Bleen Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 Hello Houdini users I've been a Maya user for five years or so, and I'm very interested in learning Houdini. So I grabbed the nice Apprentice version and the tutorials at 3DBuzz. But I realized they were using version 5, while I'm using version 8. It seems that some stuff has changed in the UI, and since I'm a new user, I'm confused in some aspects. For instance, it'd be nice to know where I can find how to reset the Playbar to its original position once I moved it to another pane, and also, where to find these buttons: I'm sorry if these questions are too basic, I've just started learning Thank you for your time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sibarrick Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 Wow, another Maya user, its almost a flood... To reset the playbar go to Tools menu at the top of the interface, its the second from bottom entry - reset playbar to bottom To display the toolbar you are after go to the pane menu -> toolbars and controls and turn on operator toolbar Welcome to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deecue Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 Wow, another Maya user, its almost a flood... wahoo! we'lll get them all eventually.. one by one.. you'll see.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleen Posted March 25, 2006 Author Share Posted March 25, 2006 Wow, another Maya user, its almost a flood...To reset the playbar go to Tools menu at the top of the interface, its the second from bottom entry - reset playbar to bottom To display the toolbar you are after go to the pane menu -> toolbars and controls and turn on operator toolbar Welcome to you. 25959[/snapback] Thank you! It was so simple after all... Learning new software is always a little overwhelming at first. But tese videos are nice and I'm already creating objects I'm amazed at the "freedom" Houdini provides... I'm used to one shape node per object in Maya... difficcult connections between nodes... it all seems so "clean" in Houdini. It reminds me of the time when I changed from Max to Maya... Thanks for the fast answer and the welcome. You'll be seeing more of me around here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcronin Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 The toolbar, I am convinced, is hidden by default because almost no one uses it. I know shelves are popular in Maya, mostly because they bury everything in menus and use a ton of scripts, but in Houdini the tab menu gives you ultra fast access to everything in the current context, and anything you use often, can be put into it's own menu or assigned to a hotkey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleen Posted March 26, 2006 Author Share Posted March 26, 2006 The toolbar, I am convinced, is hidden by default because almost no one uses it. I know shelves are popular in Maya, mostly because they bury everything in menus and use a ton of scripts, but in Houdini the tab menu gives you ultra fast access to everything in the current context, and anything you use often, can be put into it's own menu or assigned to a hotkey. 25962[/snapback] You're right, after a while it does seem a little inconvenient compared with the TAB menu. I just want to have an interface as close as the videos as I can. Later I can hide stuff I don't want and customize the UI a little Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 While you're looking at old video tutorials, this site is also still up: http://sidefx.vislab.usyd.edu.au/houdini_video/index.htm In particular, some very basic explanation of the UI changes between Houdini 5.5 and Houdini 6: http://sidefx.vislab.usyd.edu.au/houdini_v...face/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleen Posted March 26, 2006 Author Share Posted March 26, 2006 While you're looking at old video tutorials, this site is also still up:http://sidefx.vislab.usyd.edu.au/houdini_video/index.htm In particular, some very basic explanation of the UI changes between Houdini 5.5 and Houdini 6: http://sidefx.vislab.usyd.edu.au/houdini_v...face/index.html 25976[/snapback] Thanks for the info I see the Houdini community is very friendly and open Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickWork Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 Thanks for the info I see the Houdini community is very friendly and open 25994[/snapback] Yes all the folks here are very friendly and helpful! Be sure to also check out the sesi forums and the houdini mailing list. Tons of information. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleen Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 Another question... I've been searching for this for quite some time now, but I can't find the "Create new opeator type" option anywhere, not ctrl+right clicking or in the operator menu... Does anyone know where it is? Thanks! PS: I've been doing the basic rigging tutorials (I'm halfway through though), and I'm amazed at the speed you can make things with Houdini! For example, in Maya, copying a set-up limb cleanly is very difficult (I could never do it right, always had to re-set a lot of stuff by hand). In Houdini the mirror actually works! Not to mention you can copy-paste custom "shape nodes" to any object! Cool! On the other side, today at my job (I work with Maya) I kept pressing the spacebar to move around... which in maya makes the hotbox pop-up or maximize/minimize viewports same stuff happened to me once I was working with Max and Maya... this allways kills me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickWork Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Another question... I've been searching for this for quite some time now, but I can't find the "Create new opeator type" option anywhere, not ctrl+right clicking or in the operator menu... Does anyone know where it is? That has been changed. It's now called "Create digital asset." On the other side, today at my job (I work with Maya) I kept pressing the spacebar to move around... which in maya makes the hotbox pop-up or maximize/minimize viewports same stuff happened to me once I was working with Max and Maya... this allways kills me 26034[/snapback] Yeah it still happens to me. I have to jump between, maya, xsi and houdini and I always set keyframes when I mean to change the camera view or maximize the viewport/hotbox popup when I mean to enter a view state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleen Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 That has been changed. It's now called "Create digital asset." 26035[/snapback] Wow, that was fast Call me an idiot, but I still can't find it anywhere I mean, I see the option when I right click on a subnet node, but I can't create a digital asset from nothing (in the video it was used to set up roll controls for the feet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickWork Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Wow, that was fast Call me an idiot, but I still can't find it anywhere I mean, I see the option when I right click on a subnet node, but I can't create a digital asset from nothing (in the video it was used to set up roll controls for the feet). 26037[/snapback] Sorry, I'm not following you. You can see the option to create digital asset or you can't? To create a digital asset (aka hda aka Create Operator Type) you select all the nodes that will be part of this assest and you collapse them into a subnet (Shift+c), then on this subet you right click and choose create digital asset. Please post back where it goes wrong Hope this helps, /Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleen Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 Sorry, I'm not following you. You can see the option to create digital asset or you can't?To create a digital asset (aka hda aka Create Operator Type) you select all the nodes that will be part of this assest and you collapse them into a subnet (Shift+c), then on this subet you right click and choose create digital asset. Please post back where it goes wrong Hope this helps, /Rick 26038[/snapback] IF I want to create a digital asset from a subnet (right click on the subnet) I see the option, no problem. This is explained in the help. BUT I do NOT want to make a digital asset from a subnet! In the video, a "new operator type" is created simply by ctrl+right clicking in a blank space on the network editor: These two screens are one right after the other one in the video: He clicks here: Then goes here: The thing is, I don't get that option Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickWork Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 IF I want to create a digital asset from a subnet (right click on the subnet) I see the option, no problem. This is explained in the help. BUT I do NOT want to make a digital asset from a subnet!In the video, a "new operator type" is created simply by ctrl+right clicking in a blank space on the network editor: These two screens are one right after the other one in the video: He clicks here: Then goes here: The thing is, I don't get that option Thanks! 26039[/snapback] I may be mistaken but think he's creating what is now called a digital asset. I don't have that video so I can't be sure. What's the name of the video? I'll try and download it to see what's goin on here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleen Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 I may be mistaken but think he's creating what is now called a digital asset. I don't have that video so I can't be sure.What's the name of the video? I'll try and download it to see what's goin on here. 26040[/snapback] Talk about service... this is speedy! Thanks for the interest, this is the 6th video from the 3dbuzz.com VTM issue 2 about Houdini, "Rigging with Expressions" membership is free, after that you can just doenlowad the just under 10 mb file, on the Video Training - Houdini section. once you're logged in, this would direct you to the download: http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_buzz_dlsv...?i=279&file=544 Thanks for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickWork Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 I'm waiting for renders so I have nothing else to do ok I see what's happening here. He's setting up an otl for character controls. I do this often. Instead of "Create New Operator Type" (video time 1:32) Try this. In the Network Pane: Hit tab and get a Null Object. Select the Null and hit Shift+c, to collapse this into a subnet. Right click on this subnet and choose "Create Digital Asset" Operator Name : Character_Controls Op Label: Character_Controls Min Inputs : 0 Max Inputs: 1 hit Accept. You should be able to follow the video now (time 2:05) 2 things to be aware of: The way we are doing it, in the network pane this operator is called subnet1. In the video though, nothing is created. Therefore, once you accept, the parameter changes you made as per the video and that dialog window goes away, you can simple delete the subnet1 operator in the network pane and hit tab and choose Character_Controls (video time 4:48) Another thing to note is that in the video, the character controls has the parameters showing up right away. However with Digital Assests, your custom parameters show up on the Controls tab of the said operator. There might be a better way to obtain this same workflow but this is the way I know. I'm sure someone will post here if there is a better way. Hope this helps, /Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Is that the option under the top main File menu? But really, creating a subnet first is the better way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleen Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 Is that the option under the top main File menu? 26043[/snapback] OMG yes now I see it, there's an option in the main File menu! Wonder why they'd put that there... Amazing, now I created a new operator type for Geometry and that's it! The locator idea was nice though... it's similar to the way one would do it on Maya... create a control curve or locator and just add some attributes and set driven keys The only thing that's missing is being able to see the parameters on the viewport like in the video, but I won't be too picky, I figure I can find that out when I can get my bearing inside Houdini... remember, I've started learning it only a couple of days ago But really, creating a subnet first is the better way. 26043[/snapback] May I ask why? Why isn't it better to just create the operator typre directly? Thank you both for your time and replies! I'll get up to speed with Houdini in no time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 It's better because .... - It lets you take section of your network and turn it into a reusable HDA. Creating an HDA usually takes additional work. It's easier to just do stuff and then turn things into HDA only when you need to. - Seldom do you want an empty HDA to begin with. Using the menu item requires that you put down an instance of it before you can put stuff inside. I can do shift+c much faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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