are we not 
> seeing dozens of those everywhere?

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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jason S]

  
  
   "So now we
have 'compounds' with custom port names, now how/why are we not
seeing dozens of those everywhere?"
  
  (also with multiple nesting levels)
  
  
  On 04/07/17 13:08, Jason S wrote:


  
  Hi Andy,
just wanted to say thanks for the example showing possibilities
for port names.

And I also noticed you can also name the regular subnet port
names!


   

Titles have to be short, but are more than enough to give good
clues.

Also because I think I can recall reading that paramerters
inside subnets involves extra compilation time? (dont know
specifics)


So now we have 'compounds' with custom port names, now how/why
are we not seeing dozens of those everywhere?

In the many setups I opened from either example files or from
forum users posting methods,
I haven't come across a single Vop net that had one. (or maybe I
just didnt notice them?)

(always Vops making everything from scratch with factory low
level nodes, or wrangle code )


There are experienced users asking if nested HDAs are possible,
and responses have pointed to certain factory nodes.
    Is it common
  for Digital Assets to use Digital Assets?

While I was surprised it was even a question, and think it
should be much more common.


Perhaps is it in regards to saving or retrieving custom nodes ?
or is management difficult?

Could what is outlined in this thread be related?
   My Digital
  Assets aren't loading with the project

I guess what I'm wondering is -- despite libraries and HDA's --
how/why isn't encapsulation and distribution more common-ground,

especially after how long Houdini has been around, 
or why are we not everywhere seeing within scenes, processes
made of processes made by everyone?

And in you opinion, what could be preventing that, or what could
be streamlined to promote that.

Thanks!,
J


On 03/31/17 5:35, Andy Nicholas wrote:
  
  

Hi Jason,
You can explicitly define VOP inputs and outputs if you make a
digital asset, but you can also do it on a regular subnetwork.
You just need to use a Subnet Input VOP for the input
connections, and then use a Null VOP to name the output. You can
use a Parameter VOP to expose inputs in the UI. (You can also
use it to define inputs by changing the drop down at the top to
"Subnet Connector", but I think it's clearer to use Subnet
VOPs).

I've made an example for you implementing a push along normals
operation and attached it to this email. See the images below
too:

How the Subnet looks without connections:


Inside the Push_VOP subnet:
  
  





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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jason S]

  
  
Hi Andy,
  just wanted to say thanks for the example showing possibilities
  for port names.
  
  And I also noticed you can also name the regular subnet port
  names!
  
  
     
  
  Titles have to be short, but are more than enough to give good
  clues.
  
  Also because I think I can recall reading that paramerters inside
  subnets involves extra compilation time? (dont know specifics)
  
  
  So now we have 'compounds' with custom port names, now how/why are
  we not seeing dozens of those everywhere?
  
  In the many setups I opened from either example files or from
  forum users posting methods,
  I haven't come across a single Vop net that had one. (or maybe I
  just didnt notice them?)
  
  (always Vops making everything from scratch with factory low level
  nodes, or wrangle code )
  
  
  There are experienced users asking if nested HDAs are possible,
  and responses have pointed to certain factory nodes.
      Is it
common for Digital Assets to use Digital Assets?
  
  While I was surprised it was even a question, and think it should
  be much more common.
  
  
  Perhaps is it in regards to saving or retrieving custom nodes ? or
  is management difficult?
  
  Could what is outlined in this thread be related?
     My Digital
Assets aren't loading with the project
  
  I guess what I'm wondering is -- despite libraries and HDA's --
  how/why isn't encapsulation and distribution more common-ground, 
  especially after how long Houdini has been around, 
  or why are we not everywhere seeing within scenes, processes made
  of processes made by everyone?
  
  And in you opinion, what could be preventing that, or what could
  be streamlined to promote that.
  
  Thanks!,
  J
  
  
  On 03/31/17 5:35, Andy Nicholas wrote:


  
  Hi Jason,
  You can explicitly define VOP inputs and outputs if you make a
  digital asset, but you can also do it on a regular subnetwork. You
  just need to use a Subnet Input VOP for the input connections, and
  then use a Null VOP to name the output. You can use a Parameter
  VOP to expose inputs in the UI. (You can also use it to define
  inputs by changing the drop down at the top to "Subnet Connector",
  but I think it's clearer to use Subnet VOPs).
  
  I've made an example for you implementing a push along normals
  operation and attached it to this email. See the images below too:
  
  How the Subnet looks without connections:
  
  
  Inside the Push_VOP subnet:


  
  
  
  
  
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RE: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jonathan Moore]

Or perhaps Morten, Houdini isn't the right option for you.

I don't mean that in a flippant way either. Houdini is very successful at 
providing a tuned toolset for a particular type of artist.

Much as you might want to access Houdini's powers without programmatic and 
basic vector math skills, an attempt to create the tool that you're looking for 
might kill the user experience for those that do know how to work with 
Houdini's capabilities. It cuts both ways.

C4D is very much the sort of tool your looking for with much of the underlying 
vector math and programming interfaces abstracted away.

We're fortunate that we have a wide choice in DCC tools even if we are 
unfortunate the Soft is no more.

I think it's one thing to attempt to inform SideFX to workflows in Softimage 
that would be beneficial to a wide group of users, it's quite another to berate 
a best in class application of not being Softimage.

-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Morten Bartholdy
Sent: 07 April 2017 11:34
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 

Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

I very much agree with Paul here. There is no reason why artists should have to 
accept TD oriented UI.

If(!) Houdini had a competitor who made all the goodies more accessible I know 
where I would put my money.

I get your point Jordi, about wanting to do stuff that was previously 
impossible and currently require a programmer to do in Maya, but IMHO it is no 
reason to keep making TD centric tools.

To my knowledge it is quite possible to create higher level tools on top of a 
solid technical base like Houdini (ICE), and it would expand their potential 
userbase significantly.

I get that SideFX are focused on making great tools and these are accessible by 
TD's so the work can be done, but it does require a TD to do it, and I see no 
reason why others should not have access to these tools too. After all I just 
want to pour water, make fire, smoke, clouds or whatever, and not be bothered 
with which vector or matrix to plug where, or for that matter some obscure 
expression syntax.

After all I really just want to focus on making great graphics, and not have to 
bother with all(!) the nuts and bolts. What it comes down to is how I best 
spend my time making graphics and animation, and if tools like houdini were 
more accessible I could make greater stuff faster, make more money and get home 
to the wife and kids and have beers and barbecue instead of pouring over docs 
or tutorials.

Perhaps my wish is premature, but if users don't push for it, developers will 
never make it :)


Cheers
Morten


> Den 31. marts 2017 klokken 12:49 skrev p...@bustykelp.com:
> 
> 
> I think it should definitely be the case that Houdini should become more 
> accessible. It doesn’t undermine the abilities of the app, to make it more 
> user friendly.
> For example, with Fabric engine, or in ICE, you can make a node that does 
> ‘everything’ with a bunch of parameters. Say a Fur system for artists, but 
> you can go down inside through the internal compounds right down to the core 
> maths, if you like. An artist doesn’t need to, but can do if he so fancies. 
> This layering system, of complexity is one of the great things about ICE. It 
> helps you learn it and one day be the guy who’s not just USING the tool, but 
> making them. thats what happened to me.
> But in terms of more ‘traditional’ usage, for example having a nice Shape 
> making and managing tool etc etc, wouldnt suddenly dumb down Houdini in any 
> way for the technical people who’d never want to use it. It just gives it a 
> much broader range of accessibility for artists. At the moment, the people 
> who use Houdini tend to be people who understand, enjoy and live in the 
> technical sphere, but that isn’t for everyone.  
> 
> In general, there appears to be strange resistance, from people who are happy 
> in their technical knowlege to ‘Philistines’ coming in and ‘Fisher Pricing’ 
> their app. When I visit the Fabric forums, for example and requested some 
> improvements to Canvas, I got a quite a few surprising replies from people 
> ,in a deriding tone, telling me to learn KL as that would do what I wanted. 
> I knew KL could do what I wanted, but I wanted to help them improve Canvas 
> giving a helpful user point of view.  The Devs actually were open to my 
> ideas, but its certain users that seem to peer down their noses at ‘arty 
> farty’ non-coders.
> 
> I’m pretty technical for a lowly artist, but I find Houdini a bit of a slog 
> compared to learning ICE.  
> 
> From: Olivier Jeannel
> Sent: Friday, March 31, 2017 11:24 AM
> To: Official Softimage Users Mailing 
> L

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Morten Bartholdy]

I very much agree with Paul here. There is no reason why artists should have to 
accept TD oriented UI.

If(!) Houdini had a competitor who made all the goodies more accessible I know 
where I would put my money.

I get your point Jordi, about wanting to do stuff that was previously 
impossible and currently require a programmer to do in Maya, but IMHO it is no 
reason to keep making TD centric tools.

To my knowledge it is quite possible to create higher level tools on top of a 
solid technical base like Houdini (ICE), and it would expand their potential 
userbase significantly.

I get that SideFX are focused on making great tools and these are accessible by 
TD's so the work can be done, but it does require a TD to do it, and I see no 
reason why others should not have access to these tools too. After all I just 
want to pour water, make fire, smoke, clouds or whatever, and not be bothered 
with which vector or matrix to plug where, or for that matter some obscure 
expression syntax.

After all I really just want to focus on making great graphics, and not have to 
bother with all(!) the nuts and bolts. What it comes down to is how I best 
spend my time making graphics and animation, and if tools like houdini were 
more accessible I could make greater stuff faster, make more money and get home 
to the wife and kids and have beers and barbecue instead of pouring over docs 
or tutorials.

Perhaps my wish is premature, but if users don't push for it, developers will 
never make it :)


Cheers
Morten


> Den 31. marts 2017 klokken 12:49 skrev p...@bustykelp.com:
> 
> 
> I think it should definitely be the case that Houdini should become more 
> accessible. It doesn’t undermine the abilities of the app, to make it more 
> user friendly.
> For example, with Fabric engine, or in ICE, you can make a node that does 
> ‘everything’ with a bunch of parameters. Say a Fur system for artists, but 
> you can go down inside through the internal compounds right down to the core 
> maths, if you like. An artist doesn’t need to, but can do if he so fancies. 
> This layering system, of complexity is one of the great things about ICE. It 
> helps you learn it and one day be the guy who’s not just USING the tool, but 
> making them. thats what happened to me.
> But in terms of more ‘traditional’ usage, for example having a nice Shape 
> making and managing tool etc etc, wouldnt suddenly dumb down Houdini in any 
> way for the technical people who’d never want to use it. It just gives it a 
> much broader range of accessibility for artists. At the moment, the people 
> who use Houdini tend to be people who understand, enjoy and live in the 
> technical sphere, but that isn’t for everyone.  
> 
> In general, there appears to be strange resistance, from people who are happy 
> in their technical knowlege to ‘Philistines’ coming in and ‘Fisher Pricing’ 
> their app. When I visit the Fabric forums, for example and requested some 
> improvements to Canvas, I got a quite a few surprising replies from people 
> ,in a deriding tone, telling me to learn KL as that would do what I wanted. 
> I knew KL could do what I wanted, but I wanted to help them improve Canvas 
> giving a helpful user point of view.  The Devs actually were open to my 
> ideas, but its certain users that seem to peer down their noses at ‘arty 
> farty’ non-coders.
> 
> I’m pretty technical for a lowly artist, but I find Houdini a bit of a slog 
> compared to learning ICE.  
> 
> From: Olivier Jeannel 
> Sent: Friday, March 31, 2017 11:24 AM
> To: Official Softimage Users Mailing 
> List.https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
> 
> I'm quite the opposite Morthen. I found that learning little math (add 
> subtract vector mostly...) is just an open path to what's called "creativity" 
> nowaday. 
> I'm more in the particles "do stuff" part of the work than in the 
> character-toon-story telling though.
> I can't say that I'm excited by the modeling tools added in the 16 (I'm sure 
> they are great), but having that wide software that's able to not lost 
> attributes whatever the context, that constantly amaze me.
> 
> 
> 
> 2017-03-31 12:00 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy :
> 
>   Don't get me wrong - I understand the power and flexibility of Houdini and 
> the fact that it stems from its core architecture and I am not looking for 
> the 3D equivalent of Kais Power Tools.
> 
>   It is however not very straightforward to use for the average 3D artist, no 
> matter how experienced, nor is it easy to pick up. You need to be good at 
> math and know syntax well, and that is plain and simply taking ressources 
> away from the purely artistic part of the work which is 

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain]

building more and more bridges/compounds/learning.paths between various
gritty ways of ashieving results,
and between those and enable fancy graphic solutions (possibilities),
will result with more independency/freedom for everyone working with the
software,
smaller teams on a project, more experimentation/inventivity in the
industry,
and thus hopefully more quality and happyness in the cinema industry, and
their fans.



>
> I would use a different analogy but I know what you mean, nevertheless if
> you put it in context it looks quite different to me…
>
> Probably what you are trying to do nowadays would require a programer (in
> Maya for example) to implement, now you are trying to do it yourself
> connecting nodes without any intention on diving onto the nitty gritty of
> things (and yes, that involves some basic maths) but… is this realistic??
> Probably not..
>
> In my opinion, as the field expands and we need finer control we all are
> going to be exposed to more and more maths (probably pre-calculus for a
> long time) but even that will change for sure so I do believe it is only a
> matter of accepting this is a constantly evolving field and to stay
> relevant you need to study many things, from anatomy to maths.
>
> > I am guessing growing userbase and popularity is not a problem for
> SideFX, and making their software more accessible is probably very hard,
> and takes ressources away from developing new and better tools, but I
> really wish.
>
> I like the fact they keep expanding new horizons (Terrains? Proper
> muscles? New Booleans? etc...), supporting standards and embracing them
> quickly (VDB for example? Alembic? OpenColorIO?, …) while at the same time
> embracing modern viewport centric workflows and modern usability metaphors
> *without* crippling the main core attributes that make Houdini itself.
>
> I hope it makes sense
> jb
>
> > Have a nice weekend all :)
> >
> > Morten
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> Den 31. marts 2017 klokken 10:26 skrev Dan Yargici <
> danyarg...@gmail.com>:
> >>
> >>
> >> I think people need to accept that just as they understandably expect
> >> SideFX to push the software to be more approachable for themselves they
> >> really ought to try and push themselves in the opposite direction also.
> >>
> >> If there was a theoretical race to DCC dominance, I'd really favour
> Houdini
> >> right now.  I think starting with so many of the hard things solved and
> >> working 'creative' workflows into the software is a far more enviable
> >> position to be in than having to go in the opposite direction.
> >>
> >> Really exciting times ahead as far as I'm concerned!
> >>
> >> DAN
> >>
> >>
> >> On Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 8:34 PM, Jonathan Moore <
> jonathan.moo...@gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> I hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful
> >>> application because of its technical approach.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’
> >>> (to say the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change
> their
> >>> development strategy.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to
> >>> customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including
> >>> Softimage. The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref
> >>> dropping VOP nodes over wires the other day is a fine example of that.
> But
> >>> there‘s a danger of allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini
> >>> gets changed for the worse rather than the better. I think SideFX have
> the
> >>> balance of things pretty much spot on. There’s still huge improvements
> that
> >>> can be made to the approachability of certain aspects of the user
> >>> experience but I it’s never going to transform into something radically
> >>> different to what’s available today. If anything, with so much of
> Houdini
> >>> moving away from Hscript style expressions to VEX expressions (for very
> >>> good reason - multithreaded performance) certain aspects of the Houdini
> >>> user experience are in fact getting more technical.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for
> >>> what it is. And part of

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Olivier Jeannel]

I can't talk for FE, but here everybody is pretty relax concerning
implementing this or that in Houdini :)

2017-03-31 12:49 GMT+02:00 :

> I think it should definitely be the case that Houdini should become more
> accessible. It doesn’t undermine the abilities of the app, to make it more
> user friendly.
> For example, with Fabric engine, or in ICE, you can make a node that does
> ‘everything’ with a bunch of parameters. Say a Fur system for artists, but
> you can go down inside through the internal compounds right down to the
> core maths, if you like. An artist doesn’t need to, but can do if he so
> fancies. This layering system, of complexity is one of the great things
> about ICE. It helps you learn it and one day be the guy who’s not just
> USING the tool, but making them. thats what happened to me.
> But in terms of more ‘traditional’ usage, for example having a nice Shape
> making and managing tool etc etc, wouldnt suddenly dumb down Houdini in any
> way for the technical people who’d never want to use it. It just gives it a
> much broader range of accessibility for artists. At the moment, the people
> who use Houdini tend to be people who understand, enjoy and live in the
> technical sphere, but that isn’t for everyone.
>
> In general, there appears to be strange resistance, from people who are
> happy in their technical knowlege to ‘Philistines’ coming in and ‘Fisher
> Pricing’ their app. When I visit the Fabric forums, for example and
> requested some improvements to Canvas, I got a quite a few surprising
> replies from people ,in a deriding tone, telling me to learn KL as that
> would do what I wanted.
> I knew KL could do what I wanted, but I wanted to help them improve Canvas
> giving a helpful user point of view.  The Devs actually were open to my
> ideas, but its certain users that seem to peer down their noses at ‘arty
> farty’ non-coders.
>
> I’m pretty technical for a lowly artist, but I find Houdini a bit of a
> slog compared to learning ICE.
>
> *From:* Olivier Jeannel 
> *Sent:* Friday, March 31, 2017 11:24 AM
> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List.https://groups.google.
> com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>
> I'm quite the opposite Morthen. I found that learning little math (add
> subtract vector mostly...) is just an open path to what's called
> "creativity" nowaday.
> I'm more in the particles "do stuff" part of the work than in the
> character-toon-story telling though.
> I can't say that I'm excited by the modeling tools added in the 16 (I'm
> sure they are great), but having that wide software that's able to not lost
> attributes whatever the context, that constantly amaze me.
>
>
> 2017-03-31 12:00 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy :
>
>> Don't get me wrong - I understand the power and flexibility of Houdini
>> and the fact that it stems from its core architecture and I am not looking
>> for the 3D equivalent of Kais Power Tools.
>>
>> It is however not very straightforward to use for the average 3D artist,
>> no matter how experienced, nor is it easy to pick up. You need to be good
>> at math and know syntax well, and that is plain and simply taking
>> ressources away from the purely artistic part of the work which is why I do
>> this. I want to make great work, not need a science degree to do it.
>>
>> I used to think that 3D software would evolve to become extremely user
>> friendly so it would at some point be fairly easy for almost any user to do
>> even very advanced stuff, so the real difference in output would be how
>> skilled an artist you are.
>>
>> Obviously this is not the path SideFX has taken. It may be my future is
>> not with Houdini, but Soft is parked at the roadside, Maya is a mess still,
>> and the other competitors don't really come close to the level of these
>> anyway, so naturally I am looking in the direction which is developing
>> rapidly and outside of the dark side of AD.
>>
>> It is just that using Houdini seems like driving a car without a steering
>> wheel but having a graphical UI with trigonometry controls to do the
>> steering, and if you want more speed, no gas pedal, but go write an
>> expression that provides the proper mix of gas and air and change the
>> ignition timing. It is hardly intuitive and perhaps the goal is not to be
>> that, but imagine if this solid core architecture was given a better
>> interface, I am sure many more artists out there would jump the wagon
>> straight away and we would see even more fantastic stuff created with
>> Houdini plus make a lot of people more happy.
>>
>&

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[paul]

I think it should definitely be the case that Houdini should become more 
accessible. It doesn’t undermine the abilities of the app, to make it more user 
friendly.
For example, with Fabric engine, or in ICE, you can make a node that does 
‘everything’ with a bunch of parameters. Say a Fur system for artists, but you 
can go down inside through the internal compounds right down to the core maths, 
if you like. An artist doesn’t need to, but can do if he so fancies. This 
layering system, of complexity is one of the great things about ICE. It helps 
you learn it and one day be the guy who’s not just USING the tool, but making 
them. thats what happened to me.
But in terms of more ‘traditional’ usage, for example having a nice Shape 
making and managing tool etc etc, wouldnt suddenly dumb down Houdini in any way 
for the technical people who’d never want to use it. It just gives it a much 
broader range of accessibility for artists. At the moment, the people who use 
Houdini tend to be people who understand, enjoy and live in the technical 
sphere, but that isn’t for everyone.  

In general, there appears to be strange resistance, from people who are happy 
in their technical knowlege to ‘Philistines’ coming in and ‘Fisher Pricing’ 
their app. When I visit the Fabric forums, for example and requested some 
improvements to Canvas, I got a quite a few surprising replies from people ,in 
a deriding tone, telling me to learn KL as that would do what I wanted. 
I knew KL could do what I wanted, but I wanted to help them improve Canvas 
giving a helpful user point of view.  The Devs actually were open to my ideas, 
but its certain users that seem to peer down their noses at ‘arty farty’ 
non-coders.

I’m pretty technical for a lowly artist, but I find Houdini a bit of a slog 
compared to learning ICE.  

From: Olivier Jeannel 
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2017 11:24 AM
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing 
List.https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

I'm quite the opposite Morthen. I found that learning little math (add subtract 
vector mostly...) is just an open path to what's called "creativity" nowaday. 
I'm more in the particles "do stuff" part of the work than in the 
character-toon-story telling though.
I can't say that I'm excited by the modeling tools added in the 16 (I'm sure 
they are great), but having that wide software that's able to not lost 
attributes whatever the context, that constantly amaze me.



2017-03-31 12:00 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy :

  Don't get me wrong - I understand the power and flexibility of Houdini and 
the fact that it stems from its core architecture and I am not looking for the 
3D equivalent of Kais Power Tools.

  It is however not very straightforward to use for the average 3D artist, no 
matter how experienced, nor is it easy to pick up. You need to be good at math 
and know syntax well, and that is plain and simply taking ressources away from 
the purely artistic part of the work which is why I do this. I want to make 
great work, not need a science degree to do it.

  I used to think that 3D software would evolve to become extremely user 
friendly so it would at some point be fairly easy for almost any user to do 
even very advanced stuff, so the real difference in output would be how skilled 
an artist you are.

  Obviously this is not the path SideFX has taken. It may be my future is not 
with Houdini, but Soft is parked at the roadside, Maya is a mess still, and the 
other competitors don't really come close to the level of these anyway, so 
naturally I am looking in the direction which is developing rapidly and outside 
of the dark side of AD.

  It is just that using Houdini seems like driving a car without a steering 
wheel but having a graphical UI with trigonometry controls to do the steering, 
and if you want more speed, no gas pedal, but go write an expression that 
provides the proper mix of gas and air and change the ignition timing. It is 
hardly intuitive and perhaps the goal is not to be that, but imagine if this 
solid core architecture was given a better interface, I am sure many more 
artists out there would jump the wagon straight away and we would see even more 
fantastic stuff created with Houdini plus make a lot of people more happy.

  I am guessing growing userbase and popularity is not a problem for SideFX, 
and making their software more accessible is probably very hard, and takes 
ressources away from developing new and better tools, but I really wish.

  Have a nice weekend all :)

  Morten








  > Den 31. marts 2017 klokken 10:26 skrev Dan Yargici :
  >
  >
  > I think people need to accept that just as they understandably expect
  > SideFX to push the software to be more approachable for themselves they
  > really ought to try and push themselves in the opposite direction also.
  >
  > If t

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jordi Bares]

ate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful
>>> application because of its technical approach.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’
>>> (to say the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change their
>>> development strategy.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to
>>> customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including
>>> Softimage. The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref
>>> dropping VOP nodes over wires the other day is a fine example of that. But
>>> there‘s a danger of allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini
>>> gets changed for the worse rather than the better. I think SideFX have the
>>> balance of things pretty much spot on. There’s still huge improvements that
>>> can be made to the approachability of certain aspects of the user
>>> experience but I it’s never going to transform into something radically
>>> different to what’s available today. If anything, with so much of Houdini
>>> moving away from Hscript style expressions to VEX expressions (for very
>>> good reason - multithreaded performance) certain aspects of the Houdini
>>> user experience are in fact getting more technical.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for
>>> what it is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been
>>> scripting and programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d
>>> operating system rather than a DCC.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini
>>> evolving into something less technical.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@
>>> listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain
>>> *Sent:* 30 March 2017 19:57
>>> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List. https://groups.google.com/
>>> forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
>>> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus tutorial.
>>> 
>>> again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.
>>> 
>>> got recently interested by _computer_  2d possibilities, new for me.
>>> 
>>> but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to
>>> talk in the future,  about a project with a Houdinist.
>>> 
>>> (i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist,
>>> isn't it that Houdini should evolve upside down,
>>> 
>>> so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.
>>> 
>>> Procedural Innovation looked nice, so far,  i guess?
>>> 
>>> so, in a way i donot opt if a new community shift occurs between
>>> 
>>> Maya artists and Houdini vop sop artists. or do you think it necessary,
>>> and why?
>>> 
>>> thanks
>>> 
>>> Nicole.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 2017-03-30 18:04 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy :
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less
>>> technically inclined artists like myself.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Softimage Mailing List.
>>> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
>>> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>>> 
>> --
>> Softimage Mailing List.
>> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
>> "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
> 
> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
> "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.


--
Softimage Mailing List.
To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Olivier Jeannel]

> different to what’s available today. If anything, with so much of
> Houdini
> > > moving away from Hscript style expressions to VEX expressions (for very
> > > good reason - multithreaded performance) certain aspects of the Houdini
> > > user experience are in fact getting more technical.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for
> > > what it is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been
> > > scripting and programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d
> > > operating system rather than a DCC.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini
> > > evolving into something less technical.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-bounces@
> > > listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain
> > > *Sent:* 30 March 2017 19:57
> > > *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List.
> https://groups.google.com/
> > > forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> > > *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus
> tutorial.
> > >
> > > again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.
> > >
> > > got recently interested by _computer_  2d possibilities, new for me.
> > >
> > > but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to
> > > talk in the future,  about a project with a Houdinist.
> > >
> > > (i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist,
> > > isn't it that Houdini should evolve upside down,
> > >
> > > so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.
> > >
> > > Procedural Innovation looked nice, so far,  i guess?
> > >
> > > so, in a way i donot opt if a new community shift occurs between
> > >
> > > Maya artists and Houdini vop sop artists. or do you think it necessary,
> > > and why?
> > >
> > > thanks
> > >
> > > Nicole.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > 2017-03-30 18:04 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy :
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less
> > > technically inclined artists like myself.
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Softimage Mailing List.
> > > To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> > > with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
> > >
> > --
> > Softimage Mailing List.
> > To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>
> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>
--
Softimage Mailing List.
To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Morten Bartholdy]

Don't get me wrong - I understand the power and flexibility of Houdini and the 
fact that it stems from its core architecture and I am not looking for the 3D 
equivalent of Kais Power Tools.

It is however not very straightforward to use for the average 3D artist, no 
matter how experienced, nor is it easy to pick up. You need to be good at math 
and know syntax well, and that is plain and simply taking ressources away from 
the purely artistic part of the work which is why I do this. I want to make 
great work, not need a science degree to do it.

I used to think that 3D software would evolve to become extremely user friendly 
so it would at some point be fairly easy for almost any user to do even very 
advanced stuff, so the real difference in output would be how skilled an artist 
you are.

Obviously this is not the path SideFX has taken. It may be my future is not 
with Houdini, but Soft is parked at the roadside, Maya is a mess still, and the 
other competitors don't really come close to the level of these anyway, so 
naturally I am looking in the direction which is developing rapidly and outside 
of the dark side of AD.

It is just that using Houdini seems like driving a car without a steering wheel 
but having a graphical UI with trigonometry controls to do the steering, and if 
you want more speed, no gas pedal, but go write an expression that provides the 
proper mix of gas and air and change the ignition timing. It is hardly 
intuitive and perhaps the goal is not to be that, but imagine if this solid 
core architecture was given a better interface, I am sure many more artists out 
there would jump the wagon straight away and we would see even more fantastic 
stuff created with Houdini plus make a lot of people more happy.

I am guessing growing userbase and popularity is not a problem for SideFX, and 
making their software more accessible is probably very hard, and takes 
ressources away from developing new and better tools, but I really wish.

Have a nice weekend all :)

Morten







> Den 31. marts 2017 klokken 10:26 skrev Dan Yargici :
> 
> 
> I think people need to accept that just as they understandably expect
> SideFX to push the software to be more approachable for themselves they
> really ought to try and push themselves in the opposite direction also.
> 
> If there was a theoretical race to DCC dominance, I'd really favour Houdini
> right now.  I think starting with so many of the hard things solved and
> working 'creative' workflows into the software is a far more enviable
> position to be in than having to go in the opposite direction.
> 
> Really exciting times ahead as far as I'm concerned!
> 
> DAN
> 
> 
> On Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 8:34 PM, Jonathan Moore 
> wrote:
> 
> > I hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful
> > application because of its technical approach.
> >
> >
> >
> > Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’
> > (to say the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change their
> > development strategy.
> >
> >
> >
> > I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to
> > customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including
> > Softimage. The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref
> > dropping VOP nodes over wires the other day is a fine example of that. But
> > there‘s a danger of allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini
> > gets changed for the worse rather than the better. I think SideFX have the
> > balance of things pretty much spot on. There’s still huge improvements that
> > can be made to the approachability of certain aspects of the user
> > experience but I it’s never going to transform into something radically
> > different to what’s available today. If anything, with so much of Houdini
> > moving away from Hscript style expressions to VEX expressions (for very
> > good reason - multithreaded performance) certain aspects of the Houdini
> > user experience are in fact getting more technical.
> >
> >
> >
> > The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for
> > what it is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been
> > scripting and programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d
> > operating system rather than a DCC.
> >
> >
> >
> > Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini
> > evolving into something less technical.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@
> > listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain
> > *Sent:* 30 March 2017 19:57
> 

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Dan Yargici]

I think people need to accept that just as they understandably expect
SideFX to push the software to be more approachable for themselves they
really ought to try and push themselves in the opposite direction also.

If there was a theoretical race to DCC dominance, I'd really favour Houdini
right now.  I think starting with so many of the hard things solved and
working 'creative' workflows into the software is a far more enviable
position to be in than having to go in the opposite direction.

Really exciting times ahead as far as I'm concerned!

DAN


On Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 8:34 PM, Jonathan Moore 
wrote:

> I hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful
> application because of its technical approach.
>
>
>
> Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’
> (to say the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change their
> development strategy.
>
>
>
> I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to
> customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including
> Softimage. The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref
> dropping VOP nodes over wires the other day is a fine example of that. But
> there‘s a danger of allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini
> gets changed for the worse rather than the better. I think SideFX have the
> balance of things pretty much spot on. There’s still huge improvements that
> can be made to the approachability of certain aspects of the user
> experience but I it’s never going to transform into something radically
> different to what’s available today. If anything, with so much of Houdini
> moving away from Hscript style expressions to VEX expressions (for very
> good reason - multithreaded performance) certain aspects of the Houdini
> user experience are in fact getting more technical.
>
>
>
> The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for
> what it is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been
> scripting and programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d
> operating system rather than a DCC.
>
>
>
> Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini
> evolving into something less technical.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@
> listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain
> *Sent:* 30 March 2017 19:57
> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List. https://groups.google.com/
> forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>
>
>
> hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus tutorial.
>
> again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.
>
> got recently interested by _computer_  2d possibilities, new for me.
>
> but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to
> talk in the future,  about a project with a Houdinist.
>
> (i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist,
> isn't it that Houdini should evolve upside down,
>
> so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.
>
> Procedural Innovation looked nice, so far,  i guess?
>
> so, in a way i donot opt if a new community shift occurs between
>
> Maya artists and Houdini vop sop artists. or do you think it necessary,
> and why?
>
> thanks
>
> Nicole.
>
>
>
> 2017-03-30 18:04 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy :
>
>
>
> I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less
> technically inclined artists like myself.
>
>
> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>
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Softimage Mailing List.
To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jason S]

  
  
    On 03/30/17
16:22, Jonathan Moore wrote:

    That’s certainly the aspect of ICE that I’d like to see
mirrored in siLib.

    One of the great things with ICE was that you could start by
learning say the particles compounds and as your knowledge grew
you could start digging into the compounds to see their granular
makeup, exactly how the low level nodes worked together to
achieve the things they do.

    This type of stepping stone isn’t part of Houdini and is
something that I think we could aim to create as part of the
siLib library.
  
  
  I agree, and hopefully both new and seasoned Houdini users alike
  will then get a taste for advantages of more granular digital
  assets, and perhaps would development
  then naturally gravitate to accommodate that.  
  
  Already making nested subnets (even sub-sub nested) inside vops
  can be alot like 'compounds' 
  or like reusable encapsulated functions or whatever..   or what
  allows the bulkyness of nodes to be greately reduced  enough to
  not be any less "bulky" than code blocks, but while remaining very
  visual and approachable.
  
  Until there would eventually be something like editable port
  names, I would suggest perhaps making maximum (creative) use of
  sticky notes?
  ( illustration with bogus names for illustration purposes )
  
  
  Which would make like HUGE nodes with notes that would need to be
  selected and moved with associated nodes, 
  but would at least give a clear(-er) idea of what (the heck) is
  happening. 
  
  
  
  I also wanted to mutiply an input by a constant, and expose that
  constant to the subnet's UI, but struggled and left it at that. 
  (sigh.. baby steps I guess)
  
  What I like about H nodes is how it represents backward
  connections
   (something you cant do in ice without loosing track of what goes
  where)
  
  
  Otherwise, happy to see that efforts are made to address some of
  this, and I also like "SiLib" :)
  
  On 03/30/17 16:22, Jonathan Moore wrote:


  
  
  
  
That’s
certainly the aspect of ICE that I’d like to see mirrored in
siLib.
 
One
of the great things with ICE was that you could start by
learning say the particles compounds and as your knowledge
grew you could start digging into the compounds to see their
granular makeup, exactly how the low level nodes worked
together to achieve the things they do.
 
This
type of stepping stone isn’t part of Houdini and is
something that I think we could aim to create as part of the
siLib library.
 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On
  Behalf Of Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain
Sent: 30 March 2017 20:51
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list
        
    Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
 

  
may-be there could be an enhanced user
library,
  
  
i don't know if that's what you wanted to
accomplish?
  
  
so that you don't get lost in learning the
paths to possibilities,
  
  
but could sort of 'browse' through the
possibilities,
  
  
in a library or database? does that make some
sense? it would not really modify Houdini's
architecture.
  
  
thanks for your answer.
  


   
  
2017-03-30 21:34 GMT+02:00 Jonathan
  Moore <jonathan.moo...@gmail.com>:

  

  I
  hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini
  is such a powerful application because of its
  technical approach.
   
  Just
  because Softimage is no longer available and Maya
  is ‘problematic’ (to say the least) shouldn’t mean
  that SideFX should have to change their
  development strategy.
   
  I
  believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic
  job of listening to customers that have moved t

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

Yes, sounds good. I was thinking this afternoon that it'd be handy to have that 
for beginners jumping into Vex for the first time too. 

There’s a folder there for examples which would be the place to keep all this 
content. Something like:

—examples
|—nodes
|—learning
 |—vex
 |—vops
 |—dops



> On 30 Mar 2017, at 21:22, Jonathan Moore  wrote:
> 
> That’s certainly the aspect of ICE that I’d like to see mirrored in siLib.
>  
> One of the great things with ICE was that you could start by learning say the 
> particles compounds and as your knowledge grew you could start digging into 
> the compounds to see their granular makeup, exactly how the low level nodes 
> worked together to achieve the things they do.
>  
> This type of stepping stone isn’t part of Houdini and is something that I 
> think we could aim to create as part of the siLib library.
>   <>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nicole 
> Beeckmans-Jacqmain
> Sent: 30 March 2017 20:51
> To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> 
> Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>  
> may-be there could be an enhanced user library,
> i don't know if that's what you wanted to accomplish?
> so that you don't get lost in learning the paths to possibilities,
> but could sort of 'browse' through the possibilities,
> in a library or database? does that make some sense? it would not really 
> modify Houdini's architecture.
> thanks for your answer.
>  
> 2017-03-30 21:34 GMT+02:00 Jonathan Moore  <mailto:jonathan.moo...@gmail.com>>:
>> I hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful 
>> application because of its technical approach.
>>  
>> Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’ (to 
>> say the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change their 
>> development strategy.
>>  
>> I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to 
>> customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including 
>> Softimage. The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref 
>> dropping VOP nodes over wires the other day is a fine example of that. But 
>> there‘s a danger of allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini gets 
>> changed for the worse rather than the better. I think SideFX have the 
>> balance of things pretty much spot on. There’s still huge improvements that 
>> can be made to the approachability of certain aspects of the user experience 
>> but I it’s never going to transform into something radically different to 
>> what’s available today. If anything, with so much of Houdini moving away 
>> from Hscript style expressions to VEX expressions (for very good reason - 
>> multithreaded performance) certain aspects of the Houdini user experience 
>> are in fact getting more technical. <>
>>  
>> The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for what 
>> it is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been scripting and 
>> programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d operating system 
>> rather than a DCC.
>>  
>> Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini 
>> evolving into something less technical.
>>  
>>  
>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
>> <mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> 
>> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
>> <mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>] On Behalf Of Nicole 
>> Beeckmans-Jacqmain
>> Sent: 30 March 2017 19:57
>> To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
>> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
>> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list>>  <mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>>
>> Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>>  
>> hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus tutorial.
>> again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.
>> got recently interested by _computer_  2d possibilities, new for me.
>> but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to talk 
>> in the future,  about a project with a Houdinist.
>> (i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist, 
>> isn't it that Houdini should evolve upside down,
>> so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.
>> Procedural Innovation looked nice, so f

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain]

ok. 100%perfect! didn't read Jason S original mail and ensuing thread.

2017-03-30 22:22 GMT+02:00 Jonathan Moore :

> That’s certainly the aspect of ICE that I’d like to see mirrored in siLib.
>
>
>
> One of the great things with ICE was that you could start by learning say
> the particles compounds and as your knowledge grew you could start digging
> into the compounds to see their granular makeup, exactly how the low level
> nodes worked together to achieve the things they do.
>
>
>
> This type of stepping stone isn’t part of Houdini and is something that I
> think we could aim to create as part of the siLib library.
>
>
>
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@
> listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain
> *Sent:* 30 March 2017 20:51
>
> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List. https://groups.google.com/
> forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>
>
>
> may-be there could be an enhanced user library,
>
> i don't know if that's what you wanted to accomplish?
>
> so that you don't get lost in learning the paths to possibilities,
>
> but could sort of 'browse' through the possibilities,
>
> in a library or database? does that make some sense? it would not really
> modify Houdini's architecture.
>
> thanks for your answer.
>
>
>
> 2017-03-30 21:34 GMT+02:00 Jonathan Moore :
>
> I hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful
> application because of its technical approach.
>
>
>
> Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’
> (to say the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change their
> development strategy.
>
>
>
> I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to
> customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including
> Softimage. The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref
> dropping VOP nodes over wires the other day is a fine example of that. But
> there‘s a danger of allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini
> gets changed for the worse rather than the better. I think SideFX have the
> balance of things pretty much spot on. There’s still huge improvements that
> can be made to the approachability of certain aspects of the user
> experience but I it’s never going to transform into something radically
> different to what’s available today. If anything, with so much of Houdini
> moving away from Hscript style expressions to VEX expressions (for very
> good reason - multithreaded performance) certain aspects of the Houdini
> user experience are in fact getting more technical.
>
>
>
> The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for
> what it is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been
> scripting and programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d
> operating system rather than a DCC.
>
>
>
> Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini
> evolving into something less technical.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@
> listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain
> *Sent:* 30 March 2017 19:57
> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List. https://groups.google.com/
> forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>
>
>
> hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus tutorial.
>
> again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.
>
> got recently interested by _computer_  2d possibilities, new for me.
>
> but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to
> talk in the future,  about a project with a Houdinist.
>
> (i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist,
> isn't it that Houdini should evolve upside down,
>
> so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.
>
> Procedural Innovation looked nice, so far,  i guess?
>
> so, in a way i donot opt if a new community shift occurs between
>
> Maya artists and Houdini vop sop artists. or do you think it necessary,
> and why?
>
> thanks
>
> Nicole.
>
>
>
> 2017-03-30 18:04 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy :
>
>
>
> I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less
> technically inclined artists like myself.
>
>
> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>
>
>
> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>
--
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To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

RE: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jonathan Moore]

That’s certainly the aspect of ICE that I’d like to see mirrored in siLib.

 

One of the great things with ICE was that you could start by learning say the 
particles compounds and as your knowledge grew you could start digging into the 
compounds to see their granular makeup, exactly how the low level nodes worked 
together to achieve the things they do.

 

This type of stepping stone isn’t part of Houdini and is something that I think 
we could aim to create as part of the siLib library.

 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nicole 
Beeckmans-Jacqmain
Sent: 30 March 2017 20:51
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 

Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

 

may-be there could be an enhanced user library,

i don't know if that's what you wanted to accomplish?

so that you don't get lost in learning the paths to possibilities,

but could sort of 'browse' through the possibilities,

in a library or database? does that make some sense? it would not really modify 
Houdini's architecture.

thanks for your answer.

 

2017-03-30 21:34 GMT+02:00 Jonathan Moore mailto:jonathan.moo...@gmail.com> >:

I hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful 
application because of its technical approach.

 

Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’ (to say 
the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change their development 
strategy.

 

I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to 
customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including Softimage. 
The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref dropping VOP nodes 
over wires the other day is a fine example of that. But there‘s a danger of 
allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini gets changed for the worse 
rather than the better. I think SideFX have the balance of things pretty much 
spot on. There’s still huge improvements that can be made to the 
approachability of certain aspects of the user experience but I it’s never 
going to transform into something radically different to what’s available 
today. If anything, with so much of Houdini moving away from Hscript style 
expressions to VEX expressions (for very good reason - multithreaded 
performance) certain aspects of the Houdini user experience are in fact getting 
more technical.

 

The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for what it 
is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been scripting and 
programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d operating system rather 
than a DCC.

 

Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini evolving 
into something less technical.

 

 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
<mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>  
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
<mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> ] On Behalf Of Nicole 
Beeckmans-Jacqmain
Sent: 30 March 2017 19:57
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com> >
Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

 

hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus tutorial.

again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.

got recently interested by _computer_  2d possibilities, new for me.

but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to talk in 
the future,  about a project with a Houdinist.

(i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist, isn't 
it that Houdini should evolve upside down,

so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.

Procedural Innovation looked nice, so far,  i guess?

so, in a way i donot opt if a new community shift occurs between

Maya artists and Houdini vop sop artists. or do you think it necessary, and why?

thanks

Nicole.

 

2017-03-30 18:04 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy mailto:x...@colorshopvfx.dk> >:



I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less technically 
inclined artists like myself.


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<mailto:softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com>  with "unsubscribe" in the 
subject, and reply to confirm.

 

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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain]

may-be there could be an enhanced user library,
i don't know if that's what you wanted to accomplish?
so that you don't get lost in learning the paths to possibilities,
but could sort of 'browse' through the possibilities,
in a library or database? does that make some sense? it would not really
modify Houdini's architecture.
thanks for your answer.

2017-03-30 21:34 GMT+02:00 Jonathan Moore :

> I hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful
> application because of its technical approach.
>
>
>
> Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’
> (to say the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change their
> development strategy.
>
>
>
> I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to
> customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including
> Softimage. The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref
> dropping VOP nodes over wires the other day is a fine example of that. But
> there‘s a danger of allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini
> gets changed for the worse rather than the better. I think SideFX have the
> balance of things pretty much spot on. There’s still huge improvements that
> can be made to the approachability of certain aspects of the user
> experience but I it’s never going to transform into something radically
> different to what’s available today. If anything, with so much of Houdini
> moving away from Hscript style expressions to VEX expressions (for very
> good reason - multithreaded performance) certain aspects of the Houdini
> user experience are in fact getting more technical.
>
>
>
> The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for
> what it is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been
> scripting and programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d
> operating system rather than a DCC.
>
>
>
> Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini
> evolving into something less technical.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@
> listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain
> *Sent:* 30 March 2017 19:57
> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List. https://groups.google.com/
> forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>
>
>
> hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus tutorial.
>
> again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.
>
> got recently interested by _computer_  2d possibilities, new for me.
>
> but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to
> talk in the future,  about a project with a Houdinist.
>
> (i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist,
> isn't it that Houdini should evolve upside down,
>
> so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.
>
> Procedural Innovation looked nice, so far,  i guess?
>
> so, in a way i donot opt if a new community shift occurs between
>
> Maya artists and Houdini vop sop artists. or do you think it necessary,
> and why?
>
> thanks
>
> Nicole.
>
>
>
> 2017-03-30 18:04 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy :
>
>
>
> I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less
> technically inclined artists like myself.
>
>
> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>
--
Softimage Mailing List.
To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

RE: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jonathan Moore]

I hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful 
application because of its technical approach.

 

Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’ (to say 
the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change their development 
strategy.

 

I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to 
customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including Softimage. 
The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref dropping VOP nodes 
over wires the other day is a fine example of that. But there‘s a danger of 
allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini gets changed for the worse 
rather than the better. I think SideFX have the balance of things pretty much 
spot on. There’s still huge improvements that can be made to the 
approachability of certain aspects of the user experience but I it’s never 
going to transform into something radically different to what’s available 
today. If anything, with so much of Houdini moving away from Hscript style 
expressions to VEX expressions (for very good reason - multithreaded 
performance) certain aspects of the Houdini user experience are in fact getting 
more technical.

 

The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for what it 
is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been scripting and 
programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d operating system rather 
than a DCC.

 

Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini evolving 
into something less technical.

 

 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nicole 
Beeckmans-Jacqmain
Sent: 30 March 2017 19:57
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 

Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

 

hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus tutorial.

again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.

got recently interested by _computer_  2d possibilities, new for me.

but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to talk in 
the future,  about a project with a Houdinist.

(i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist, isn't 
it that Houdini should evolve upside down,

so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.

Procedural Innovation looked nice, so far,  i guess?

so, in a way i donot opt if a new community shift occurs between

Maya artists and Houdini vop sop artists. or do you think it necessary, and why?

thanks

Nicole.

 

2017-03-30 18:04 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy mailto:x...@colorshopvfx.dk> >:



I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less technically 
inclined artists like myself.

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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain]

hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus tutorial.
again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.
got recently interested by _computer_  2d possibilities, new for me.
but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to
talk in the future,  about a project with a Houdinist.
(i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist,
isn't it that Houdini should evolve upside down,
so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.
Procedural Innovation looked nice, so far,  i guess?
so, in a way i donot opt if a new community shift occurs between
Maya artists and Houdini vop sop artists. or do you think it necessary, and
why?
thanks
Nicole.

2017-03-30 18:04 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy :

>
>
> I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less
> technically inclined artists like myself.
>
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jonathan Moore]

>
> At least Soft is still going strong for a dead application :)


Can't say fairer than that.  :)

On 30 March 2017 at 17:04, Morten Bartholdy  wrote:

> I think it is a great initiative guys and wish the project well. It s
> great to see so many XSI power users make the transition.
>
> I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less
> technically inclined artists like myself. It is clear from this
> conversation and my quick venture into trying Houdini that it will be a
> rather painstaking experience to do even simple stuff in Houdini compared
> to Softimage :/
>
> At least Soft is still going strong for a dead application :)
>
> Morten
>
>
> > Den 30. marts 2017 klokken 17:10 skrev Andy Nicholas <
> a...@andynicholas.com>:
> >
> >
> > Okay, folks. The people have spoken. The poll results are in:
> >
> > https://goo.gl/b0CPzn
> >
> > It’s gonna be called “siLib”.
> >
> >
> > I’ve created a GitHub repo here:
> >
> > https://github.com/fxnut/siLib
> >
> > and made a start with a basic structure that follows the usual Houdini
> directory naming convention (identical to Aelib and qLib).
> >
> > There’s also a new Google Group here:
> >
> > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/houdini-silib
> >
> > which you can either post to via the web interface, or by sending an
> email to:
> >
> > houdini-si...@googlegroups.com
> >
> > I suggest we move discussions over to there. See you on the other side!
> >
> > A
> >
> >
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Morten Bartholdy]

I think it is a great initiative guys and wish the project well. It s great to 
see so many XSI power users make the transition.

I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less technically 
inclined artists like myself. It is clear from this conversation and my quick 
venture into trying Houdini that it will be a rather painstaking experience to 
do even simple stuff in Houdini compared to Softimage :/

At least Soft is still going strong for a dead application :)

Morten


> Den 30. marts 2017 klokken 17:10 skrev Andy Nicholas :
> 
> 
> Okay, folks. The people have spoken. The poll results are in:
> 
> https://goo.gl/b0CPzn
> 
> It’s gonna be called “siLib”.
> 
> 
> I’ve created a GitHub repo here:
> 
> https://github.com/fxnut/siLib
> 
> and made a start with a basic structure that follows the usual Houdini 
> directory naming convention (identical to Aelib and qLib).
> 
> There’s also a new Google Group here:
> 
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/houdini-silib
> 
> which you can either post to via the web interface, or by sending an email to:
> 
> houdini-si...@googlegroups.com
> 
> I suggest we move discussions over to there. See you on the other side!
> 
> A
> 
> 
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

No problem guys. Happy to help.

I just made a first post on the group to get the ball rolling. It’s a public 
forum so everyone can read, but you’ll need to get confirmation to join before 
you can post. 

Do come join in, start your own threads etc.


> On 30 Mar 2017, at 16:33, Juan Brockhaus  wrote:
> 
> cool. thanks Andy!
> as soon as I have more time I will jump onto the houdini train... 
> Maya is just too painfull... but at the moment unfortunalty I have to use 
> it... :-/
> 
> On Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 5:24 PM, Jonathan Moore  <mailto:jonathan.moo...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> Excellent stuff Andy.
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> <mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> 
> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> <mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>] On Behalf Of Andy Nicholas
> Sent: 30 March 2017 16:10
> To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list> 
> mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>>
> Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
> 
> Okay, folks. The people have spoken. The poll results are in:
> 
> https://goo.gl/b0CPzn <https://goo.gl/b0CPzn>
> 
> It’s gonna be called “siLib”.
> 
> 
> I’ve created a GitHub repo here:
> 
> https://github.com/fxnut/siLib <https://github.com/fxnut/siLib>
> 
> and made a start with a basic structure that follows the usual Houdini 
> directory naming convention (identical to Aelib and qLib).
> 
> There’s also a new Google Group here:
> 
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/houdini-silib 
> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/houdini-silib>
> 
> which you can either post to via the web interface, or by sending an email to:
> 
> houdini-si...@googlegroups.com <mailto:houdini-si...@googlegroups.com>
> 
> I suggest we move discussions over to there. See you on the other side!
> 
> A
> 
> 
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Juan Brockhaus]

cool. thanks Andy!
as soon as I have more time I will jump onto the houdini train...
Maya is just too painfull... but at the moment unfortunalty I have to use
it... :-/

On Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 5:24 PM, Jonathan Moore 
wrote:

> Excellent stuff Andy.
>
> -Original Message-
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@
> listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Andy Nicholas
> Sent: 30 March 2017 16:10
> To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. https://groups.google.com/
> forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>
> Okay, folks. The people have spoken. The poll results are in:
>
> https://goo.gl/b0CPzn
>
> It’s gonna be called “siLib”.
>
>
> I’ve created a GitHub repo here:
>
> https://github.com/fxnut/siLib
>
> and made a start with a basic structure that follows the usual Houdini
> directory naming convention (identical to Aelib and qLib).
>
> There’s also a new Google Group here:
>
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/houdini-silib
>
> which you can either post to via the web interface, or by sending an email
> to:
>
> houdini-si...@googlegroups.com
>
> I suggest we move discussions over to there. See you on the other side!
>
> A
>
>
> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>
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RE: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jonathan Moore]

Excellent stuff Andy. 

-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Andy Nicholas
Sent: 30 March 2017 16:10
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 

Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

Okay, folks. The people have spoken. The poll results are in:

https://goo.gl/b0CPzn

It’s gonna be called “siLib”.


I’ve created a GitHub repo here:

https://github.com/fxnut/siLib

and made a start with a basic structure that follows the usual Houdini 
directory naming convention (identical to Aelib and qLib).

There’s also a new Google Group here:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/houdini-silib

which you can either post to via the web interface, or by sending an email to:

houdini-si...@googlegroups.com

I suggest we move discussions over to there. See you on the other side!

A


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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

Okay, folks. The people have spoken. The poll results are in:

https://goo.gl/b0CPzn

It’s gonna be called “siLib”.


I’ve created a GitHub repo here:

https://github.com/fxnut/siLib

and made a start with a basic structure that follows the usual Houdini 
directory naming convention (identical to Aelib and qLib).

There’s also a new Google Group here:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/houdini-silib

which you can either post to via the web interface, or by sending an email to:

houdini-si...@googlegroups.com

I suggest we move discussions over to there. See you on the other side!

A


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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jordi Bares]

true… it just happens to be a nice name… :)

> On 30 Mar 2017, at 13:03, Andy Nicholas  wrote:
> 
> Might be confused with the soho backend rendering framework in Houdini, no?
> 
> On 30/03/2017 12:49, Jordi Bares wrote:
>> Weird… what about sohoLib?
>> 
>> jb
>> 
>>> On 30 Mar 2017, at 12:39, Andy Nicholas >> > wrote:
>>> 
>>> Okay. Gonna narrow this down to the two most popular results. Please vote 
>>> here in the next hour or so, and then we can move on with doing stuff!
>>> 
>>> https://goo.gl/u1aiFL 
>>> 
>>> (FYI, that poll does let you add your own if you feel strongly, but do 
>>> google it first to make sure it doesn't already exist as a prominent 
>>> project. Ta!)
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 30/03/2017 11:43, Cristobal Infante wrote:
 siLib
 
 It makes a little face and everything
 
 Cris
 
 
 On Thu, 30 Mar 2017 at 10:55, Andy Nicholas >>> > wrote:
 Hi Rob, great suggestion, but unfortunately...
 
 http://x-stream.github.io/ 
 
 It's hard to come up with something someone hasn't already thought of!
 
 Case in point:
 
 https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=softlib 
 
 
 is only marginally better as at least there's not an actual library
 called the same, just a company.
 
 
 On 30/03/2017 10:46, Rob Chapman wrote:
 > XstreamLib - my name suggestion.
 >
 >
 >
 >
  Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
 
  to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
 
 > --
 > Softimage Mailing List.
 > To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com 
 >  with "unsubscribe" in 
 > the subject, and reply to confirm.
 
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 subject, and reply to confirm.
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> 
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Juan Brockhaus]

l extension of Houdini and be
>>> highly compatible with the standard way of working in Houdini, rather than
>>> working against it.
>>>
>>> I think there’ll be a lot of back and forth about how nodes are authored
>>> and what expectations we need to have of them, so do get involved when it
>>> moves across to the Google group.
>>>
>>> A
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 30 Mar 2017, at 02:09, Christopher Crouzet <
>>> christopher.crou...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Regarding GetArrayMinimum: there is a min()
>>> <http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/vex/functions/min> function in VEX,
>>> or were you referring to something else?
>>>
>>> Note that I'm still using Houdini 13 where support for arrays is not as
>>> extended as in later versions, but I rarely feel the need for storing
>>> arrays in attributes, or even using arrays at all in my code. An example of
>>> exception would be to store the list of neighbouring indices for the
>>> downstream nodes to use, but then it's likely that putting all the logic in
>>> a single monolithic VEX instead wouldn't be such a bad approach.
>>>
>>> Maybe the first thing to do before porting a node/workflow from
>>> Softimage would be to figure out how to do it best in Houdini, as a way to
>>> get more familiar with Houdini's philosophy, and then balance the pros/cons
>>> of each approach.
>>>
>>>
>>> PS: I personally find it cool to see the list revived with Houdini
>>> discussions!
>>>
>>>
>>> On 30 March 2017 at 02:10, Jonathan Moore 
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> *| BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the
>>>> discussion elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google
>>>> groups being a good option.*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sounds like a good idea.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>>>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Andy Nicholas
>>>> *Sent:* 29 March 2017 20:08
>>>> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List.
>>>> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list <
>>>> softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>
>>>> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yep, agreed. I think we can be more ambitious. Rather than just cloning
>>>> old workflows, we should use them as inspiration to improve on. There’s no
>>>> point precisely duplicating something if that ends up causing long time
>>>> Houdini users confusion because it doesn’t work the way they expect, or if
>>>> it adds too much performance overhead just to make it “nice” from a
>>>> Softimage point of view. I think it should be about making Houdini faster,
>>>> simpler, and easier to use to create and rapidly prototype effects. That
>>>> was what we liked so much about Softimage and ICE after all.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Houdini tends to have big nodes with lots of functionality. I think we
>>>> should think about having smaller nodes, with more singular functionality
>>>> that is extremely clear. That way, you don’t have to read the manual each
>>>> time you put one down. They should all be VEX expression-able too. I
>>>> suspect some sort of convention about how nodes are made will be necessary
>>>> in order to provide simplicity through consistency.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> How easy all this will be in practice, I don’t know. I suspect the most
>>>> important thing to decide on first is what the problem actually is, before
>>>> we figure out ways to solve it. Three key areas for me are:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> * Obvious missing VOP functionality (e.g. like the example that came up
>>>> earlier: GetArrayMinimum, etc.)
>>>>
>>>> * Extend the POP functionality. I find the current one quite clunky and
>>>> hard to do things quickly like manipulating particle orientation. Ever
>>>> tried making a particle spin around it’s local velocity as it travels? It's
>>>> not quick to do at all.
>>>>
>>>> * Decide on some typical and frequently used DOP use cases and figure
>>>> out ways to set them up simp

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

Suprised no one's suggested "Softy McSoftface Lib" ;)

On 30/03/2017 13:03, Andy Nicholas wrote:
Might be confused with the soho backend rendering framework in 
Houdini, no?


On 30/03/2017 12:49, Jordi Bares wrote:

Weird… what about sohoLib?

jb

On 30 Mar 2017, at 12:39, Andy Nicholas > wrote:


Okay. Gonna narrow this down to the two most popular results. Please 
vote here in the next hour or so, and then we can move on with doing 
stuff!


https://goo.gl/u1aiFL

(FYI, that poll does let you add your own if you feel strongly, but 
do google it first to make sure it doesn't already exist as a 
prominent project. Ta!)



On 30/03/2017 11:43, Cristobal Infante wrote:

siLib

It makes a little face and everything

Cris


On Thu, 30 Mar 2017 at 10:55, Andy Nicholas > wrote:


Hi Rob, great suggestion, but unfortunately...

http://x-stream.github.io/

It's hard to come up with something someone hasn't already
thought of!

Case in point:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=softlib

is only marginally better as at least there's not an actual library
called the same, just a company.


On 30/03/2017 10:46, Rob Chapman wrote:
> XstreamLib - my name suggestion.
>
>
>
>
 Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone
else wants

 to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.

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softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
 with
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Christopher Crouzet]

hristopher.crou...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Regarding GetArrayMinimum: there is a min()
>> <http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/vex/functions/min> function in VEX,
>> or were you referring to something else?
>>
>> Note that I'm still using Houdini 13 where support for arrays is not as
>> extended as in later versions, but I rarely feel the need for storing
>> arrays in attributes, or even using arrays at all in my code. An example of
>> exception would be to store the list of neighbouring indices for the
>> downstream nodes to use, but then it's likely that putting all the logic in
>> a single monolithic VEX instead wouldn't be such a bad approach.
>>
>> Maybe the first thing to do before porting a node/workflow from Softimage
>> would be to figure out how to do it best in Houdini, as a way to get more
>> familiar with Houdini's philosophy, and then balance the pros/cons of each
>> approach.
>>
>>
>> PS: I personally find it cool to see the list revived with Houdini
>> discussions!
>>
>>
>> On 30 March 2017 at 02:10, Jonathan Moore 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> *| BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the
>>> discussion elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google
>>> groups being a good option.*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sounds like a good idea.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Andy Nicholas
>>> *Sent:* 29 March 2017 20:08
>>> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List.
>>> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list <
>>> softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>
>>> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Yep, agreed. I think we can be more ambitious. Rather than just cloning
>>> old workflows, we should use them as inspiration to improve on. There’s no
>>> point precisely duplicating something if that ends up causing long time
>>> Houdini users confusion because it doesn’t work the way they expect, or if
>>> it adds too much performance overhead just to make it “nice” from a
>>> Softimage point of view. I think it should be about making Houdini faster,
>>> simpler, and easier to use to create and rapidly prototype effects. That
>>> was what we liked so much about Softimage and ICE after all.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Houdini tends to have big nodes with lots of functionality. I think we
>>> should think about having smaller nodes, with more singular functionality
>>> that is extremely clear. That way, you don’t have to read the manual each
>>> time you put one down. They should all be VEX expression-able too. I
>>> suspect some sort of convention about how nodes are made will be necessary
>>> in order to provide simplicity through consistency.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> How easy all this will be in practice, I don’t know. I suspect the most
>>> important thing to decide on first is what the problem actually is, before
>>> we figure out ways to solve it. Three key areas for me are:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> * Obvious missing VOP functionality (e.g. like the example that came up
>>> earlier: GetArrayMinimum, etc.)
>>>
>>> * Extend the POP functionality. I find the current one quite clunky and
>>> hard to do things quickly like manipulating particle orientation. Ever
>>> tried making a particle spin around it’s local velocity as it travels? It's
>>> not quick to do at all.
>>>
>>> * Decide on some typical and frequently used DOP use cases and figure
>>> out ways to set them up simply. E.g. Emit RBD From Particles.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> That’s just off the top of my head, but I’m sure others have their own
>>> ideas and priorities which I’d love to hear. Do pipe up as well if there’s
>>> something you’re keen to help with or have a strong opinion on. I’m not
>>> doing it all myself! ;)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the
>>> discussion elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google
>>> groups being a good option.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> A
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:30, Jordi Bares  wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

Might be confused with the soho backend rendering framework in Houdini, no?

On 30/03/2017 12:49, Jordi Bares wrote:

Weird… what about sohoLib?

jb

On 30 Mar 2017, at 12:39, Andy Nicholas > wrote:


Okay. Gonna narrow this down to the two most popular results. Please 
vote here in the next hour or so, and then we can move on with doing 
stuff!


https://goo.gl/u1aiFL

(FYI, that poll does let you add your own if you feel strongly, but 
do google it first to make sure it doesn't already exist as a 
prominent project. Ta!)



On 30/03/2017 11:43, Cristobal Infante wrote:

siLib

It makes a little face and everything

Cris


On Thu, 30 Mar 2017 at 10:55, Andy Nicholas > wrote:


Hi Rob, great suggestion, but unfortunately...

http://x-stream.github.io/

It's hard to come up with something someone hasn't already
thought of!

Case in point:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=softlib

is only marginally better as at least there's not an actual library
called the same, just a company.


On 30/03/2017 10:46, Rob Chapman wrote:
> XstreamLib - my name suggestion.
>
>
>
>
 Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone
else wants

 to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.

> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to
softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
 with
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jordi Bares]

Weird… what about sohoLib?

jb

> On 30 Mar 2017, at 12:39, Andy Nicholas  wrote:
> 
> Okay. Gonna narrow this down to the two most popular results. Please vote 
> here in the next hour or so, and then we can move on with doing stuff!
> 
> https://goo.gl/u1aiFL 
> 
> (FYI, that poll does let you add your own if you feel strongly, but do google 
> it first to make sure it doesn't already exist as a prominent project. Ta!)
> 
> 
> On 30/03/2017 11:43, Cristobal Infante wrote:
>> siLib
>> 
>> It makes a little face and everything
>> 
>> Cris
>> 
>> 
>> On Thu, 30 Mar 2017 at 10:55, Andy Nicholas > > wrote:
>> Hi Rob, great suggestion, but unfortunately...
>> 
>> http://x-stream.github.io/ 
>> 
>> It's hard to come up with something someone hasn't already thought of!
>> 
>> Case in point:
>> 
>> https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=softlib 
>> 
>> 
>> is only marginally better as at least there's not an actual library
>> called the same, just a company.
>> 
>> 
>> On 30/03/2017 10:46, Rob Chapman wrote:
>> > XstreamLib - my name suggestion.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>  Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
>> 
>>  to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
>> 
>> > --
>> > Softimage Mailing List.
>> > To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com 
>> >  with "unsubscribe" in the 
>> > subject, and reply to confirm.
>> 
>> --
>> Softimage Mailing List.
>> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com 
>>  with "unsubscribe" in the 
>> subject, and reply to confirm.
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Softimage Mailing List.
>> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com 
>>  with "unsubscribe" in the 
>> subject, and reply to confirm.
> 
> --
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> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
> "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Tim Bolland]

Voted! Thank you for putting the effort in. I'll try and help out where I can. 
It would be nice to get some template HDAs to figure out the 'right' way to 
make them (polymorphism/naming etc).


Cheers,

Tim



From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
 on behalf of Andy Nicholas 

Sent: 30 March 2017 12:39
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

Okay. Gonna narrow this down to the two most popular results. Please vote here 
in the next hour or so, and then we can move on with doing stuff!

https://goo.gl/u1aiFL

(FYI, that poll does let you add your own if you feel strongly, but do google 
it first to make sure it doesn't already exist as a prominent project. Ta!)


On 30/03/2017 11:43, Cristobal Infante wrote:
siLib

It makes a little face and everything

Cris


On Thu, 30 Mar 2017 at 10:55, Andy Nicholas 
mailto:a...@andynicholas.com>> wrote:
Hi Rob, great suggestion, but unfortunately...

http://x-stream.github.io/

It's hard to come up with something someone hasn't already thought of!

Case in point:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=softlib

is only marginally better as at least there's not an actual library
called the same, just a company.


On 30/03/2017 10:46, Rob Chapman wrote:
> XstreamLib - my name suggestion.
>
>
>
>
>>>> Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
>>>>
>>>> to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
>>>>
> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to 
> softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com<mailto:softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com>
>  with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

des to use, but then
it's likely that putting all the logic in a single monolithic VEX
instead wouldn't be such a bad approach.

Maybe the first thing to do before porting a node/workflow from
Softimage would be to figure out how to do it best in Houdini, as
a way to get more familiar with Houdini's philosophy, and then
balance the pros/cons of each approach.


PS: I personally find it cool to see the list revived with
Houdini discussions!


On 30 March 2017 at 02:10, Jonathan Moore
mailto:jonathan.moo...@gmail.com>> wrote:

/| BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move
the discussion elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was
thinking of Google groups being a good option./

//

Sounds like a good idea.

*From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
<mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
<mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>] *On Behalf
Of *Andy Nicholas
*Sent:* 29 March 2017 20:08
*To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list
        <https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/xsi_list>
mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>>
*Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

Yep, agreed. I think we can be more ambitious. Rather than
just cloning old workflows, we should use them as inspiration
to improve on. There’s no point precisely duplicating
something if that ends up causing long time Houdini users
confusion because it doesn’t work the way they expect, or if
it adds too much performance overhead just to make it “nice”
from a Softimage point of view. I think it should be about
making Houdini faster, simpler, and easier to use to create
and rapidly prototype effects. That was what we liked so much
about Softimage and ICE after all.

Houdini tends to have big nodes with lots of functionality. I
think we should think about having smaller nodes, with more
singular functionality that is extremely clear. That way, you
don’t have to read the manual each time you put one down.
They should all be VEX expression-able too. I suspect some
sort of convention about how nodes are made will be necessary
in order to provide simplicity through consistency.

How easy all this will be in practice, I don’t know. I
suspect the most important thing to decide on first is what
the problem actually is, before we figure out ways to solve
it. Three key areas for me are:

* Obvious missing VOP functionality (e.g. like the example
that came up earlier: GetArrayMinimum, etc.)

* Extend the POP functionality. I find the current one quite
clunky and hard to do things quickly like manipulating
particle orientation. Ever tried making a particle spin
around it’s local velocity as it travels? It's not quick to
do at all.

* Decide on some typical and frequently used DOP use cases
and figure out ways to set them up simply. E.g. Emit RBD From
Particles.

That’s just off the top of my head, but I’m sure others have
their own ideas and priorities which I’d love to hear. Do
pipe up as well if there’s something you’re keen to help with
or have a strong opinion on. I’m not doing it all myself! ;)

BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move
the discussion elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was
thinking of Google groups being a good option.

A

On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:30, Jordi Bares
mailto:jordiba...@gmail.com>> wrote:

Don't you think although the inspiration may be to clone
useful components and tools found in Softimage there is
potentially a much bigger scope?

Not only that, traditional Houdini artists may find these
tools useful too?

I guess what I am trying to say is, Softimage is dead,
let's move on to an even better place rather than hang
around in old memories.

My 2 cents

Jb

Sent from my iPhone


On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:23, Olivier Jeannel
mailto:facialdel...@gmail.com>>
wrote:

The EOL_lib

or

The KnightsOfNi_lib

2017-03-29 20:05 GMT+02:00 Fabricio Chamon
mailto:xsiml...@gmail.com>>:

softLib looks good!

Em qua, 29 de mar de 2017 às 18:51, Andy Nicholas
mailto:a...@andynicholas.com>> escreveu:

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

Okay. Gonna narrow this down to the two most popular results. Please 
vote here in the next hour or so, and then we can move on with doing stuff!


https://goo.gl/u1aiFL

(FYI, that poll does let you add your own if you feel strongly, but do 
google it first to make sure it doesn't already exist as a prominent 
project. Ta!)



On 30/03/2017 11:43, Cristobal Infante wrote:

siLib

It makes a little face and everything

Cris


On Thu, 30 Mar 2017 at 10:55, Andy Nicholas > wrote:


Hi Rob, great suggestion, but unfortunately...

http://x-stream.github.io/

It's hard to come up with something someone hasn't already thought of!

Case in point:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=softlib

is only marginally better as at least there's not an actual library
called the same, just a company.


On 30/03/2017 10:46, Rob Chapman wrote:
> XstreamLib - my name suggestion.
>
>
>
>
 Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else
wants

 to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.

> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to
softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
 with
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

--
Softimage Mailing List.
To unsubscribe, send a mail to
softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
 with
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.



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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Cristobal Infante]

siLib

It makes a little face and everything

Cris


On Thu, 30 Mar 2017 at 10:55, Andy Nicholas  wrote:

> Hi Rob, great suggestion, but unfortunately...
>
> http://x-stream.github.io/
>
> It's hard to come up with something someone hasn't already thought of!
>
> Case in point:
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=softlib
>
> is only marginally better as at least there's not an actual library
> called the same, just a company.
>
>
> On 30/03/2017 10:46, Rob Chapman wrote:
> > XstreamLib - my name suggestion.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>  Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
> 
>  to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
> 
> > --
> > Softimage Mailing List.
> > To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>
> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>
--
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To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

Hi Rob, great suggestion, but unfortunately...

http://x-stream.github.io/

It's hard to come up with something someone hasn't already thought of!

Case in point:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=softlib

is only marginally better as at least there's not an actual library 
called the same, just a company.


On 30/03/2017 10:46, Rob Chapman wrote:
> XstreamLib - my name suggestion.
>
>
>
>
 Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants

 to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.

> --
> Softimage Mailing List.
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
> "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

--
Softimage Mailing List.
To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Rob Chapman]

XstreamLib - my name suggestion.




>>>
>>> Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
>>>
>>> to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
>>>
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Softimage Mailing List.
To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Christopher Crouzet]

dini
> discussions!
>
>
> On 30 March 2017 at 02:10, Jonathan Moore 
> wrote:
>
>> *| BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the
>> discussion elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google
>> groups being a good option.*
>>
>>
>>
>> Sounds like a good idea.
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Andy Nicholas
>> *Sent:* 29 March 2017 20:08
>> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List.
>> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list <
>> softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>
>> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>>
>>
>>
>> Yep, agreed. I think we can be more ambitious. Rather than just cloning
>> old workflows, we should use them as inspiration to improve on. There’s no
>> point precisely duplicating something if that ends up causing long time
>> Houdini users confusion because it doesn’t work the way they expect, or if
>> it adds too much performance overhead just to make it “nice” from a
>> Softimage point of view. I think it should be about making Houdini faster,
>> simpler, and easier to use to create and rapidly prototype effects. That
>> was what we liked so much about Softimage and ICE after all.
>>
>>
>>
>> Houdini tends to have big nodes with lots of functionality. I think we
>> should think about having smaller nodes, with more singular functionality
>> that is extremely clear. That way, you don’t have to read the manual each
>> time you put one down. They should all be VEX expression-able too. I
>> suspect some sort of convention about how nodes are made will be necessary
>> in order to provide simplicity through consistency.
>>
>>
>>
>> How easy all this will be in practice, I don’t know. I suspect the most
>> important thing to decide on first is what the problem actually is, before
>> we figure out ways to solve it. Three key areas for me are:
>>
>>
>>
>> * Obvious missing VOP functionality (e.g. like the example that came up
>> earlier: GetArrayMinimum, etc.)
>>
>> * Extend the POP functionality. I find the current one quite clunky and
>> hard to do things quickly like manipulating particle orientation. Ever
>> tried making a particle spin around it’s local velocity as it travels? It's
>> not quick to do at all.
>>
>> * Decide on some typical and frequently used DOP use cases and figure out
>> ways to set them up simply. E.g. Emit RBD From Particles.
>>
>>
>>
>> That’s just off the top of my head, but I’m sure others have their own
>> ideas and priorities which I’d love to hear. Do pipe up as well if there’s
>> something you’re keen to help with or have a strong opinion on. I’m not
>> doing it all myself! ;)
>>
>>
>>
>> BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the discussion
>> elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google groups
>> being a good option.
>>
>>
>>
>> A
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:30, Jordi Bares  wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Don't you think although the inspiration may be to clone useful
>> components and tools found in Softimage there is potentially a much bigger
>> scope?
>>
>>
>>
>> Not only that, traditional Houdini artists may find these tools useful
>> too?
>>
>>
>>
>> I guess what I am trying to say is, Softimage is dead, let's move on to
>> an even better place rather than hang around in old memories.
>>
>>
>>
>> My 2 cents
>>
>>
>>
>> Jb
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>
>> On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:23, Olivier Jeannel  wrote:
>>
>> The EOL_lib
>>
>> or
>>
>> The KnightsOfNi_lib
>>
>>
>>
>> 2017-03-29 20:05 GMT+02:00 Fabricio Chamon :
>>
>> softLib looks good!
>>
>>
>>
>> Em qua, 29 de mar de 2017 às 18:51, Andy Nicholas 
>> escreveu:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> haha! :)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
>>
>> to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 29/03/2017 17:38, Olivier Jeannel
>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

Hi Chris,
Yes, the min() VEX function does indeed work on arrays, but the Min VOP 
unfortunately doesn’t.

It works as a good example though. I don’t want to confuse things, but if we 
assume for a moment that the Min VOP did actually work on arrays, I think it 
wouldn’t be unreasonable to find a way to expose the functionality better to an 
artist, as it’s fairly unusual to have a function that finds the minimum of 
several inputs, as well as coping with feeding an array in. Creating a node 
called "Get Array Min” that wraps the “Min” VOP, would make things clearer at a 
small expense of duplication. Also, if someone hits Tab and types “Array”, then 
they get to see all the nodes that work on arrays include the new “Get Array 
Min” node. Without it, they wouldn’t ever see the Min VOP and would risk 
overlooking that functionality. 

This way of thinking is similar to what SideFX have been doing with the wrangle 
SOPs. (For those who don’t know, the Attribute Wrangle,Vertex Wrangle, Point 
Wrangle, and Primitive Wrangle are all exactly the same nodes, just with 
different presets applied.) I think this added verbosity of “macro” nodes is 
okay in situations where it provides clarity and requires the user to remember 
less. Just as long as you don’t end up with a library of nodes that does 
nothing but translate the linguistic differences between Softimage and Houdini, 
as that wouldn’t really help anyone in the long run.

But since the Min VOP doesn’t work, I imagine we would just wrap a VEX snippet 
calling the min() function and make sure it looks as similar as possible to the 
other VOPs. Seems reasonable?

> I rarely feel the need for storing arrays in attributes


Yep, arrays aren’t needed that often in attributes, but they’re essential for 
some types of operations, e.g. edge relaxing, where you need to store rest edge 
lengths. I would imagine that most people who have used a lot of ICE find it 
quite comfortable to use arrays (e.g strands) and are an essential part of 
their toolkit, so it makes sense to streamline Houdini's workflow to support it.

> Maybe the first thing to do before porting a node/workflow from Softimage 
> would be to figure out how to do it best in Houdini, as a way to get more 
> familiar with Houdini's philosophy, and then balance the pros/cons of each 
> approach.


Exactly. See what I wrote in the first paragraph in my reply to Jordi yesterday 
at 20:08 and I think you’ll see we’re thinking on the same lines. Whatever gets 
made must feel like a natural extension of Houdini and be highly compatible 
with the standard way of working in Houdini, rather than working against it.

I think there’ll be a lot of back and forth about how nodes are authored and 
what expectations we need to have of them, so do get involved when it moves 
across to the Google group.

A



> On 30 Mar 2017, at 02:09, Christopher Crouzet  
> wrote:
> 
> Regarding GetArrayMinimum: there is a min() 
> <http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/vex/functions/min> function in VEX, or 
> were you referring to something else?
> 
> Note that I'm still using Houdini 13 where support for arrays is not as 
> extended as in later versions, but I rarely feel the need for storing arrays 
> in attributes, or even using arrays at all in my code. An example of 
> exception would be to store the list of neighbouring indices for the 
> downstream nodes to use, but then it's likely that putting all the logic in a 
> single monolithic VEX instead wouldn't be such a bad approach.
> 
> Maybe the first thing to do before porting a node/workflow from Softimage 
> would be to figure out how to do it best in Houdini, as a way to get more 
> familiar with Houdini's philosophy, and then balance the pros/cons of each 
> approach.
> 
> 
> PS: I personally find it cool to see the list revived with Houdini 
> discussions!
> 
> 
> On 30 March 2017 at 02:10, Jonathan Moore  <mailto:jonathan.moo...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> | BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the discussion 
> elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google groups being 
> a good option.
> 
>  
> 
> Sounds like a good idea.
> 
>   <>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> <mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> 
> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> <mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>] On Behalf Of Andy Nicholas
> Sent: 29 March 2017 20:08
> To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list> 
> mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>>
> Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
> 
>  
> 
> Yep, agreed. I think we can be more ambitious. Rather than just cl

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Christopher Crouzet]

Regarding GetArrayMinimum: there is a min()
<http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/vex/functions/min> function in VEX, or
were you referring to something else?

Note that I'm still using Houdini 13 where support for arrays is not as
extended as in later versions, but I rarely feel the need for storing
arrays in attributes, or even using arrays at all in my code. An example of
exception would be to store the list of neighbouring indices for the
downstream nodes to use, but then it's likely that putting all the logic in
a single monolithic VEX instead wouldn't be such a bad approach.

Maybe the first thing to do before porting a node/workflow from Softimage
would be to figure out how to do it best in Houdini, as a way to get more
familiar with Houdini's philosophy, and then balance the pros/cons of each
approach.


PS: I personally find it cool to see the list revived with Houdini
discussions!


On 30 March 2017 at 02:10, Jonathan Moore  wrote:

> *| BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the
> discussion elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google
> groups being a good option.*
>
>
>
> Sounds like a good idea.
>
>
>
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@
> listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Andy Nicholas
> *Sent:* 29 March 2017 20:08
> *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List. https://groups.google.com/
> forum/#!forum/xsi_list 
> *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
>
>
>
> Yep, agreed. I think we can be more ambitious. Rather than just cloning
> old workflows, we should use them as inspiration to improve on. There’s no
> point precisely duplicating something if that ends up causing long time
> Houdini users confusion because it doesn’t work the way they expect, or if
> it adds too much performance overhead just to make it “nice” from a
> Softimage point of view. I think it should be about making Houdini faster,
> simpler, and easier to use to create and rapidly prototype effects. That
> was what we liked so much about Softimage and ICE after all.
>
>
>
> Houdini tends to have big nodes with lots of functionality. I think we
> should think about having smaller nodes, with more singular functionality
> that is extremely clear. That way, you don’t have to read the manual each
> time you put one down. They should all be VEX expression-able too. I
> suspect some sort of convention about how nodes are made will be necessary
> in order to provide simplicity through consistency.
>
>
>
> How easy all this will be in practice, I don’t know. I suspect the most
> important thing to decide on first is what the problem actually is, before
> we figure out ways to solve it. Three key areas for me are:
>
>
>
> * Obvious missing VOP functionality (e.g. like the example that came up
> earlier: GetArrayMinimum, etc.)
>
> * Extend the POP functionality. I find the current one quite clunky and
> hard to do things quickly like manipulating particle orientation. Ever
> tried making a particle spin around it’s local velocity as it travels? It's
> not quick to do at all.
>
> * Decide on some typical and frequently used DOP use cases and figure out
> ways to set them up simply. E.g. Emit RBD From Particles.
>
>
>
> That’s just off the top of my head, but I’m sure others have their own
> ideas and priorities which I’d love to hear. Do pipe up as well if there’s
> something you’re keen to help with or have a strong opinion on. I’m not
> doing it all myself! ;)
>
>
>
> BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the discussion
> elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google groups
> being a good option.
>
>
>
> A
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:30, Jordi Bares  wrote:
>
>
>
> Don't you think although the inspiration may be to clone useful components
> and tools found in Softimage there is potentially a much bigger scope?
>
>
>
> Not only that, traditional Houdini artists may find these tools useful too?
>
>
>
> I guess what I am trying to say is, Softimage is dead, let's move on to an
> even better place rather than hang around in old memories.
>
>
>
> My 2 cents
>
>
>
> Jb
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>
> On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:23, Olivier Jeannel  wrote:
>
> The EOL_lib
>
> or
>
> The KnightsOfNi_lib
>
>
>
> 2017-03-29 20:05 GMT+02:00 Fabricio Chamon :
>
> softLib looks good!
>
>
>
> Em qua, 29 de mar de 2017 às 18:51, Andy Nicholas 
> escreveu:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> haha! :)
>
>
>
>
>
> Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wa

RE: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jonathan Moore]

| BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the discussion 
elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google groups being a 
good option.

 

Sounds like a good idea.

 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Andy Nicholas
Sent: 29 March 2017 20:08
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 

Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

 

Yep, agreed. I think we can be more ambitious. Rather than just cloning old 
workflows, we should use them as inspiration to improve on. There’s no point 
precisely duplicating something if that ends up causing long time Houdini users 
confusion because it doesn’t work the way they expect, or if it adds too much 
performance overhead just to make it “nice” from a Softimage point of view. I 
think it should be about making Houdini faster, simpler, and easier to use to 
create and rapidly prototype effects. That was what we liked so much about 
Softimage and ICE after all.

 

Houdini tends to have big nodes with lots of functionality. I think we should 
think about having smaller nodes, with more singular functionality that is 
extremely clear. That way, you don’t have to read the manual each time you put 
one down. They should all be VEX expression-able too. I suspect some sort of 
convention about how nodes are made will be necessary in order to provide 
simplicity through consistency.

 

How easy all this will be in practice, I don’t know. I suspect the most 
important thing to decide on first is what the problem actually is, before we 
figure out ways to solve it. Three key areas for me are:

 

* Obvious missing VOP functionality (e.g. like the example that came up 
earlier: GetArrayMinimum, etc.)

* Extend the POP functionality. I find the current one quite clunky and hard to 
do things quickly like manipulating particle orientation. Ever tried making a 
particle spin around it’s local velocity as it travels? It's not quick to do at 
all.

* Decide on some typical and frequently used DOP use cases and figure out ways 
to set them up simply. E.g. Emit RBD From Particles.

 

That’s just off the top of my head, but I’m sure others have their own ideas 
and priorities which I’d love to hear. Do pipe up as well if there’s something 
you’re keen to help with or have a strong opinion on. I’m not doing it all 
myself! ;)

 

BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the discussion 
elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google groups being a 
good option.

 

A

 

 

 

On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:30, Jordi Bares mailto:jordiba...@gmail.com> > wrote:

 

Don't you think although the inspiration may be to clone useful components and 
tools found in Softimage there is potentially a much bigger scope?

 

Not only that, traditional Houdini artists may find these tools useful too?

 

I guess what I am trying to say is, Softimage is dead, let's move on to an even 
better place rather than hang around in old memories.

 

My 2 cents 

 

Jb

Sent from my iPhone


On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:23, Olivier Jeannel mailto:facialdel...@gmail.com> > wrote:

The EOL_lib

or

The KnightsOfNi_lib

 

2017-03-29 20:05 GMT+02:00 Fabricio Chamon mailto:xsiml...@gmail.com> >:

softLib looks good!

 

Em qua, 29 de mar de 2017 às 18:51, Andy Nicholas mailto:a...@andynicholas.com> > escreveu:












haha! :)





Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants

to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.








On 29/03/2017 17:38, Olivier Jeannel

wrote:








Autodesk lib ?

N too rancorous...





On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas mailto:a...@andynicholas.com> >

wrote:



 

I'd probably go with

something like Andy's siLib or softLib - it's a bit more

obvious what it is. Probably the latter if it was up to me.





What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?






On 29/03/2017 17:14, Jonathan Moore wrote:








 

I was thinking H20...

 





On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy

Goehler mailto:lists.andy.goeh...@gmail.com> >

wrote:



In

honor of inspiration how about?





• softLib


• siLib


• ICELib



 







> On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas

mailto:a...@andynicholas.com> >

wrote:


>


> Continuing the thread here:


>


> Any suggestions for a name?


> A


>


> On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:


>> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just

unsure how much time I'll be


>> able to devote to this as I'm pretty

busy with some personal work at


>> the moment.


>>


>> How about I set up something similar to

Nick's on Github and we go


>> from there?


>>


>> We need a name for it. Let's start a

new thread on the list and move


>> discussions ove

RE: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jonathan Moore]

I’m with you Jordi. I think the greatest opportunity here is harnessing the 
experience of the Softimage artist community but cross fertilising it with 
Houdini artists that know how to mine Houdini’s rich possibilities. I think it 
could end up a an interesting  diversion but noting essential to the Houdini 
community as a whole if it’s perceived to be something that’s been created 
purely to ease the path for former Softimage artists. The Houdini community are 
quite hardcore in their defence of an environment that has enabled them to 
create stunning work so we need to be careful that we’re not seen as berating 
Houdini for what it’s not rather than engaging in the possibilities if what is 
and can be.

 

It was with that in mind that I thought that H20 felt an interesting territory. 
Not that I’m precious about that actual name but it feels an interesting 
creative territory that’s an evolution from ICE. The aspect of ICE that I think 
is richest as a collaborative genus is ICE’s approachable user experience. It’s 
something that draws artists in to deeper possibilities whereas Houdini often 
feels like your three levels in to an awesome game that only reveals it’s 
greatness once your eight levels in. Al least that’s what’s often like for me 
on a regular basis.

 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Jordi Bares
Sent: 29 March 2017 19:30
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list 

Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

 

Don't you think although the inspiration may be to clone useful components and 
tools found in Softimage there is potentially a much bigger scope?

 

Not only that, traditional Houdini artists may find these tools useful too?

 

I guess what I am trying to say is, Softimage is dead, let's move on to an even 
better place rather than hang around in old memories.

 

My 2 cents 

 

Jb

Sent from my iPhone


On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:23, Olivier Jeannel mailto:facialdel...@gmail.com> > wrote:

The EOL_lib

or

The KnightsOfNi_lib

 

2017-03-29 20:05 GMT+02:00 Fabricio Chamon mailto:xsiml...@gmail.com> >:

softLib looks good!

 

Em qua, 29 de mar de 2017 às 18:51, Andy Nicholas mailto:a...@andynicholas.com> > escreveu:












haha! :)





Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants

to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.








On 29/03/2017 17:38, Olivier Jeannel

wrote:








Autodesk lib ?

N too rancorous...





On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas mailto:a...@andynicholas.com> >

wrote:



 

I'd probably go with

something like Andy's siLib or softLib - it's a bit more

obvious what it is. Probably the latter if it was up to me.





What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?






On 29/03/2017 17:14, Jonathan Moore wrote:








 

I was thinking H20...

 





On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy

Goehler mailto:lists.andy.goeh...@gmail.com> >

wrote:



In

honor of inspiration how about?





• softLib


• siLib


• ICELib



 







> On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas



wrote:


>


> Continuing the thread here:


>


> Any suggestions for a name?


> A


>


> On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:


>> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just

unsure how much time I'll be


>> able to devote to this as I'm pretty

busy with some personal work at


>> the moment.


>>


>> How about I set up something similar to

Nick's on Github and we go


>> from there?


>>


>> We need a name for it. Let's start a

new thread on the list and move


>> discussions over to that. Is that okay?


>>


>> A


>


> --


> Softimage Mailing List.


> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> <mailto:softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com> 

with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to

confirm.








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<ma

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

Yep, agreed. I think we can be more ambitious. Rather than just cloning old 
workflows, we should use them as inspiration to improve on. There’s no point 
precisely duplicating something if that ends up causing long time Houdini users 
confusion because it doesn’t work the way they expect, or if it adds too much 
performance overhead just to make it “nice” from a Softimage point of view. I 
think it should be about making Houdini faster, simpler, and easier to use to 
create and rapidly prototype effects. That was what we liked so much about 
Softimage and ICE after all.

Houdini tends to have big nodes with lots of functionality. I think we should 
think about having smaller nodes, with more singular functionality that is 
extremely clear. That way, you don’t have to read the manual each time you put 
one down. They should all be VEX expression-able too. I suspect some sort of 
convention about how nodes are made will be necessary in order to provide 
simplicity through consistency.

How easy all this will be in practice, I don’t know. I suspect the most 
important thing to decide on first is what the problem actually is, before we 
figure out ways to solve it. Three key areas for me are:

* Obvious missing VOP functionality (e.g. like the example that came up 
earlier: GetArrayMinimum, etc.)
* Extend the POP functionality. I find the current one quite clunky and hard to 
do things quickly like manipulating particle orientation. Ever tried making a 
particle spin around it’s local velocity as it travels? It's not quick to do at 
all.
* Decide on some typical and frequently used DOP use cases and figure out ways 
to set them up simply. E.g. Emit RBD From Particles.

That’s just off the top of my head, but I’m sure others have their own ideas 
and priorities which I’d love to hear. Do pipe up as well if there’s something 
you’re keen to help with or have a strong opinion on. I’m not doing it all 
myself! ;)

BTW, I suspect that many on this list might prefer we move the discussion 
elsewhere to stop the off-topic noise. I was thinking of Google groups being a 
good option.

A



> On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:30, Jordi Bares  wrote:
> 
> Don't you think although the inspiration may be to clone useful components 
> and tools found in Softimage there is potentially a much bigger scope?
> 
> Not only that, traditional Houdini artists may find these tools useful too?
> 
> I guess what I am trying to say is, Softimage is dead, let's move on to an 
> even better place rather than hang around in old memories.
> 
> My 2 cents 
> 
> Jb
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:23, Olivier Jeannel  > wrote:
> 
>> The EOL_lib
>> or
>> The KnightsOfNi_lib
>> 
>> 2017-03-29 20:05 GMT+02:00 Fabricio Chamon > >:
>> softLib looks good!
>> 
>> Em qua, 29 de mar de 2017 às 18:51, Andy Nicholas > > escreveu:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> haha! :)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
>> 
>> to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 29/03/2017 17:38, Olivier Jeannel
>> 
>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> Autodesk lib ?
>>> 
>>> N too rancorous...
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas >> >
>>> 
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I'd probably go with
>>> 
>>> something like Andy's siLib or softLib - it's a bit more
>>> 
>>> obvious what it is. Probably the latter if it was up to me.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 29/03/2017 17:14, Jonathan Moore wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
 
 
 I was thinking H20...
 
 
 
 
 
 On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy
 
 Goehler >
 
 wrote:
 
 
 In
 
 honor of inspiration how about?
 
 
 
 
 
 • softLib
 
 
 • siLib
 
 
 • ICELib
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas
 
 >
 
 wrote:
 
 
 >
 
 
 > Continuing the thread here:
 
 
 >
 
 
 > Any suggestions for a name?
 
 
 > A
 
 
 >
 
 
 > On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:
 
 
 >> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just
 
 unsure how much time I'll be
 
 
 >> able to devote to this as I'm pretty
 
 busy with some personal work at
 
 
 >> the moment.
 
 
 >>
 
 
 >> How about I set up something similar to
 
 Nick's on Github and we go
 
 
 >> from there?
 
 
 >>
 
 
 >> We need a name for it. Let's start a
 
 new thread on the list and move
 
 
 >> discussions over to that. Is that okay?
 
 
>>>

Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jordi Bares]

Don't you think although the inspiration may be to clone useful components and 
tools found in Softimage there is potentially a much bigger scope?

Not only that, traditional Houdini artists may find these tools useful too?

I guess what I am trying to say is, Softimage is dead, let's move on to an even 
better place rather than hang around in old memories.

My 2 cents 

Jb

Sent from my iPhone

> On 29 Mar 2017, at 19:23, Olivier Jeannel  wrote:
> 
> The EOL_lib
> or
> The KnightsOfNi_lib
> 
> 2017-03-29 20:05 GMT+02:00 Fabricio Chamon :
>> softLib looks good!
>> 
>>> Em qua, 29 de mar de 2017 às 18:51, Andy Nicholas  
>>> escreveu:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> haha! :)
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
>>> 
>>> to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 29/03/2017 17:38, Olivier Jeannel
>>> 
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
 Autodesk lib ?
 
 N too rancorous...
 
 
 
 
 
 On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas 
 
 wrote:
 
 
 
 
 I'd probably go with
 
 something like Andy's siLib or softLib - it's a bit more
 
 obvious what it is. Probably the latter if it was up to me.
 
 
 
 
 
 What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?
 
 
 
 
 
 On 29/03/2017 17:14, Jonathan Moore wrote:
 
 
 
 
> 
> 
> I was thinking H20...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy
> 
> Goehler 
> 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> In
> 
> honor of inspiration how about?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> • softLib
> 
> 
> • siLib
> 
> 
> • ICELib
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas
> 
> 
> 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> >
> 
> 
> > Continuing the thread here:
> 
> 
> >
> 
> 
> > Any suggestions for a name?
> 
> 
> > A
> 
> 
> >
> 
> 
> > On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:
> 
> 
> >> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just
> 
> unsure how much time I'll be
> 
> 
> >> able to devote to this as I'm pretty
> 
> busy with some personal work at
> 
> 
> >> the moment.
> 
> 
> >>
> 
> 
> >> How about I set up something similar to
> 
> Nick's on Github and we go
> 
> 
> >> from there?
> 
> 
> >>
> 
> 
> >> We need a name for it. Let's start a
> 
> new thread on the list and move
> 
> 
> >> discussions over to that. Is that okay?
> 
> 
> >>
> 
> 
> >> A
> 
> 
> >
> 
> 
> > --
> 
> 
> > Softimage Mailing List.
> 
> 
> > To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> 
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to
> 
> confirm.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 
> 
> Softimage Mailing List.
> 
> 
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
> 
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to
> 
> confirm.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Softimage Mailing List.
> 
> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
> 
> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --
 
 Softimage Mailing List.
 
 To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com 
 with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
 
 
 
 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> 
>>> Softimage Mailing List.
>>> 
>>> To unsubscribe, send a mail to softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with 
>>> "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
>> 
>> --
>> Softimage Mailing List.
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>> "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
> 
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Olivier Jeannel]

The EOL_lib
or
The KnightsOfNi_lib

2017-03-29 20:05 GMT+02:00 Fabricio Chamon :

> softLib looks good!
>
> Em qua, 29 de mar de 2017 às 18:51, Andy Nicholas 
> escreveu:
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> haha! :)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
>>
>> to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 29/03/2017 17:38, Olivier Jeannel
>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Autodesk lib ?
>>
>> N too rancorous...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas 
>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I'd probably go with
>>
>> something like Andy's siLib or softLib - it's a bit more
>>
>> obvious what it is. Probably the latter if it was up to me.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 29/03/2017 17:14, Jonathan Moore wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I was thinking H20...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy
>>
>> Goehler 
>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> In
>>
>> honor of inspiration how about?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> • softLib
>>
>>
>> • siLib
>>
>>
>> • ICELib
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas
>>
>> 
>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> >
>>
>>
>> > Continuing the thread here:
>>
>>
>> >
>>
>>
>> > Any suggestions for a name?
>>
>>
>> > A
>>
>>
>> >
>>
>>
>> > On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:
>>
>>
>> >> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just
>>
>> unsure how much time I'll be
>>
>>
>> >> able to devote to this as I'm pretty
>>
>> busy with some personal work at
>>
>>
>> >> the moment.
>>
>>
>> >>
>>
>>
>> >> How about I set up something similar to
>>
>> Nick's on Github and we go
>>
>>
>> >> from there?
>>
>>
>> >>
>>
>>
>> >> We need a name for it. Let's start a
>>
>> new thread on the list and move
>>
>>
>> >> discussions over to that. Is that okay?
>>
>>
>> >>
>>
>>
>> >> A
>>
>>
>> >
>>
>>
>> > --
>>
>>
>> > Softimage Mailing List.
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Fabricio Chamon]

softLib looks good!

Em qua, 29 de mar de 2017 às 18:51, Andy Nicholas 
escreveu:

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> haha! :)
>
>
>
>
>
> Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants
>
> to chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 29/03/2017 17:38, Olivier Jeannel
>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Autodesk lib ?
>
> N too rancorous...
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas 
>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> I'd probably go with
>
> something like Andy's siLib or softLib - it's a bit more
>
> obvious what it is. Probably the latter if it was up to me.
>
>
>
>
>
> What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?
>
>
>
>
>
> On 29/03/2017 17:14, Jonathan Moore wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I was thinking H20...
>
>
>
>
>
> On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy
>
> Goehler 
>
> wrote:
>
>
> In
>
> honor of inspiration how about?
>
>
>
>
>
> • softLib
>
>
> • siLib
>
>
> • ICELib
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas
>
> 
>
> wrote:
>
>
> >
>
>
> > Continuing the thread here:
>
>
> >
>
>
> > Any suggestions for a name?
>
>
> > A
>
>
> >
>
>
> > On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:
>
>
> >> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just
>
> unsure how much time I'll be
>
>
> >> able to devote to this as I'm pretty
>
> busy with some personal work at
>
>
> >> the moment.
>
>
> >>
>
>
> >> How about I set up something similar to
>
> Nick's on Github and we go
>
>
> >> from there?
>
>
> >>
>
>
> >> We need a name for it. Let's start a
>
> new thread on the list and move
>
>
> >> discussions over to that. Is that okay?
>
>
> >>
>
>
> >> A
>
>
> >
>
>
> > --
>
>
> > Softimage Mailing List.
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>
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

haha! :)

Will leave this question hanging tonight in case anyone else wants to 
chime in. Final decision can happen tomorrow.


On 29/03/2017 17:38, Olivier Jeannel wrote:

Autodesk lib ?
N too rancorous...

On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas > wrote:


I'd probably go with something like Andy's siLib or softLib - it's
a bit more obvious what it is. Probably the latter if it was up to me.

What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?

On 29/03/2017 17:14, Jonathan Moore wrote:

I was thinking H20...

On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy Goehler
>
wrote:

In honor of inspiration how about?

• softLib
• siLib
• ICELib


> On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas
> wrote:
>
> Continuing the thread here:
>
> Any suggestions for a name?
> A
>
> On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:
>> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just unsure how much time
I'll be
>> able to devote to this as I'm pretty busy with some
personal work at
>> the moment.
>>
>> How about I set up something similar to Nick's on Github
and we go
>> from there?
>>
>> We need a name for it. Let's start a new thread on the
list and move
>> discussions over to that. Is that okay?
>>
>> A
>
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Olivier Jeannel]

Autodesk lib ?
N too rancorous...

On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas  wrote:

> I'd probably go with something like Andy's siLib or softLib - it's a bit
> more obvious what it is. Probably the latter if it was up to me.
>
> What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?
>
> On 29/03/2017 17:14, Jonathan Moore wrote:
>
> I was thinking H20...
>
> On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy Goehler  > wrote:
>
>> In honor of inspiration how about?
>>
>> • softLib
>> • siLib
>> • ICELib
>>
>>
>> > On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas > > wrote:
>> >
>> > Continuing the thread here:
>> >
>> > Any suggestions for a name?
>> > A
>> >
>> > On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:
>> >> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just unsure how much time I'll be
>> >> able to devote to this as I'm pretty busy with some personal work at
>> >> the moment.
>> >>
>> >> How about I set up something similar to Nick's on Github and we go
>> >> from there?
>> >>
>> >> We need a name for it. Let's start a new thread on the list and move
>> >> discussions over to that. Is that okay?
>> >>
>> >> A
>> >
>> > --
>> > Softimage Mailing List.
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>> 
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Nicholas]

I'd probably go with something like Andy's siLib or softLib - it's a bit 
more obvious what it is. Probably the latter if it was up to me.


What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?

On 29/03/2017 17:14, Jonathan Moore wrote:

I was thinking H20...

On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy Goehler > wrote:


In honor of inspiration how about?

• softLib
• siLib
• ICELib


> On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas
mailto:a...@andynicholas.com>> wrote:
>
> Continuing the thread here:
>
> Any suggestions for a name?
> A
>
> On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:
>> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just unsure how much time I'll be
>> able to devote to this as I'm pretty busy with some personal
work at
>> the moment.
>>
>> How about I set up something similar to Nick's on Github and we go
>> from there?
>>
>> We need a name for it. Let's start a new thread on the list and
move
>> discussions over to that. Is that okay?
>>
>> A
>
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Jonathan Moore]

I was thinking H20...

On 29 March 2017 at 17:12, Andy Goehler 
wrote:

> In honor of inspiration how about?
>
> • softLib
> • siLib
> • ICELib
>
>
> > On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas 
> wrote:
> >
> > Continuing the thread here:
> >
> > Any suggestions for a name?
> > A
> >
> > On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:
> >> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just unsure how much time I'll be
> >> able to devote to this as I'm pretty busy with some personal work at
> >> the moment.
> >>
> >> How about I set up something similar to Nick's on Github and we go
> >> from there?
> >>
> >> We need a name for it. Let's start a new thread on the list and move
> >> discussions over to that. Is that okay?
> >>
> >> A
> >
> > --
> > Softimage Mailing List.
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Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies

[Andy Goehler]

In honor of inspiration how about?

• softLib
• siLib
• ICELib


> On Mar 29, 2017, at 6:08 PM, Andy Nicholas  wrote:
> 
> Continuing the thread here:
> 
> Any suggestions for a name?
> A
> 
> On 29/03/2017 17:00, Andy Nicholas wrote:
>> I'm more than happy to help. I'm just unsure how much time I'll be 
>> able to devote to this as I'm pretty busy with some personal work at 
>> the moment.
>> 
>> How about I set up something similar to Nick's on Github and we go 
>> from there?
>> 
>> We need a name for it. Let's start a new thread on the list and move 
>> discussions over to that. Is that okay?
>> 
>> A
> 
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