I just want some speed!

[abvfx]

I was just testing out Cloth. (which im sure i dont need to say is any fun)

And i was thinking, what if in the next update cycle SideFX just made Houdini super fast. No new features. Yeah maybe one or two new assets to play with or the occasional new node to speed whatever task up..

But really no new features. I made the suggestion on my show a few months ago and prefaced it by saying "they shouldnt take my advice, that would be a stupid move" or something to that effect. http://www.cgroundup.com/?p=189 - Jump past the first 2 minutes of my ridiculous rambling if you want to hear the show.

But match it up with XSI or Maya. They have speed on their side but they are forever expanding functionality. Houdini has the opposite problem. Especially in the world of dynamics and PBR.

So would you be happy if the next increase only featured speed rather than new functionality?

For me personally.... i would be ecstatic.

COPS can wait till next year.

[altbighead]

yes I agree with you .Speed is main issue right now.DOPS, Viewport interactivity and PBR(mantra) in general.

[malexander]

COPS can wait till next year.

COPs has become pretty accustomed to waiting, I don't think you have to worry much there

[symek]

Perhaps SESI should develop a single node for that. something like Speed SOP (DOP/COP etc), that would make computation much faster than usual.

[dbukovec]

hi!

a year before, during the beta test of v10, someone said that the next version going to be an optimization work, i'm just curious (very)

[rob]

Give me Houdini over that mess called Maya anyday

[abvfx]

Houdini has shortfalls. There still isnt a default SSS skin setup/workflow or one that yields decent results (from what ive seen). But its methodology is far more appealing than its competitors. Again, speed is becoming a big issue though.

edit:// there is a difference between the skinSSS material in 10, compared to 9.5.... time to investigate

Edited March 26, 2010 by phrenzy84

[static]

Houdini has shortfalls. There still isnt a default SSS skin setup/workflow or one that yields decent results (from what ive seen). But its methodology is far more appealing than its competitors. Again, speed is becoming a big issue though.

edit:// there is a difference between the skinSSS material in 10, compared to 9.5.... time to investigate

Had a webex conference with Jeff Wagner earlier today. He said they are addressing point cloud problems that are creating artifacts with the SSS. He also made a point to say that in all of the capital builds that are coming down the line, performance is a very high (perhaps the main) priority. I'm already very impressed with the speed increases in the new cloth and particle fluid solvers they're working on. He was basically comparing performance to how anyone can open up a 10k image in PS and edit it now, and it will only be a matter of time before the same can be said for fluid sims.

[symek]

Houdini has shortfalls. There still isnt a default SSS skin setup/workflow or one that yields decent results (from what ive seen). But its methodology is far more appealing than its competitors. Again, speed is becoming a big issue though.

edit:// there is a difference between the skinSSS material in 10, compared to 9.5.... time to investigate

True. SSS and cloth are unusable in production for things they were designed to be used like character skin, cloth sims. There are neat things one can achieve with them, but not these two. Nevertheless speed isn't an single case issue. We talk about a whole new Houdini inside. Also, it easy to except speed not considering flexibility we already have. There are trade off in the real world. Personally I was always wondering how to multithread the application with dozens of expressions crossing through parameters between many nodes and contexts. Wow! I'm already sweating.

[sanostol]

Some propaganda from sidefx would be good for the morale of the troops in the fields

Had a webex conference with Jeff Wagner earlier today. He said they are addressing point cloud problems that are creating artifacts with the SSS. He also made a point to say that in all of the capital builds that are coming down the line, performance is a very high (perhaps the main) priority. I'm already very impressed with the speed increases in the new cloth and particle fluid solvers they're working on. He was basically comparing performance to how anyone can open up a 10k image in PS and edit it now, and it will only be a matter of time before the same can be said for fluid sims.

[Macha]

Hmm, is it really about multithreading though? I think the real speed-gains are to be achieved by implementing different algorithms and techniques. But I am hoping for some CUDA power as well of course.

[Ratman]

From my understanding of the HDK, some of the slowdowns of Houdini and lack of multithreading in sops and such is that there are a bunch of sections in the code of Houdini that aren't thread safe, specifically GU_Detail, so you can't multithread point/attribute creation.

[oldiesgoodies]

More than anything else I personally would want a fast easy to setup realistic SSS shader.

My second wish would be on the rendering speed side. I know people keep telling how fast Mantra is, I agree it is a high quality renderer but in my experience its speed is no where near for example to Lightwave`s or Modo`s rendering speed. I cannot compare it to Renderman or other renderer`s because I have no experience with them.

Especially the speed of SSS and GI like solutions are very slow in Mantra.

Edited May 5, 2010 by oldiesgoodies

[abvfx]

Yep, i agree.

I doubt it will rival modo.

Mantra is good, just speed is what i want . Again that's the whole topic of this thread.

Anyone heard any rumours? Its been such a long time since an update i guess the pressure is building for them to deliver.

[Netvudu]

Also regarding speed, I´m trying a new fluid simulation tool for Lightwave and C4D called Turbulence, and the simulation speed is really amazing, and quite above what I´m used to in Houdini, uprezzing and all. Possible many shortcuts being taken at shading time, but for the average joe it´s quite difficult to get the same quality in Houdini without three or four more times the simulation time Turbulence takes... It´s also very easy to make decent fire...and this is just with a beta version!

Speed,speed,speed...

[curveU]

i'm sad to hear that in Houdini11 they still don't have much progress on speed:(

[Marc]

um.... where did you hear that?

[abvfx]

um.... where did you hear that?

Just breathed a sigh of relief there

[Marc]

Don't get your hopes up too high ... But I don't think anyone will be disappointed.

[abvfx]

Don't get your hopes up too high ... But I don't think anyone will be disappointed.

I was expecting that response. Like i don't expect Cloth to have any speed update, although one can hope. But Fluids do need a bit of a kick.

 

edit:// How did it a 6 year old thread get bumped to the front page with no new posts??

Edited March 3, 2016 by abvfx