davpe

for shape like you have, i don't think you can make your life easier by trying to invent some sort of uv trick. I would just generate planar uvs from top down view and then paint the texture - or generate procedurally and bake into bitmaps. sweep SOP does nothing more than "extrude along curve" thing - you will not be able to produce that kind of shape.

hi, if the Resource manager says Mantra uses 6 gb then it's true I guess (and it's roughly the amount i'd expect). what exactly makes you think it eats up more than that? if you kill Mantra does it free up 29gb of the memory?

not sure how your setup looks like but you can use Categories to make lights only affect specific objects. matching category patterns on both light and the object will make the light illuminate the object. otherwise the object is not affected.

can't inspect your file right now, but if something like this happens there is typically an issue with pieces naming (pairs not matching, multiple pieces sharing the same name, or something like this). i can see in your setup you've got two connectivity attribs in a row. potentially can be a source of the issue. make sure instances has unique values, and are matching the values on simulated pieces. cheers, D.

or you can use a "Find node" window (a magnifying glass icon in top right corner of a network view) which allows you to filter and find nodes based on all sorts of criteria

i see your point. if i need to reference stuff to other network locations i typically use object merge SOP. actually referencing nodes as you described is something i use quite rarely.

of course you can do this, only the way you doing it is not gonna work in this case. if you middle click referenced parameters you will see it is a relative reference. like ch("../box1/sizex") - this is referencing a box1 node existing in the same network location as the referencing node. if you move the node into a different network, this referencing expression doesn't update and its relative path is not valid any more. the trick is to either use absolute references that contain the full path to a references parameter, or you have to place a node first, and then do the relative referencing. This can be done either by drag n drop from one node to another, or from right click menu. to make this process really fast, have two parameter dialogs open and just drag n drop between them. and obviously, you need to read the manual. this is like one of the most 101 things in houdini https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/network/copying.html cheers.

ok then i think your issue will be either "Disable Lighting and Emission" on bake texture ROP enabled (you want to disable it to bake a Cf channel), or your shader setup is broken. those two are first things i'd check.

speaking about out of the box solutions: i think Solaris/USD and TOPs is a good way to go. it's still quite new, but Solaris provides tools for scene/shots management that are future proof, TOPs provide tools for data handling and batch processing, and allows linking to different softwares, like Shotgun. Other tools you can use: HDAs - a robust way to share simple or complex functionality between projects/users, but are a bit cumbersome for some uses. HDAs have some specific workflow mechanics inbuilt which can be both an advantage or a drag, depending how you wanna use it. Gallery files are good for quick and simple exchange of houdini setups. Unfortunately it doesn't really have any solid pipeline hooks, nor support for versioning or other stuff like this so I wouldn't recommend relying on this too much. And of course there is a solid Python API that allows you to do a lot with little effort, and can be executed from almost anywhere in Houdini.

hi, maybe take a look at this video:

Hello Houdini friends, For upcoming automotive commercial project, UPP Prague is looking for Houdini generalists, with experience creating photoreal CG environments. Ideal candidate should be a resourceful and reliable artist requiring minimum supervision, and able to deliver top quality work within tight deadlines. Your work could range from generating high quality models, textures and look development (Mantra, Redshift), to creating modular, CG environments related Houdini digital assets. This is 4-8 weeks contract, starting mid-November 2020. Due to current restrictions, you need to be able to work remotely (VPN). For more info, please contact dominica.jandova@upp.cz, and include "3d enviro artist" in the subject line. website and showreel: https://www.upp.cz/advertising

this should help with Python: https://vfxbrain.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/python-in-houdini/

check this out - it should help. vfxbrain.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/python-in-houdini/

you have to use Python Source Editor, or save it as a shelf tool with python script in it. python SOP can only manipulate things inside of it's own object.

if you need to separate groups into it's own nodes then you've got basically three options I know about: 1) manually with delete SOP nodes (in each one select a group and delete non-selected) 2) Python script that can make it automatically (you can put it in the shelf and have one-click solution) 3) Alembic Archive instead of Alembic SOP - that will give you the same object hierarchy as in other apps, if that's what you want