> Arrays and vop (or vex if that's your thing) are keys if you want to
maintain speed imho.
Definitely. Getting into Vex in a big way has been a complete game
changer for me in the last couple of years or so. There's just so much
you can do with it, and like you said, it's super fast. It's
particularly useful in doing generative geometry and other low level geo
operations. As much as I still love ICE, Vex is so much more robust and
powerful.
And sure, feel free to send a scene if you get stuck!
A
On 29/03/2017 15:32, Olivier Jeannel wrote:
Thank you Andy ! Got to try that when I'm back :)
I should send you some scene with some questions (somedays). I wanted
to do this with Mikael, but sometimes you don't want to bother people
to much, plus you have to be sure that what you're asking has sense,
and sometimes you just want to find yourself ^^
I quite loved the other day thread about strands a la softimage.
Recently someone (can't remember the name) posted a tut about clumping
hair on vimeo. And I came up with something hybrid but very fast
without any for each sop and a little bit of array.
Arrays and vop (or vex if that's your thing) are keys if you want to
maintain speed imho.
On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas <a...@andynicholas.com
<mailto:a...@andynicholas.com>> wrote:
Thanks for sharing. It's useful to see where you see issues.
> I miss the "sort array with key"
You need two nodes: "Array Arg Sort", and "Array Reorder". Use the
Array Arg Sort to sort your "key" value and produce indices, which
you then feed to the "Array Reorder". Maybe that's the first
Softimage ICE HDA someone could make. Just encapsulate these two
to become a "Sort Array by Key" node.
I think a lot of problems with learning Houdini is the complexity
and the overwhelming feeling of "great, I can do anything, but
where the heck do I start". Much of which is over the linquistical
issues like, for example, the disconnectivity between slightly
obscure naming of nodes and what they actually do. I wouldn't mind
betting that if people start putting together Softimage->Houdini
digital assets, the first noticeable thing will be the Softimage
style names that are used!
Maybe learning Houdini is a similar process to learning a foreign
language? Takes a while to get fluent.
A
On 29/03/2017 14:33, Olivier Jeannel wrote:
I'm not comfident enough to tell, and I can only speak for vop
(not vex).
Having to build a for each loop set of nodes, well it took me
time to figure (in fact Mikael tut was the answer)
Having to work with per prim vertex array seems to be a
limitation when coming to sort those vertex.
I have overal sorting issues : it's ok to sort ptnum but an
arbitrary integer attribute I'm not sure I can.
I wish there was more example (in vop) of array building and sorting.
I miss the "sort array with key"
I'm just starting with arrays in H but I find it over complicated.
On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Andy Nicholas
<a...@andynicholas.com
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','a...@andynicholas.com');>> wrote:
Heh! Flattery will get you everywhere ;)
Yes, they make sense in both packages to me, and you have the
added benefit of being able to see the arrays directly in
Houdini using the Geometry Spreadsheet, rather than turning
on the visualisation in Softimage and have them disappearing
off the top of the screen. You can do Python style array
slicing in VEX too which is awesomely useful.
Anyway, that's why I wanted to ask Olivier an honest question
to try and understand where Houdini is lacking. Maybe I'm too
close to it to see the issues.
A
On 29/03/2017 13:06, Jordi Bares wrote:
I was wondering if using arrays in Houdini makes as much
sense as in Softimage… Andy??? You are the expert here.
jb
On 29 Mar 2017, at 10:57, Andy Nicholas
<a...@andynicholas.com> wrote:
Hi Olivier, where do you see the biggest difference with
ICE arrays and Houdini arrays? In both you have ways of
adding, removing, sorting, etc. elements in the array in
whatever context you're in, no?
A
On 29/03/2017 09:48, Olivier Jeannel wrote:
An example of something we own as ice user :
One of the first thing I replicated was the Modulate by
Volume.
When I arrived on Houdini and saw all those tutorial with
people using the Attribute transfer, I tried to use it
myself and was horrified : I found it slow and not precize.
Nobody was using a UV location + dotproduct method, and
imho that's by far the most efficient method.
The hardest thinking was "how should I wire it in Houdini
way of working ?". I came up with one Vop HDA, and one SOP
HDA (which is simply the vop compounded).
The great "plus" with Houdini, is that it's able to
transfer values of any context (point, prim, you name it, ..)
I'll try to record something.
I think there's a large place for improvement in H for
everything that concerns arrays. In ice, there was a lot
of things to do with arrays , hence the speed. And the ice
tools were super efficient for that. In Houdini, there's a
kind of "thinking" that as VOP by nature is looping
through points it is an "enough" solution.
Well, "maybe" but it's so criptic that unless you're a
vex/C/python programmer I find it very time consumming to
understand. Plus there are no doc samples or tut, a part
from the one from Mikael Perterssen
http://shortandsweet3d.blogspot.fr/
<http://shortandsweet3d.blogspot.fr/>. That makes me
wonder if other people really consider or understand this.
Also, if you compare Peter Quint and Mikael way to deal
with States, hell, I'm 200% on the ice method.
2017-03-28 20:39 GMT+02:00 Olivier Jeannel
<facialdel...@gmail.com>:
I'm a morron, but I'd love to have exclusive pure Ice
minded HDA library.
2017-03-28 20:29 GMT+02:00 Rob Chapman
<tekano....@gmail.com>:
Thought I'd pipe in since tekano got invoked, also
slowly attemting to transition and agree with most
already said and thanks, is already a huge pointer
to as yet unknown aspects and features of how
complex houdini is.
also would be interested in a more 'compounded'
way of learning Houdini like ice was introduced.
Everything a compound node of nested compound
logic with exact same UI logic and Core nodes and
complexity under the hood but still accessable in
a single click and an 'easy for artists' ability
to follow the logic flow into further nested
compounds and see how it was made. Not so with
houdini yet 😎 open one compound and is equivalent
to inside of the neighborhood telephone junction
box. Part of the enjoyment, for me, was building
own logic and then seeing the contrast of the
'Softimage' way, and for sure, if you are building
something fairly complex requiring macro detailed
interactions with something of a much larger
scale, eg characters running through a several
fields of flowers, then somethings can be
improved or optimised from the off the shelf
examples. Otherwise prepare for big data and long
iteration times. It seems covering all bases like
the 'houdini' way is fine for examples and base
setup but not so in more complicated tasks is
better to be good at understanding which bits to
leave out. 😀 or be able rapidly prototype your
own. I think like Mr Bolland has done and Pooby is
asking for is these intermediate compounds between
that Softimage bought with it to help us poor
artists out 😂
------
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 tosoftimage-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 tosoftimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with
"unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.
------
Softimage Mailing List.
To unsubscribe, send a mail tosoftimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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.
